Following the lead of other private and state universities around the country, 62-year-old University of California Chancellor Janet Napolitano finally called a U.C. Regents vote whether or not the nation’s largest public university system would end use of SAT and ACT testing for admissions. Test makers like London-based Pearson and Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Service have long advocated standardized testing as the best way to predict college success, usually defined by Grade Point Average [GPA]. Napolitano followed a growing body of research indicating that standardized testing favored white applicants, where minorities, especially in poor communities, did worse on the SAT, ACT and other standardized tests. “The correlation of the SAT and the ACT to the socio-economic level of the student, and in some cases, the ethnicity of the student,” Napolitano said.
After six-hours of debate the U.C. Regents voted unanimously to approve eliminating standardized testing from the admission process, letting things like grades, recommendations and special projects advance students’ admission process. Ending standardized testing introduces a more subjective element to the admission process, creating new criteria for admission. Admissions counselors typically use standardized testing as a cutoff for applicants considered for admission. Admissions counselors now will be tasked with a more holistic process, weighing more subjective factors to determine eligibility for admission. U.C. Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ advocated ending standardized testing. Chris noted the discrimination lawsuit by Compton Unified School District alleging racial discrimination against applicants with disabilities, low income, racial and ethnic minorities.
With Paul Singer’s Operation Varsity Blues college admission cheating scandal fresh on everyone’s minds, it weighed in deciding to end standardized testing. While not openly discussed, well-heeled families pay test takers to fraudulently take admission tests. U.C.’s Academic Senate College Testing Task Force disagreed with making SAT/ ACT tests optional, believing they predicted college success. Made up U.C. faculty, the Testing Task Force still thinks SAT/ACT testing predicts college performance better than grades, they now see as inflated. U.C. faculty wants to create their own admissions test but would end up with the same problems found in standardized testing. Fair Test Organization, opposed to ending SAT/ACT testing, says standardized tests still predict college performance better than other parameters, including grades, recommendations and special projects.
Today’s ruling ending SAT/ACT testing by the U.C. Regents was praised by FairTest, the National Center for Fair & Open testing. “Today’s vote by the University of California [U.C.] Regents to phase out SAT/ACT admissions testing requirements at all U.C. campuses is a huge victory for both equity and academic quality, “ said Bob Schaeffer, FairTest’s Interim Executive Director. Schaeffer thinks that ending standardized testing fixes today’s admission bias for white students over minority and low-income students. Napolitano insists there’s a SAT/ACT bias against students from minority and low socioeconomic status. “FairTest expects many colleges and universities now in the process of evaluation their own admissions testing mandated to heed the message from California and adopt SAT/ACT-optional policies,” Schaefer said, seeing other colleges and universities following suit.
Leading the U.C. Regents to back her plan to end SAT/ACT testing, Napolitano has no guidance for admission counselors now thrown into chaos. When you take out the one objective measure of test performance, you now introduce subjective measures for determining who’s eligible for admission. Napolitano said the U.S. Regents gave students and admission counselors until 2022 to end SAT/ACT testing completely, making the practice optional until then. For the next two years, U.C. applicants will have the option of using SAT/ACT testing in the admissions process. When that ends in 2022, U.C. admissions will have to come up with a new formula that’s more fair than the standardized testing admission process. Without some objectivity, it’s going to be difficult for U.C. admissions’ personnel to figure out who’s the appropriate candidate to accept or reject.
Unless Napolitano can figure out how systematize a fair admissions process post-SAT/ACT testing, the U.C. admissions process could be in chaos going forward. Expecting U.C. Regents to contract out for a new admissions test would put U.C. right back in the same dilemma: How to deal with minority and low-income students. Beyond that, U.C. faculty and curriculum have always leaned toward math, science and technology, leaving faculty in a quandary how to screen to accept the best-and-brightest students for those majors. Burdening U.C. faculty with creating a new admissions test would repeat the same injustice now blamed on standardized testing. Certain majors like math, science, engineering and technology require students to have certain proficiency in math and science, something measured on standardized tests. U.C. admissions now have the burden of creating a fair admissions process.
