SAT, ACT offer to change tests

KEITH ENRIQUEZ/DB Senior Staff UC President Richard Atkinson
discusses a new UC test to replace the SAT.

By Christina Jenkins
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]

High school students hoping to attend the University of
California will face a compulsory writing assessment on college
entrance exams if the administrators of the SAT and ACT change
their tests, as they proposed to do Wednesday before the UC Board
of Regents.

Applicants to UC campuses represent the greatest demand for
standardized tests in the country. Facing the possibility last year
that they would lose this client, the testing industry’s two
biggest agencies have instead decided to change their tests.

The College Board ““ which administers the SAT ““ and
ACT, Inc. presented amendments to their current tests that would
involve the addition of a writing sample at the Regents’
meeting at UCLA.

Currently, both the SAT and ACT are multiple-choice
examinations.

Pending a green light from the College Board Board of Trustees
in June, and the approval of both the Regents and the Academic
Senate, these tests would be available for students to take in
2004. 

The earliest UC admissions criteria change would occur in Fall
2006, allowing for a period of transition.

“If both tests are approved, both tests will be
offered,” said Brad Hayward, a spokesman for the UC Office of
the President. “We hope to work with both as much as
possible.”

Last year, UC President Richard Atkinson suggested that the UC
should only use tests that evaluate school-based learning, rather
than aptitude, in its admissions criteria.

Signaling a move to a more curriculum-based test, the approval
of these proposals would confirm the UC’s influence over the
testing industry.

“There seems to be a real opportunity to strengthen the
test, and to tie it more closely to what is being taught in the
classroom,” said James Montoya, the College Board’s
representative at Wednesday’s meeting.

Both proposals observed the recommendations of the UC Board of
Admissions and Relations with Schools, a division of the Academic
Senate, which advocated the use of curriculum-based tests for
admissions.

The ACT, which already tests students on math, science and
language, would revise its test only minimally to include a
25-minute writing sample. The development of this test, ACT, Inc.
president Richard Ferguson said, would involve educators.

“It would involve working with faculty who teach freshman
English courses to help define the types of skills they need to
succeed in college,” he said.

The College Board’s proposal involves the integration of
the writing sample from its SAT II Subject Test into its SAT I
exam, as well as the addition of more advanced math problems.

Some regents, including State Superintendent of Education
Delaine Eastin, expressed enthusiasm with the proposals.

“It is easy to downplay writing ““ by this becoming a
more important part of admissions criteria, it is changing
curriculum,” she said.

Regent John Davies said that the new tests would represent a
revolution in what “teaching to the test” means. If the
tests change, he said, test”“prep services would at least be
teaching to a test that is worth teaching to.

“Teaching to the test will be helpful and
important,” he said.

However, other regents expressed concern about the financial
implications of grading a writing sample.

Regent Monica Lozano said she hoped the testing agencies would
avoid passing on these costs to the students.

Though Montoya said the College Board, a non-profit
organization, does not currently have an estimate on how much more
costly it will be to hand-score the essay portion of the test, he
expressed hope that such increases would be minimal.

“Our commitment is to make certain that we do everything
we can to keep the cost low,” Montoya said.