Since the inception of the SAT in 1926, the admission world has debated (1976, 2001, 2008, 2015, 2018, 2019) the impact of and validity of the SAT (and later the ACT, CLT, CCTST, etc) on the pool of applicants and enrolled students at a university. Recently, more and more colleges have been asking themselves should they diminish the role of testing in their admission process and declare a test optional admissions policy.
This debate has heated up recently with the release of Measuring Success: Testing, Grades, and the Future of College Admissions and the announcement of the University of Chicago’s test optional policy causing many institutions to look inward at their use of test scores. However, the question of whether colleges and universities should stop using the SAT and ACT might just be the wrong question. It’s certainly the wrong question at a particular set of schools. While there are some schools where the additional predictive information (generally .02 to .1) from tests lends support to difficult admissions decisions, I think there are as many institutions that should be test optional but are holding on to the tests. In requiring these tests are these schools doing more harm than good to themselves? By holding on to these tests are these schools abdicating their duties to fairly evaluate all candidates and relinquishing that authority to the SAT and ACT?
This set of colleges, which I’ll describe later, should be looking more closely at what the value of the SAT and ACT (to their specific institution) and whether these tests provide any useful and valuable information given the current institutional priorities and applicant pools. Additionally, by shifting the burden of proof to the tests, the colleges reclaim their independent authority to control their admission standards and policies rather than ceding a substantial portion of that authority.
In short, why would schools let the SAT and ACT deprive their institutions of applicants and potential students without out requiring that these tests first provide substantial proof of their utility?
Test Scores
To make sure we’re all on the page, here is a slide from a recent presentation I did at University of Denver Diversity Summit. You can see from the slide the basic scoring information on the ACT (I’ll use the ACT rather than both the SAT and the ACT for simplicity’s sake but the general principles are identical for both tests). The average ACT composite score ranges from 1 to 36, however, if a test-taker were to guess randomly on all questions that test-taker would score about a 12. This suggests that the “true” range of scores is from 12 – 36. Furthermore, only 4 out of every 25 test-takers scored below a 15 on the ACT in the 2018 testing year. The partial percentile chart below shows the percentile of test-takers who scored below each composite score in 2018, as you can see very few people scored below a 14 or below. Let’s keep this in mind as we delve a little deeper into which schools might want to reconsider their testing policies.
Test Optional in All But Name
Given that an ACT score of 12 is essentially what a 3 year old would score on the ACT if she had the fortitude and hand-eye coordination to fill in all the bubbles on the Scantron, it’s not a radical statement to say that colleges enrolling students with scores within one standard deviation of a 12 are in effect test-optional. They are placing little to no value on the score achieved by admitted students. I offer that at these institutions the ACT and SAT are essentially test optional “by score.” If a school is test-optional “by score” and thus not using achievement on the test to make admissions decisions, then one might wonder why would such schools require the test (can they possibly be helpful for class placement?). It seems that many of these institutions are requiring the tests because that’s what other schools are doing or because it’s what they’ve always done. I’d love to see these schools take a closer look at how useful these tests are to predicting successful graduation or passing classes. If a school is not looking for a score that requires a demonstration of ability or even much effort then why bother requiring the test at all?
How big of a “problem” is this? How many institutions does this effect? Based on an analysis of the Common Data Set (a shared voluntary database of college admission and profile information) there are 204 schools where more than 20% of applicants enrolling were admitted with ACT scores of 12 – 17. These colleges represent almost 10% of the institutions that report their admission data to CDS. This is a substantial number of “test optional by score” schools that are making students pretend to take this $50+ test for what seems like little or no reason. Given all the pressures and challenges, especially to low income students, one might think these institutions might want to reconsider these policies.
