University of California Examines SAT Testing

The University of California (UC) held a major conference this weekend to explore the possibility of eliminating the SAT as a factor in college admissions.

The event brought together about 300 faculty members from the university, as well as noted guest speakers including the presidents of the College Board and ACT, Inc., to discuss the long-running test’s potential shortcomings.

The conference, entitled “Rethinking the SAT,” examined the SAT’s validity as a measuring tool for applicants, and tried to determine whether race, class, or gender biases are present in the test.

The gathering was not the first to raise questions about the validity of the SAT. In April, top business executives from around the country launched a massive letter-writing campaign that urged colleagues to find a more accurate means of judging applicants’ merit.

A UC study released last month concluded that the SAT I is far poorer than the SAT II at predicting the academic performance of students at the university.

UC’s president, Richard C. Atkinson, proposed nine months ago to remove the SAT as a criterion for admissions at the nine university campuses within his system. As head of one of the nation’s most influential and wide-ranging public university systems, Atkinson has brought unprecedented new attention to the issue.

His efforts center on replacing the SAT with a new test that better reflects what is being taught in California high schools, stressing that students must learn the material rather than how to score highly on an unrelated math and verbal exam.

Though Atkinson’s opposition to the SAT enjoys the support of a nationwide movement that was already underway, the standardized exam remains a valuable tool in helping colleges to make decisions about their admissions, college officials say.

“We are living in a world where there has been a lot of grade inflation in high schools, and also less information about how students stand in relation to one another,” said William R. Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s dean of admissions and financial aid.

Fitzsimmons said Harvard has admitted students with no grades, because they were home-schooled or attended a secondary school without a grading system, but added that “we need as much information as we can possibly get for students.”

However, Fitzsimmons emphasized that each university must determine its own criteria for admissions.

“I wouldn’t begin to judge what is appropriate for the University of California,” he said.

The UC conference opened with a keynote speech from Atkinson. However, Walter Yuen, a professor at UC-Santa Barbara who co-organized the event, said the conference was neither meant to determine new UC policies nor to gain outside support for Atkinson’s efforts.

“The SAT is something we have been living and breathing for many years. We never ask the question if this is the best tool for selecting the student body,” Yuen said, emphasizing that the conference was meant only to foster discussion on the matter.

“We didn’t try to generate a consensus. The purpose of the conference was to put the best arguments on the table—to let people on both sides present what they thought,” he said.

“It wasn’t our purpose to influence other universities,” he added.