UC's will end use of SAT/ACT

You may have heard about the UC Board of Regents' decision to end the use of the SAT and ACT in admissions over the next few years (WaPo, CNN, LAT). Here are a few quick reactions.
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• I'm not 100% on board with the decision, but I admire the Regents' willingness to move boldly. They felt that the tests created inequity, and they made one of the boldest moves in recent higher education history to address it.

• The Regents voted unanimously to eliminate the SAT/ACT, but the Academic Senate (i.e. the faculty representatives) voted unanimously to continue using them. The Regents are concerned about inequity. I think the faculty is concerned about an influx of less capable students into their classes. SAT and ACT scores provide a check on students with high GPA's whose fundamental math, reading, and writing skills are lacking. There are a lot of these students, and it's likely that more of them will get into UC's. That's probably not a good thing.

 

• I did not see this decision coming. I'm surprised that a system receiving over 200,000 applications per year would want to eliminate a simple numerical measurement. And I'm surprised they would eliminate the only common, objective comparison point in the application process.

 

• There's the larger issue of whether the SAT and ACT themselves are biased or whether they reflect a biased reality. I don't think the issues of bias in the tests are much different than the issues of bias in the school system: wealthy families get better outcomes for a whole host of reasons. Eliminating the SAT and ACT feels a bit like shooting the messenger to me. 

 

• I understand and support equity, so I have questions about whether this policy will further it or not. Without SAT/ACT scores to validate academic ability, it could be even harder for a student to earn UC admission coming from an underperforming high school if the GPA's of students from higher-performing schools are consistently seen as more reliable indicators of college readiness.

 

• Good luck if UC wants to design its own test. I hope they succeed. But I'm amazed that they really want to open that can of worms. It's hard to imagine how they would design something wildly different/better/more reliable than the SAT and ACT.

I hope it all works! The goals are the right ones. I just have questions, and they won't be answered for years.

​Matt