One might argue that some schools use the SAT and ACT for advising or placement, but to me that is an argument against requiring the tests in the admission process rather than for. First, the tests are not designed to be placement exams and thus assess a range of curriculum that is likely well beyond the scope of any single college level math or english class. Given that multiple placement tests exists (Accuplacer and ACT CollegeReady, for instance), it seems odd to use the wrong tool for the job. Second, requiring the test in the admission process but not using it for admissions muddles an already confusing process and creates an additional barrier for low income and underserved students. Finally, this puts, perhaps unfairly, the costs and logistics of taking the test on applicants rather than on the university (which would pay for a placement test given to enrolled students).
Here is the full list of schools reporting 20% or more of their admitted students having 12 – 17 score on the ACT.
Institution Name | ACT Composite 25th | ACT Composite 75th | ACT Composite % Between 12 and 17 |
---|---|---|---|
Texas Woman’s University | 17 | 17 | 100 |
Lane College | 14 | 16 | 81 |
Shaw University | 13 | 16 | 76.47 |
Rust College | 14 | 21 | 75 |
Jarvis Christian College | 70 | ||
Central State University | 15 | 18 | 70 |
Univsersity of Arkansas at Pine Bluff | 14 | 18 | 68 |
Talladega College | 16 | 19 | 64 |
Penn State Schuylkill | 16 | 19 | 64 |
Prairie View A&M University | 15 | 19 | 60.03 |
Virginia State University | 15 | 19 | 60 |
Mississippi Valley State University | 15 | 19 | 60 |
Claflin University | 15 | 19 | 59 |
Gallaudet University | 15 | 20 | 59 |
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania | 14 | 21 | 58 |
Bloomfield College | 15 | 19 | 58 |
University of Maine-Fort Kent | 15 | 19 | 57 |
Lincoln University (MO) | 15 | 20 | 54.85 |
California State University-Dominguez Hills | 15 | 19 | 54.37 |
Alabama A&M University | 16 | 19 | 53.21 |
Albany State University | 16 | 19 | 53 |
Huston-Tillotson University | 14 | 19 | 53 |
Rosemont College | 15 | 20 | 52 |
Lincoln University (PA) | 16 | 21 | 51.92 |
California State University–San Bernardino | 16 | 20 | 50.2 |
California State University-Los Angeles | 15 | 20 | 50.1 |
College of St. Joseph in Vermont | 17 | 23 | 50 |
University of Maine at Machias | 15 | 25 | 50 |
Southern University and A&M College | 15 | 18 | 49 |
Alcorn State University | 16 | 20 | 48 |
Mount Olive College | 15 | 20 | 48 |
Northeastern Illinois University | 16 | 20 | 47.7 |
University of Virginia’s College at Wise | 16 | 21 | 47 |
Woodbury University | 16 | 21 | 45.4 |
University of Houston-Victoria | 15 | 19 | 44 |
Georgian Court University | 17 | 23 | 44 |
Thomas College | 13 | 22 | 44 |
Penn State Mont Alto | 17 | 24 | 42.86 |
Penn State Worthington Scranton | 17 | 21 | 42.86 |
Five Towns College | 16 | 24 | 42 |
Dominican College | 42 | ||
Saint Peter’s University | 16 | 21 | 41.94 |
Keystone College | 17 | 22 | 41.2 |
Neumann University | 17 | 19 | 41.18 |
Averett University | 17 | 21 | 41 |
Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) | 17 | 21 | 41 |
California State University–East Bay | 16 | 21 | 41 |
California University of Pennsylvania | 16 | 22 | 41 |
William Peace University | 16 | 21 | 40.9 |
California State University, Stanislaus | 16 | 21 | 40.6 |
