What's SAT

　　Like any hotbed of scholarly activity, theUniversity of California (UC) is no stranger to rows. Recently a debate overthe use of SATs and ACTs, tests used in college admissions, has spilled outfrom campus and into the courtroom. In December a lawsuit denouncing UC’s useof the tests was filed in the Alameda County court. On February 3rd acommission reviewing admissions procedures recommended that UC should resistcalls to abandon tests. More than 1,000 colleges across America have madesubmitting test scores optional for many students, though hardly any arecompletely “test blind”. UC is by far the largest institution to considerabandoning them. UC’s size (it has about 220,000 undergraduates) and prestigemeans others will watch what it does carefully.

　　First administered in 1926, SATs have faced criticismforfavouring the wealthy since the 1940s—an irony, since they were originallyadopted by Harvard to expand its intake beyond the boarding schools of thenortheast. While the College Board, which owns the SATs, has worked hard toeliminate egregious advantages for children from wealthy families—gone are the questions about oarsmenand regattas—there has been a persistent correlation between test scoresand both socioeconomic status and race. The College Board acknowledges thesecorrelations, but argues that they reflect “learning gaps that result fromeducational and societal inequities”, not bias in the test itself. All measuresof college preparedness are affected by societal inequity, and it is unsurprising,if unfortunate, that students from poor backgrounds perform worse. Using testscores, the College Board argues, helps colleges to select those students mostlikely to thrive.

　　Academics have reached no consensus on how well thetests predict student success at university. Most agree on two things: thathigh-school grade point average (HSGPA) is the best predictor of collegesuccess and that the tests, when combined with grade averages, make predictionsmore accurate. How much tests add is disputed. The College Board claims thatthe additional predictive power offered by the SATs is significant. Manydisagree.

　　Even if thequestion of predictive power were resolved, another question arises about how good the tests would have to be atpredicting college outcomes to justify their use. If they significantlydecreased the number of successful applicants from already disadvantagedgroups, such a sacrifice would presumably not be justified by a minor gain inpredictive power. How institutions judge this trade-off depends on theirmission, circumstances and the cohort they want to attract. This goes to theheart of an age-old question. Should universities consider themselves primarilyas centres of academic excellence, and therefore strive to accept the studentsmost likely to excel academically?Or should they accept a broader mission toimprove society, which could mean sacrificing some academic excellence in thepursuit of a different definition of equality?

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