Why The SAT/ACT Are Going Down Like The Titanic

The luxury passenger liner Titanic was widely believed at the time to be unsinkable. Then, came the shocking revelation that an unseen obstacle easily sank it to the bottom of the ocean on its maiden voyage. It always seems impossible right up to the moment it happens. The SAT was born from the same era as the Titanic and will suffer a matching fate from obstacles exacerbated and accelerated by Covid-19. Unlike the infamous ship that fell victim to a single iceberg, the SAT/ACT are colliding with multiple, smaller icebergs that will send the tests to the bottom of the sea of education.

Test-Optional Iceberg

For years, The National Center For Fair and Open Testing (FairTest.Org) has been reporting the growing number of colleges going test-optional. With a surge led by the University of California’s decision last year to suspend the use of the SAT/ACT until at least 2024, 1370+ colleges (59% of all colleges) are now test-optional. This includes all eight Ivies, selective private institutions, and flagship public universities. If you are a fan of Roger’s Change Adoption Curve, you’ll see that suspending/dropping the SAT/ACT is in the late majority stage when even the skeptics are getting onboard. Update December 2021: Fair Test reports 1815+ colleges (nearly 80%) are now test-optional.

Varsity Blues Iceberg

Watch the Netflix documentary, Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal to catch up on the corruption and greed that drove desperate, entitled parents to find a “side door” into selective colleges. Parents shelled out big bucks for “side door” mastermind, Rick Singer, to arrange cheating on SAT and ACT tests. Tests were frequently taken by hired test-takers. Singer also secured false psychological diagnoses from unscrupulous medical professionals to secure accommodations (extra time) for the students. This is a common practice by the wealthy beyond the Varsity Blues investigation. The stench of the investigation and convictions lingers over the whole admissions process like a “dead fish in a newspaper.”

Fiske Guide Iceberg

The widely recognized Fiske Guide To Colleges with 73 percent of market share is dropping SAT/ACT scores from its rankings due out in July 2021. In its introduction to the guide, Fiske declares, “Rather than publish inaccurate and misleading data, we have decided to omit any reporting of score ranges for the foreseeable future. To do otherwise would be a disservice to our readers.” The guide goes on to list other questionable admissions practices such as legacy admissions, niche sports admissions, strategic allocation of merit scholarships, and the test prep industry as harming or reducing the opportunities “that inadvertently perpetuate structural racism and economic inequality.” Doesn’t sound like the Fiske publication will be reversing engines anytime soon, if ever.

Update September 2021:

Forbes includes a new criterion in college rankings: students’ access to Pell grants, not just the number of students a university rejects (“acceptance rates”) but the number of students from less privileged households. Now, public school UC Berkeley tops the list. One small step…

Jared Kushner Iceberg

This is a small iceberg, perhaps better described as a slushy. Kushner, the son-in-law and former senior White House advisor to Donald Trump, was admitted to Harvard’s 1999 freshman class. As documented in Daniel Goldman’s book, The Price Of Admission, officials at Kushner’s high school were aghast and upset at his admittance. Goldman quotes a school official, “His GPA did not warrant it, his SAT scores did not warrant it. We thought for sure, there was no way this was going to happen. Then, lo and behold, Jared was accepted. It was a little bit disappointing because there were at the time other kids we thought should really get in on the merits, and they did not.”

Previous to his application, Kushner’s father had gifted $2.5 million to Harvard. You can make your own decision on what influence this donation had on the application. I’m more interested in what Kushner did AFTER he was admitted. Although specific information on his Harvard academic performance has not been revealed, he graduated in 4 years with Honors.

So, his high school grades did not warrant admission. His SAT scores did not warrant admission. Yet, he graduated on time and with distinction. Despite his potential odorous back door entry, he was more than capable of handling whatever academic expectations Harvard threw his way. Remind me again why outstanding SAT and HS grades are THE gateways into the Ivies and other highly selective universities?

Kushner is one glaring example of why traditional grades and standardized test scores say little about an individual’s success potential at highly preferred colleges. Since 2011, Singer admits to helping at least 750 families without strong enough academic credentials to cheat their way into selective universities.  Although universities say legacy admissions meet the same criteria as other applicants, a 2007 Princeton study reveals, “legacies who enjoyed a greater admissions bonus earned lower grades.” Clearly, not all special admissions thrive. My point being that considerations beyond test scores are frequently employed to the detriment of more worthy applicants.

The SAT/ACT and the college admissions process have been thoroughly gamed by unethical wealthy families and encouraged by institutions craving their deep pockets. It’s not a dirty, little secret anymore. Even the All-American Rejects publicized the cheating back in 2009.

