Despite complaints of bias, the SAT is still effective
By Chris Plumblee

This week, I write a column that was near to everyone’s’ hearts no less than four years ago.

I speak, of course, of the SAT.

The SAT is obviously full of problems. A standardized test used to measure scholastic achievement is by its very nature controversial. Some people claim that the SAT discriminates against some ethnic and socioeconomic groups, others claim that the test only determines test-taking ability, not real scholastic achievement. I personally believe that there is a place in college admissions for standardized tests, and that the SAT is the best example of this kind of test available at this point. However, the debate has left the theoretical realm to a large extent and gone to a practical realm.

The president of the University of California system, Richard Atkinson, is now encouraging the faculty and regents at the universities that he oversees to approve a change from the SAT I to the SAT II. This has brought a huge response in both the public and private higher educational community nationwide. The SAT has been in place for over 50 years, and many institutions are reluctant to change their standards.

However, if Atkinson is able to get the largest public education system in the nation to abolish the SAT as a standard, the effects will be huge. The potential exists, with the discontent that is already in place, to make a fundamental change in the way that high school students prepare for college.

A scientific study of the SAT would take too much time and also be counterproductive, because such studies have already been done and their conclusions are fairly well documented. Terry Blumenthal, a professor of psychology here at the university, said, “For all its faults, the SAT does provide a resource for admissions staff to predict performance in college.”

This statement addresses the primary concern of both sides of the argument. For those who believe that the SAT is an invalid measurement of achievement, the problem is that there needs to be some measurement of performance in college so colleges don’t just accept every student who applies, thereby both making the American college and university system as we know it today ineffective at educating the students who choose to apply, and also invalidating students’ achievement, because if the standards were removed, any student who completed high school would be equally able to attend Harvard, Yale, Stanford or Wasamatta University.

Now, the problems with the SAT lie in another area. There has long been evidence that various ethnic and socioeconomic groups are unfairly targeted by the SAT as chronic underachievers. Black Americans consistently score lower on the SAT than white Americans, and poor people, regardless of race, tend to score worse on the SAT than middle class or wealthy people. This is the primary reason that people like Atkinson dislike the SAT, but I believe that this complaint must be measured against the potential benefit of tests like the SAT and against the potential solutions to this problem offered by people like Atkinson.

The benefits of the SAT are enormous. First, scores on the SAT are positively correlated with performance in college, with a higher score on the SAT indicative of higher scores in college. The SAT provides a standard test that can be, and is, administered to thousands, perhaps millions of students annually at a minimal cost to the universities and colleges, who get much of the benefit from the test.

Additionally, the SAT is an objective test that is the same for every student from every public and private school system in the country. A student in a challenging, extremely competitive public school system may have C’s, while a student at a less challenging school may have A’s, but if the two students score the same on an objective exam, then those grades can be weighed accordingly.

The SAT is also a way to allow larger state universities to rank applicants within a mathematical formula, and at smaller universities like this one, for admissions personnel to glance inside the mind of an applicant. To bolster disadvantaged students the SAT has a smaller place in the admissions process, and often the disadvantaged students are effectively given bonus points in their applications. While this cannot replace getting to know every applicant personally, it is the best available predictor for performance. While the SAT does not put everyone on exactly equal footing, it is a valid predictor of performance.

The solutions offered by people like Atkinson are as lacking as the test admittedly is.
Everyone agrees, even me, that the SAT is a flawed test. However, the question is, what are the alternatives? Atkinson has proposed administering the SAT II to determine who will attend public universities in California. While he admits that these tests are as prone to discrimination as the SAT I, he says that a change needs to be made, and that the move to the SAT II will be temporary. He has stated that he will work with the Educational Testing Service to develop a test for California, but this proposal has as many potential flaws as the test that he’s getting rid of. And what about students from places like North Carolina or Alaska who want to attend UCLA or UC-Irvine?

Adding an additional test to the already volatile mix of the ACT and SAT could not ameliorate the anxiety for high school students, it can only make it worse. The only people that this proposal might benefit are students who are only applying for admission to public schools in California. Even in that case, if students don’t live in California, nobody can predict how easy this test will be to administer or find. In that instance, the test could be more discriminatory against low-income students, because they won’t have the money to travel the distance necessary to take the tests.

I believe that the move by the California system to change their admissions standard from the SAT is misguided at best, and does not present any really valid alternatives to a test that is at worst slightly flawed.