September 23, 2008 (Arlington, VA) – To address increasing public concern about standardized admission tests and their greater importance in undergraduate admission over the past decade, NACAC convened a Commission on the Use of Standardized Tests in Undergraduate Admission, which issued its report today after a year-long study.
Among the principal findings:
- Despite their prevalence in American high school culture, college admission exams—such as the SAT and ACT—may not be critical to making good admission decisions at many of the colleges and universities that use them. While the exams, used by a large majority of four-year colleges and universities to make admission decisions, provide useful information, colleges and universities may be better served by admission exams more closely linked to high school curriculum. There are tests that, at many institutions, are more predictive of first-year and overall grades in college and more closely linked to the high school curriculum, including the College Board’s AP exams and Subject Tests as well as the International Baccalaureate examinations.
- What these tests have in common is that they—to a much greater extent than the SAT and ACT—measure knowledge of subject matter covered in high school courses; that there is currently very little expensive private test preparation associated with them, partly because high school class curricula are meant to prepare students for them; and that they are much less widely required by colleges than are the SAT and ACT.
- A possible future direction for college admission tests is the development of curriculum-based achievement tests designed in consultation with colleges, secondary schools, and state and federal agencies. Such achievement tests have a number of attractive qualities. Their use in college admissions sends a message to students that studying their course material in high school, not taking extracurricular test prep courses that tend to focus on test-taking skills, is the way to do well on admission tests and succeed in a rigorous college curriculum.
- Regularly question and re-assess the foundations and implications of standardized test requirements and establish a NACAC Knowledge Center to share the results of research on the validity of tests.
- Understand test preparation and take into account disparities among students with differential access to information about admission testing and preparation; inform the public of all research about test prep and the current consensus that it produces only a 20-30 point gain (on the old 1600 point scale), not the 100 points or more that is conventional wisdom.
- Draw attention to possible misuses of admission test scores at such institutions as the National Merit Scholarship Program, U.S. News & World Report, and bond ratings agencies.
- Establish opportunities for colleges and secondary schools to educate themselves and their staff about the appropriate uses of standardized tests by instituting a NACAC training program for admission counseling professionals
- Understand differences in test scores among different groups of people and continually assess the use of standardized test scores relative to the broader social goals of higher education.
“Our Commission realized at the outset that a one-size-fits-all approach for the use of standardized tests does not reflect the realities facing our nation’s many and varied colleges and universities,” noted Commission chair William Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Harvard University. “Instead, the Commission focused on critical issues that affect all institutions and the students they serve.”
“We appreciate the work of this distinguished Commission, representing a wide range of institutions and perspectives, to identify and address pressing issues related to standardized testing for college admission,” stated Kimberly Johnston, NACAC President and Senior Associate Director of Admission at the University of Maine. “The NACAC Board of Directors looks forward considering the Commission’s recommendations for adoption this fall.”
The Commission’s full report is available online. A list of Commission members is available in the full report.
About NACAC
NACAC is an Arlington, VA-based education association of more than 11,000 secondary school counselors, independent counselors, college admission and financial aid officers, enrollment managers, and organizations that work with students as they make the transition from high school to postsecondary education. The association, founded in 1937, is committed to maintaining high standards that foster ethical and social responsibility among those involved in the transition process, as outlined in the NACAC Statement of Principles of Good Practice.