Yale Iceberg

Because of the pandemic, Yale has also gone test-optional. Jeremiah Quinlan, head of undergraduate admissions, lauds the value of the SAT, even over high school grades, in predicting success at Yale. However, in evaluating applications without the SAT results he has admitted, “I can say that it has not been as disruptive as we had thought it was going to be. We have found that if you just spend a little bit more time looking at the transcript, the essays, letters of recommendation, or even an interview, you can find evidence of academic preparation or curiosity or excitement or fit for Yale that can make us confident in our ability to admit the right type of students.”

Just to repeat; “not as disruptive as we thought” and “you spend just a little more time.” One question. Why hasn’t Yale done this in the past? Why has it taken a pandemic to broaden your perspective? Sorry, that was two questions.

Update December 2021: Harvard going test-optional through fall 2026. “it also signals that the university believes it can assess tens of thousands of applicants by looking at ‘whatever materials they believe would convey their accomplishments in secondary school and their promise for the future,'” reports Harvard dean of admissions and financial aid William Fitzsimmons.

Revenue Shortfall Iceberg

A former colleague working in the Princeton, NJ education community shared the education testing industry was “struggling like crazy, laying people off.” Update October 2021: This observation is confirmed by a Chronicle of Higher Education article, “Though it would be premature to say that college-entrance tests are fading away, their grip on higher education is weakening, which will continue to affect the bottom line of two testing titans.”

According to financial records for the fiscal year ending in August 2020 The College Board (SAT) and ACT are hemorrhaging money. The ACT also posted a $34 million dollar loss for 2019. This shortfall is not sustainable, especially with a continued decline in testing demand.

College Board Iceberg Avoidance System

The SAT evolved in the early 1900s from the racist belief of Nordic, White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) intellectual superiority, then morphed into the revered, reviled test of today. For the past 30 years, the College Board has been busy navigating around self-created icebergs. According to Bruce Hammond’s article on the SAT and racism, “The College Board conceded that scores do reflect differences in school context, yet it could not reasonably claim that SAT measures academic achievement. Damage control has continued in fits and starts: re-centering, the New SAT, the new New SAT, the required essay, the optional essay, the ‘adversity score.’ Each new iteration of the test is hustled out to fix the problems of the previous one, problems that the College Board had previously denied were problems.”

In January 2021, subject area tests and the optional essay were also dropped from the College Boards’ portfolio. You can bet that the most recent changes were as much a cost-cutting measure as anything else.

The College Board has crashed into another self-created iceberg. In February 2023, it announced a revision of the new AP African American History course. Although the College Board claims to have removed Black Lives Matter, critical race theory, and queer experience from its formal curriculum based on their own research, many outsiders are blaming the changes on bowing to political pressure from Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida. There seems no end to their debacles.

One More Iceberg – Equity

Applications for fall 2021 are up at many selective universities. Harvard, up 42%. Yale, up 38%. UCLA, up 28%. Clearly, many students from all backgrounds are taking advantage of the test-optional opportunity.  But, it also means the increased selectivity factor will influence some wealthy families to become even more devious in their ways. They’ve been frightened by the test-optional system that threatens their stranglehold on admissions hegemony.

As a stressed parent at an international school in China lamented, “We had the formula [gaming the SAT]. Now, they’ve pulled out one of the parts of the equation!”

Twist and turn away from reality, if you can, but lack of equity is a multi-systemic failure, not just in education. However, so much attention has been focused on the issue through social media, print, and TV news coverage. As they say, people are watching and not afraid to speak out anymore. In this instance, I’m not against shaming the wealthy and universities as a tool for change.

Lastly, an amazing thing happened in September 2020. Under unprecedented circumstances, kids went to college (virtual), many without providing SAT/ACT scores. Some will excel, some will get by, a few will drop out. Hope and planning for widespread on-campus experiences this fall is strong when even more colleges will have foregone the SAT/ACT scores.

Is it enough?

With the SAT/ACT ship listing heavily, will the unscrupulous turn to gaming other aspects of the process? Until all colleges embrace holistic admissions policies, we can forecast that unethical families will do anything to get their children into the most selective schools. Unless you were a direct benefactor, it already seemed impossible that anyone would believe the pre-Covid college admissions process was sustainable. I mean, eventually, you have to start cheating the cheater to further the advantage, right? However, never underestimate the sheer force and power of the economic, politically advantaged to suppress real change for equity.

Is it enough? It should be … but only if we ignore any and all SOS signals from the sinking SAT/ACT ship.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela