Earlier this year at a gathering with members of the press, the
presidents of a handful of top research universities were discussing
their commitment to diversity. As if with one voice they said
standardized test scores play only a small part in their admissions
process. Their institutions, they pronounced, are virtually
disinterested in SAT and ACT scores.
The high-powered buzz of insistence ended abruptly, however when
the presidents were asked whether their institutions issue press
releases whenever their average freshman SAT scores go up.
The embarrassed silence illustrated the central paradox surrounding
standardized test scores — that even though higher education
professionals understand their limitations, especially as an aggregate
measure of groups of students, they also know that the general public
is impressed by high test scores and considers them of paramount
importance.
Last week, the College Board released its annual report on student
performance on the SAT. As the public and higher education institutions
now clamor to interpret and market the findings, it is useful to
examine what testing experts have to say about what these scores really
mean and the context in which they should be used.
The Power of Numbers
“America believes three is bigger than two. They believe these
numbers,” is the way Joan Snowden, a former director of a policy center
at the Educational Testing Service (ETS), describes the public’s
understanding of test scores.
Examples abound of the public’s reliance on SAT and ACT scores as a
measure of academic achievement. Colleges consistently publish average
freshman test scores, which high school students then use to determine
where they should apply. Real estate agents and parents use the high
school-by-high school listings of scores, published by local
newspapers, as guides to the “best” schools and neighborhoods. And the
National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), which governs
intercollegiate sports competition, uses SAT and ACT scores as a way to
decide who can play: A student who receives a score of 17 on the ACT,
for example, has to sit out a year before playing intercollegiate
sports.
