NACAC Announces First Major Follow-Up to Testing Commission Report 

April 20, 2009 (Arlington, VA) – The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) will release the first official follow up to its 2008 report calling on colleges and universities to rethink their use of standardized admission tests. As an immediate follow-up to the Report of the Commission on the Use of Standardized Tests in Undergraduate Admission, NACAC wrote to several key stakeholders to present the findings and recommendations of the report.  “NACAC will continue to work with key admission testing stakeholders to pursue the recommendations of the NACAC Testing Commission,” noted Joyce Smith, NACAC Chief Executive Officer. “By following through on the Commission’s work, we look forward to furthering our association’s commitment to ethics, to supporting our professionals, and to protecting the interest of students in transition to college.”

NACAC initiated communications with ACT, Inc., The College Board, and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation to engage in a dialogue on the following topics:

• Ending the use of a single test score as the initial eligibility criterion for the National Merit Scholarship. Responses from the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation did not directly address NACAC’s concerns. NACAC seeks a continued dialogue with each organization to ensure that qualified students are not unnecessarily left out of this highly visible college access opportunity.
  
•  The use of standardized admission test scores as state accountability measures.There was a difference of opinion between the two testing agencies on the use of admission tests as state accountability measures. NACAC will continue to urge states to conduct independent, ongoing evaluations of their accountability systems and the ability of college admission tests to perform as measures of student achievement in high school.
  
•  Initiation of “test usage audits” to ensure appropriate test use. NACAC is encouraged by the College Board and ACT’s attention to proper use of their testing products. While we believe that training is a critical component of appropriate test use, our experience has shown that continued attention and oversight may be necessary to ensure ethical practice in admission. We look forward to working with the College Board and ACT to ensure that admission test use meets appropriate ethical standards.
  
• Development of an independent training resource on standardized admission tests for college admission and school counseling professionals. NACAC is encouraged by the College Board and ACT’s willingness to assist in the development of an independent research and training base for college admission testing. NACAC will soon release its first major research effort since the Commission report on test preparation. Later in 2009, NACAC will unveil a new textbook on the fundamentals of college admission testing for college admission counseling professionals. We believe that this resource will allow college admission counseling professionals to establish a strong, independent knowledge base, which has long been absent in the college admission counseling profession.

 All communication between NACAC and key testing stakeholders, including the NACAC’s response to stakeholder replies, is available on the NACAC Web site.

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.