The University of California system was hit with a civil rights lawsuit last week over required standardized testing.
The plaintiffs – four students, six nonprofits and the Compton Unified School District – accused University of California regents of knowingly putting student of color and students with disabilities at a disadvantage by requiring the SAT or ACT from applicants.
The argument presented in the case isn’t new. Advocates for college access have long questioned the value of standardized testing, and many view it as yet another barrier to higher education for underprivileged students.
College Board’s 2018 data shows 44% of White students scored above a 1200 on the SAT, compared to only 10% of Black students and 12% of Latinx students. An increasing number of schools have adopted test optional policies – 47 colleges and universities this year alone, according to a report by the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, or FairTest. About 1,060 colleges and universities now deemphasize testing in one way or another in the admissions process.
Bob Schaeffer, FairTest’s public education director called the SAT and ACT a “poor” predictor of undergraduate success and an “unfair gatekeeper” that blocks high education access for “many kids from historically disenfranchised backgrounds.”
“Because of differences in test scores by race and family income, kids who do well in high school but don’t have the advantages of well-to-do parents who can buy them test prep steroids that boost their scores are left behind,” he said, citing the “Varsity Blues” scandal as an extreme example. “The test becomes an unfair barrier to access for kids who could otherwise succeed.”
While Schaeffer and others have criticized required standardized testing for years, calling the SAT and ACT an illegal admissions requirement under California equal protection laws is a “unique and significant” move for the movement, he noted.