Warner Pacific College | 16 | 22 | 40 |
Rhode Island College | 16 | 21 | 40 |
University of Houston-Downtown | 16 | 20 | 39.71 |
Jackson State University | 17 | 20 | 39 |
Marymount College | 16 | 22 | 39 |
Indiana State University | 16 | 22 | 38.75 |
Point University | 17 | 22 | 37.97 |
North Carolina A&T State University | 17 | 21 | 37 |
Barton College | 37 | ||
Tennessee State University | 18 | 21 | 36 |
Francis Marion University | 17 | 22 | 35.5 |
Reinhardt College | 17 | 22 | 35 |
Methodist University | 17 | 23 | 35 |
Mount Saint Mary’s University | 17 | 22 | 35 |
College of Mount Saint Vincent | 18 | 22 | 35 |
St. Thomas Aquinas College | 17 | 22 | 34.9 |
St. Thomas University | 16.25 | 20.75 | 34.1 |
Chestnut Hill College | 17 | 21 | 34.09 |
La Roche College | 17 | 23 | 34 |
American International College | 16 | 23 | 34 |
American Jewish University | 17 | 22 | 33 |
Lourdes College | 17 | 22 | 33 |
Hilbert College | 17 | 22 | 33 |
California State University, Fresno | 16 | 22 | 33 |
Anna Maria College | 18 | 21 | 33 |
Vermont Technical College | 33 | ||
Tuskegee University | 18 | 23 | 32.6 |
Husson University | 17 | 23 | 32 |
Gardner-Webb University | 18 | 23 | 32 |
The University of Montana-Western | 17 | 22 | 32 |
Kentucky State University | 17 | 22 | 32 |
Rivier College | 17 | 21 | 31.8 |
University of Texas-El Paso | 17 | 22 | 31.7 |
Coker College | 17 | 22 | 31 |
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania | 17 | 23 | 31 |
Nichols College | 17 | 23 | 31 |
Angelo State University | 18 | 23 | 31 |
Eastern Oregon University | 18 | 24 | 31 |
Oak Hills Christian College | 16 | 21 | 30 |
State University of New York – Cobleskill | 17 | 22 | 30 |
Bethany College (WV) | 17 | 23 | 30 |
Hope International University | 18 | 21 | 30 |
New England College | 17 | 24 | 30 |
Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus | 17 | 22 | 30 |
Fairmont State University, including Pierpont Community & Technical College | 17 | 22 | 29.2 |
The University of North Carolina at Pembroke | 18 | 22 | 29.03 |
University of Rio Grande | 17 | 22 | 29 |
West Virginia University Institute of Technology | 17 | 23 | 29 |
Mayville State University | 17 | 22 | 29 |
La Sierra University | 17 | 22 | 29 |
Notre Dame de Namur University | 17 | 21 | 29 |
Cascade College | 29 | ||
Central Wyoming College | 17 | 22 | 29 |
The University of Texas-Pan American | 17 | 21 | 28.9 |
Clayton College & State University | 17 | 21 | 28 |
Stevenson University | 18 | 23 | 28 |
Columbus State University | 17 | 22 | 28 |
Oakland City University | 17 | 23 | 28 |
MacMurray College | 17 | 23 | 28 |
Kean University | 17 | 22 | 28 |
Western Oregon University | 17 | 23 | 27.95 |
Cairn University | 17 | 24.3 | 27.78 |
Clarion University of PA | 17 | 22 | 27.57 |
Adams State College | 17 | 22 | 27.55 |
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania | 17 | 22 | 27.52 |
Radford University | 17 | 22 | 27.5 |
Eastern Washington University | 17 | 23 | 27.5 |
Lewis-Clark State College | 17 | 22 | 27.08 |
Upper Iowa University | 17 | 24 | 27 |
Southern Connecticut State University | 17 | 22 | 27 |
Indiana University Southeast | 17 | 23 | 26.9 |
Penn State Hazleton | 17 | 25 | 26.67 |
Brevard College | 17 | 22 | 26 |
Midway College | 18 | 22 | 26 |
Missouri Valley College | 19 | 27 | 26 |
Bryn Athyn College of the New Church | 17.5 | 23 | 26 |
