Controversy over SAT use continues

By Andrea Perera

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

When the SAT was first created, it was intended to increase
access to universities”“ but in the 66 years since its
adoption within admissions, some critics have charged the
standardized test actually reduces access for some students.

Though Harvard became the first university to use the SAT in
1934, the University of California would eventually adopt the test
as an admissions requirement during the 1960s.

What started as a way to allow people outside of the Northeast
and private prep schools to attend Harvard, has become one of the
main components of the admissions process at universities across
the nation.

“After the admissions process was done, I realized how
important the SAT is,” said Lisa Yoon, a 17-year-old Los
Alamitos High School senior accepted at both UC Berkeley and UCLA
this past April.

Administered by the Educational Testing Service and sponsored by
the College Board, which represents the colleges and universities
that use the test, the SAT I is currently used to measure a
student’s academic ability and potential success at colleges
and universities.

Currently, applicants to UC schools can take either the SAT I or
the ACT to fulfill the test prerequisite.

According to Rae Lee Siporin, director of UCLA’s
Undergraduate Admissions, test scores provide crucial academic
measures for all students ““ no matter what their backgrounds
““ because other academic criteria such as GPA, quality of
teacher instruction and availability of courses and curricula can
vary across schools.

Some critics, though, argue the SAT shouldn’t be used as
an admissions tool at all, since they say the test puts certain
students at a disadvantage.

High SAT scores, and subsequent admissions to universities,
select for “more privileged students, white or upper middle
class, rather than African American or low income students,”
said Monty Neille, executive director of Fair Test: The National
Center for Fair & Open Testing.

Meredith Phillips, an assistant professor of public policy,
agreed and said some African American and Latino students often
face limited access to quality high schools, curricula and
instruction, which leads to lower scores on the SAT.

The SAT is also biased against women, said Neille, who argues
that female students get better grades than male students, but do
worse on the SAT. That’s why schools like MIT weigh the test
differently for female applicants, he said.

The Educational Testing Service, though, stands behind its most
well-known test. Tom Ewing, spokesman for ETS, said each test
question is rigorously reviewed by both developers of the test as
well as teachers, who write many of the questions themselves.

The test writing process, he said, involves a “sensitivity
review” where experimental test sections are analyzed
according to different demographics, such as race, gender and
geographic origin.

“We study these questions to death,” Ewing said.
“We’re very confident in our process. We write
(questions) very carefully and involve teachers and if they
don’t work, we toss them.”

Still, some schools such as Bowdoin and Bates, no longer use the
SAT because their research found the test perpetuated a lack of
diversity within their schools, according to Neille.

“A lot of students were not applying based on the belief
that their SAT would keep them out,” Neille said.

After eliminating the SAT as part of admissions decisions, the
student body at both schools became more diverse, and in
Neille’s words, “the quality of student work” did
not decline.

But with an overwhelmingly larger number of applicants, UCLA
can’t be compared to schools like Bowdoin and Bates, Siporin
said.

Critics and supporters of the SAT do agree on one thing: Larger
problems of educational access can exacerbate disparities
highlighted by the standardized test.

“The SAT becomes a thermometer that diagnoses a wider
problem. Some critics want to get rid of the thermometer,”
Jeffrey Penn, spokesman for the College Board, said.

Siporin agreed that eliminating the SAT would not eliminate
earlier educational inequities.

“It would be irresponsible if we didn’t use the
SAT,” she said.

“We are looking for as much information as possible. There
is no question that minority students do not do as well, but does
that mean we throw away the test? Or do we find out why the
disparity exists?”

Penn agreed, “In spite of all that we do to make sure that
the test items are fair, there’s still a disparate
performance level between some groups.

“We don’t think there’s an innate problem with
these students. We don’t think it’s the tool itself. We
think that there is a problem with educational
opportunities,” he added.

Phillips said the controversy related to the SAT is not as
simple as a good or bad test because eliminating the SAT
wouldn’t result in a substantial difference in the students
admitted.

Test administrators say the disparities between test scores
should be addressed at the K-12 level of instruction.

“There needs to be attention paid to primary school,
elementary school and high school education. Otherwise you’re
left with an inequity,” Penn said.

But SAT critics like Neille say the admissions process itself
needs to be revised. Using high school grades in admissions
decisions can be an even better predictor of academic progress than
the SAT itself, he said.

According to Siporin, however, the GPA is already used as the
best indicator of academic ability within the UC admissions
process, although there is no specific formula delineating what it
takes to get admitted.

“We don’t have a formula … but, most important is
the GPA,” Siporin said.

Phillips said universities should do more research on how the
SAT should be used within their own admissions process.

“They should contract out with faculty at their university
to figure this out,” she said.

Depending on what universities discover, they might want to add
other considerations into admissions decisions, Phillips said.

“They might want to spend more time measuring the
unmeasurable things, like a student’s work ethic and
initiative,” Phillips said.

Siporin emphasized, however, that an SAT score is only one
component of an admissions decision that already takes many various
factors into account.

“It’s a piece of the total picture,” she said.
“It’s not the be all or end all.”

Volunteer work, personal circumstances and leadership experience
are some other factors considered in UC admissions decisions, but
academics are most important, Siporin said.

The SAT, she said, is a good indicator of academic ability.

“We’re never going to take a student who’s the
most outstanding volunteer, leader, or person with extracurricular
activities if they’re not outstanding academically. Academics
count first,” Siporin said.