The test anxiety many college-bound seniors experience may be for naught, as currently over 800 four-year colleges and universities have become “test optional,” eliminating or downgrading the weight of the SAT or ACT scores related to admissions decisions. This may very well be a complicated silver lining for minority students.
National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) is an extensive knowledge and advocacy hub on a mission to stop “high stakes testing” in all levels of academia. According to their website, “test optional” is an umbrella term, as many institutions have varying policies. King’s College (Wilkes-Barre) is test optional in the purest sense, as freshman applicants are not required—but can if they choose– to submit standardized test scores. Students who do not submit scores suffer no disadvantage, per the policy listed on the school website, as the institution has placed an “increasing reliance” on factors such as grades, academic rigor, and extracurricular activities when making admissions decisions. Drexel University (Philadelphia) does require exam scores. However, scores are not limited to the SAT and ACT; students can submit Advanced Placement (AP), SAT II Subject Test or International Baccalaureate (IB) exam scores. Duquesne University (Pittsburgh) stipulates their test-optional policy for freshman applying to their Business, Liberal Arts, and Music departments. Additionally, test optional applicants must have achieved at least a cumulative 3.0 GPA “within a college preparatory curriculum” (i.e., high level, Advanced Placement or IB courses). Point Park University (Pittsburgh) requires optional test applicants to have achieved a cumulative 3.0 GPA by the end of their junior year in college prep curriculum and to submit an essay or graded paper/class project.
There is ample evidence which indicates that a student’s cumulative high school GPA is a much better predictor of early academic performance and persistence in college. In 2008, the CollegeBoard, the testing behemoth which creates and distributes the traditional SAT Reasoning Test. SAT Subject Tests, Advanced Placement (AP) Curriculum and Tests and the Practice SAT Exam (PSAT), published a report aimed at verifying the predictability of first-year college GPAs based on high school GPA and SAT scores. The study was based on an updated test first given in 2006 that introduced a writing section in addition to the traditional verbal and math sections. Data analysis from 151,316 students (over 65% identified racially as white and 93% of all students reported English as their “best” language) representing over 700 four-year colleges (with slight majority representation of private. Northern/New England, small-mid level populations) demonstrated that the single best predictor of first-year college GPA was cumulative high school GPA. Pairing high school GPA and SAT scores did, however, increase the predictability of first-year college GPA, which the non-profit unsurprisingly recommended would be most beneficial for admissions consideration.
FairTest cites that many test-optional institutions have reaped the benefits of attracting a wider and more diverse range of qualified students who may have been intimidated by a mandatory minimum SAT or ACT score. Considering that the previously cited CollegeBoard study’s population skews heavily towards English speaking, white students, additional research focused on students of color would seem necessary. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education provides a considerable overview of the SAT scoring gap of African-Americans compared to their white counterparts, which continues to widen even after significant gains made throughout the 1980s. Likewise, African American students are also falling behind their Latin and Native American (American Indian and Native Alaskan) counterparts. Ithaca College Director of Enrollment Planning, Yuko Mulugetta, Ph.D., published the research considerations that went into the decision to make the college test optional (no standardized exams are required for any academic departments) starting in 2013. The study sought to confirm the validity of SAT scores in predicting sixth semester (junior year) cumulative GPA in college when factors such as race, gender, GPA and AP courses were considered. Also, researchers reviewed students’ admissions documents to assign Strength of Schedule scores for students, which evaluated “how much a student has challenged him or herself in a broad array of learning at high school.” This score was assigned after a holistic review
of factors including “GPA, class rank, transcripts, the profile of high school attended, recommendations, essays, extra-curricular activities, leadership skills and evaluation from recommended admissions interviews.” The study found that high school GPA and Strength of Schedule assessment were much more predictive of the success of ALANA (African-American, Latino/an Asian and Native American) students than SAT scores, and the combination of high school GPA, AP credits, and Strength of Schedule being the best predictor of success overall. Upon instituting a test-optional policy for the Fall 2013 freshman class, Ithaca received their most diverse class in the school’s history, with 22% minority student enrollment.
The option to remove a biased and increasingly unnecessary standardized test from college admissions process can be viewed as a potential boon for college-bound students of color. However, disparities continue in the availability of college prep curriculum that will support academic preparedness and persistence. According to Diverse Issues in Higher Education, while the number of students of color taking the SAT reached its peak in 2013, over half were unable to achieve scores that would indicate readiness for college. The article quotes Jennifer Engle, now former vice president for policy and research at the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) who called on colleges to “embrace ‘adaptive learning’ and other methods and strategies that have proved successful with students who arrive on campus in need of remediation.”
Shanna K Houser
BA Human Development and Family Studies; MA Transpersonal Psychology
