FairTest: Test Optional List Soares Past 750, Nears “Critical Mass”
As the college admissions season gets underway for the high school class of 2008, a new FairTest tally finds that more than 755 accredited, bachelor-degree granting institutions do not require all or most of their applicants to submit scores from either the SAT or the ACT (http://www.fairtest.org/optinit.htm).
Since a “new” SAT was introduced in March 2005 and the ACT exam added an optional “writing” section, more than thirty schools have eliminated admissions exam requirements. This summer and early fall, four more schools – Goucher, Merrimack, Christopher Newport, and Wittenberg, joined the list. In addition, more academic experts, including some unexpected allies, have endorsed test-optional admissions.
The failure of recent SAT and ACT revisions to address the tests’ historic problems has accelerated the pace. Admissions officers know from their own studies that test results still reflect race, gender, language and income biases. Research shows they are weak predictors of college academic performance. They also remain highly susceptible to coaching. Relying on test scores to evaluate applicants undermines both equity and educational quality (see FairTest report Test Scores Do Not Equal Merit .
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