Is the SAT test racist? You need it to get into many colleges. Should we change that?
What do you think?
Should we get rid of the SAT and ACT tests? Do they really indicate how successful a student will be in college? Should they be required for college admissions? Or, should we just make them optional?
(I’m really asking. There’s a short survey you can fill out below to weigh in. Or you can take it here).
The question came up again this week on the heels of a new report from the University of California’s Academic Council’s Standardized Testing Task Force.
You can read the whole 200-plus-page report here. But, in short, the council recommends the UC system keep the tests as an admissions requirement at its 10 campuses.
These tests have been around for decades (almost 100 years). I took them. You probably did, too.
But are they racist?
In recent years such tests have come under scrutiny from researchers with years of data showing growing gaps in SAT scores by race, ethnicity and socioeconomic class.
Saul Geiser, a scholar at UC Berkeley studied years of admissions data and concluded, in part, that “race and ethnicity are now more important than either family income or parental education in accounting for test score differences.”
You can read more about Geiser’s findings here and check out another one of his research papers here.
More than 1,000 other universities are becoming “test-optional” schools or using an entirely different type of test for admissions.
But in its recommendation to the board of regents, the UC’s council says SAT and ACT testing can help students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In some cases, students with lower grades were admitted to UC schools based on their higher SAT scores.
The board of regents needs to approve whether the UC system will become test-optional. Their decision is expected sometime in May.
So what do you think?
Should the SAT and ACT continue to be mandatory for admission to a UC campus?
We’re working on a story about accessibility to higher education. Do you have experience with tests or accessibility to AP classes that you think should be shared? Let me know. Send me an email at idieppa@fresnobee.com or send me a DM @isabelsdieppa
I look forward to hearing what you think!
‘Til next time,
Isabel Dieppa
Engagement reporter
PS. Want to read more about this issue? You can check out this LA Times story (subject to paywall restrictions) and this Chronicle of Higher Education story on why the committee recommends keeping the exams here. We also recommend this Ed Source story about a lawsuit over the exams here.
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 6:45 AM.