Why the Format of the SAT's is Changing

1498 Words3 Pages

Why thFormat of the SAT's is Changinge

The SAT's have sometimes been the deciding factor when determining a student's admission to a certain college, but recently colleges have stopped regarding SAT scores as the most important factor, and in some cases, colleges are now not even requiring applicants to submit their scores. This change in significance of the SAT's is due to recent controversy over the fairness of the test. According to Fair Test (2001) three hundred and eighty-eight schools do not require applicants to submit their SAT scores, and hundreds more do not place much emphasis on the scores. Because of the recent controversy and the number of schools not looking at or de-emphasizing the SAT's, the College Board, (the company in charge of designing, administering, and grading the test), has decided to make several changes to the format of the SAT's (which was just revised in 1994). These changes will take effect in the year 2005.

One of the main reasons that colleges have stopped looking at SAT scores is because there has recently been much speculation about the test being biased against certain groups, these groups being African Americans, Latinos, women, and those of a lower socioeconomic status. Also, some colleges are not placing an emphasis on the test anymore because the College Board has admitted that the SAT is designed so that only one half of those taking the test answer correctly. (Alfe, 2002)

According to statistics published by Finley (2002), of the results from the 2001 SAT's, the average verbal score for African Americans and Hispanics was 433, while for whites it was 529, and the average math score for African Americans and Hispanics was 426, while for whites it was 531. This is a big difference by about 200 points. The comparison between African American and Hispanic scores with white scores can make a big difference in the student body of colleges who place a big emphasis on SAT scores. In 1997, the dean of Berkeley said, "We have evidence that the SAT lost us two thousand Latino students this year alone." (Zwick, 1999). This shows that even in 1997, just three years after the SAT was revised, educators were still seeing problems with it.

There is also a difference between the average scores of males and females on both sections of the SAT.

Open Document