Toccoa Falls College | 17 | 24 | 25.9 |
California State University-Sacramento | 17 | 22 | 25.6 |
West Virginia State University | 17 | 22 | 25.5 |
Northwood University, Texas Campus | 17 | 22 | 25.43 |
Augusta University | 17 | 21 | 25.4 |
Eastern New Mexico University | 17 | 23 | 25.35 |
William Penn University | 25 | ||
Pontifical College Josephinum | 17 | 25 | 25 |
Clark Atlanta University | 18 | 21 | 25 |
Indiana University-Purdue Univ. Fort Wayne | 17 | 23 | 25 |
University of Baltimore | 17 | 21 | 25 |
Dickinson State University | 18 | 23 | 25 |
Wayland Baptist University | 17.5 | 23 | 25 |
Cogswell College | 20 | 24 | 25 |
Penn State Delaware County | 18 | 26 | 25 |
Penn State Beaver | 18 | 24 | 25 |
California State University, Monterey Bay | 17 | 23 | 25 |
Southeastern University | 18 | 23 | 24.65 |
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania | 18 | 23 | 24.5 |
Indiana University Northwest | 18 | 23 | 24.4 |
Indiana University East | 18 | 23 | 24.3 |
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania | 18 | 23 | 24.3 |
Alverno College | 18 | 22 | 24.02 |
Shawnee State University | 18 | 24 | 24 |
Defiance College | 18 | 23 | 24 |
Colorado State University-Pueblo | 18 | 22 | 24 |
Keuka College | 18 | 23 | 24 |
Curry College | 18 | 21 | 24 |
University of the Incarnate Word | 18 | 23 | 24 |
Sterling College | 19 | 24 | 24 |
McMurry University | 18 | 22 | 24 |
Regis College | 19 | 23 | 24 |
The Culinary Institute of America | 17 | 23 | 24 |
Sierra Nevada College | 17 | 25 | 23.52 |
Shorter College | 18 | 24 | 23.2 |
Sweet Briar College | 18 | 27 | 23 |
Webber International University | 17 | 23 | 23 |
Columbia College (SC) | 18 | 24 | 23 |
Concordia University (OR) | 18 | 24 | 23 |
Catawba College | 22.87 | ||
Indiana University South Bend | 18 | 23 | 22.4 |
University of Pikeville | 18 | 23 | 22 |
Southern Wesleyan University | 18 | 22 | 22 |
Johnson State College | 20 | 28 | 22 |
Marian University | 18 | 22 | 22 |
Weber State University | 18 | 24 | 22 |
Moore College of Art and Design | 17 | 22 | 22 |
Louisiana College | 18 | 23 | 21.8 |
Tiffin University | 17 | 22 | 21.74 |
Southern New Hampshire University | 18 | 24 | 21.6 |
Tarleton State University | 18 | 23 | 21.48 |
San Francisco State University | 18 | 24 | 21.11 |
Colby-Sawyer College | 18 | 22 | 21 |
Campbellsville University | 18 | 23 | 21 |
Concord University | 17 | 25 | 21 |
University of Dubuque | 18 | 23 | 21 |
Keene State College | 18 | 24 | 21 |
Hampton University | 19 | 24 | 21 |
Central Washington University | 18 | 23 | 21 |
Mount Mary University | 18 | 23 | 21 |
Park University | 17 | 23 | 21 |
New Mexico State University | 18 | 24 | 20.8 |
University of California – Merced | 18 | 23 | 20.8 |
Manchester University | 18 | 30 | 20.13 |
Illinois College | 18 | 25 | 20.1 |
Cedar Crest College | 18.75 | 24 | 20 |
VanderCook College of Music | 20 | 25 | 20 |
Purdue University-Calumet | 17 | 23 | 20 |
Old Dominion University | 18 | 25 | 20 |
Marymount University | 18 | 24 | 20 |
Blue Mountain College | 18 | 23 | 20 |
Saint Joseph’s College (IN) | 25 | 18 | 20 |
Muskingum College | 18 | 24 | 20 |
Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University | 20 | ||
Southeastern Oklahoma State University | 18 | 23 | 20 |
University of Bridgeport | 18 | 21 | 20 |
Thiel College | 18 | 23 | 20 |
Penn State Shenango | 19 | 22 | 20 |