Implementing test-based practices to get higher education has been the norm for approximately a century now. The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) is a test for college admission that assesses a student’s abilities and evaluates their level of college readiness depending on what they have studied in high school. The reading, writing, language, and math portions of the SAT are separated by an optional essay. However, the discussion emerged in the last decade around the value of the assessment approach. The argument that academics and educators have made is that these standardized admissions tests do not indicate whether a student is prepared for college because the abilities required to graduate from high school and college are comparable. Additionally, significant racial and socioeconomic gaps can be detected in SAT scores. Higher education managers should shift the policies toward optional testing because it can help to enhance the number of applicants and diversity range in colleges.
The main focus of the valuation process of the SAT effectiveness is to determine the main functions and issues that can influence the overall performance of the testing. Scholars emphasize the discussion around the connections between the SAT and the students’ actual intelligence or cognitive abilities. The SAT is widely seen as measuring intelligence more than academic aptitude or what individuals have learned in school. This assertion has been the subject of extensive research. For instance, Frey and Determan (Sturm, 2022) evaluated data received from sample groups. Each group completed various tests, such as the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), IQ, and Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices, in addition to the SAT. The results revealed a high correlation between all tests, meaning that the SAT relies on the exact cognitive mechanisms as other assessment examples. They hypothesized that the SAT is a reliable indicator of intelligence.
However, an important argument is that the reflection expected from the SAT must show an understanding of the school program and readiness to study further based on the knowledge base. Additionally, it is vital to include personal factors such as nervousness, stress, and the ability to perform better in other types of intellectual activities than testing. Therefore, the SAT may be a helpful tool to determine general intelligence but does not reflect the level of knowledge gained in school. Consequently, it does not reflect the readiness for college.
Another aspect of the evaluation is the criteria of increased diversity and equality due to the implementation of test-optional policies. A few studies have examined the effects of test-optional regulations on institutional enrolment and outcomes. The results thus far are contradictory. Although enrolment of students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups and low-income students has increased, these trends are not unique to colleges that have adopted test-optional policies. The same demographic changes were also experienced by many comparable schools that maintained the required admission tests. However, the majority of research shows that test-optional enrollment policies did boost the number of applications in the immediate term. According to Saboe and Terrizzi (2018), the increased number of applicants who initially did not apply may be compensated by better-fitting students who are more likely to be accepted due to the test-optional policy. However, lower acceptance rates and lower scores suggest that the institution’s selectivity may be compromised.
The affordability of the preparation process influences the factors of equality. Several studies suggest that preparation for the SAT has a higher rate among wealthy students (Sturm, 2022). While online courses and individual tutoring are expensive, families with higher incomes can afford better-quality preparation tools for their children. Consequently, the statistical measurements of the SAT results will not show the relevant data of the lower-income students. At the same time, optional policies can provide various means to measure students’ knowledge based on essays or interviews and attract more applicants throughout the enrolment campaign.
When analyzing the findings of these investigations, several limitations should be considered. For instance, test-optional admissions are a relatively new approach in higher education. Most changes to experiment admissions happened after the 2006 – 2007 school year. Consequently, the information needed to evaluate the long-term effects of these alterations is now lacking. However, the evaluation of the diversity boost due to the shift from SAT requirements to optional policies can be completed on the case study of the State University of New York (SUNY), which applied the new approach in 2008 (Schultz & Backstrom, 2021). With the overall percentage of applications rising from 25.2 percent to 40.1 percent, the variety of full-time bachelor students at SUNY has drastically grown. It had one of the least diverse application pools before becoming test-optional, with only 18.1% of full-time bachelor applications in 2008 (Schultz & Backstrom, 2021). Thus, the diversity ranges increased due to the application of the new enrolment system.
Additionally, the 4-year and 6-year graduation rates for SUNY students are typically inversely correlated with SAT/ACT scores. Students with unknown scores graduate at rates comparable to SAT scores between 1100 and 1200, which is around one-third of SUNY students (Schultz & Backstrom, 2021). Therefore, implementing a test-optional policy, first of all, supported the development of diversity in the college, and secondly, allowed to evaluate students’ knowledge in the studying process on a high rate of potential SAT results. It means that the knowledge and readiness levels of students that applied without SAT are now lower than those who completed the test.
Nevertheless, with the inclusion of the optional SAT, several limitations emerge due to the established system obstacles. With fewer statistics accessible in a test-optional environment, universities’ capacity to use conventional test data as a determinant of first-year student achievement, including academic accomplishment and retention, is significantly damaged. Monitoring how first-year learners perform becomes crucial in determining the worth of these other variables and designing any necessary support networks for first-year students. The institutions modify their forecasting analytics to more heavily account for other easily obtainable factors and data points about students’ abilities. Additionally, admission selections in specialized spheres, such as business, engineering, nursing programs, and honors initiatives, frequently rely on information from standardized examinations. Decision-making concerning optional procedures will depend partly on how college admissions staff adjust to the limited evidence for these placements and student engagement and performance in these programs.
Therefore, researchers have debated whether utilizing the SAT as an entry requirement gives a reliable indicator of a student’s preparation for college when their performance on an extensive test can be significantly improved. Many schools and universities have switched to an admissions procedure without standardized tests. Overall, the analysis shows significant benefits in the implication of optional policies due to increased diversity and equality in the higher education field. However, the limitation is centered around established approaches of college management, which are based on SAT score evaluation to determine student abilities. Hence, new policies provide a promising opportunity to expand the applicant number, but they require additional changes in higher education management.
References
Saboe, M., & Terrizzi, S. (2018). SAT optional policies: Do they influence graduate quality, selectivity or diversity? Economics Letters.
Schultz, L. & Backstrom, B. (2021). Test-optional admissions policies evidence from implementations pre- and post-COVID-19. Rockefeller Institute of Government. Web.
Sturm, H. M. (2022). The Validity of the SAT and ACT. Spark Repository. Web.