University of California president gives SAT a failing grade

University of California president Richard Atkinson made a speech Sunday in which he proposed to end the use of SAT scores as admission criteria for the state university system he oversees.

Atkinson's proposal must be approved by the faculty senate and the university system's governing board of regents before it could be implemented.

If the proposal passes, it may have a far-reaching impact, as UC is one of the largest and most prestigious state university systems in the country.

Contending that overemphasis on the SAT is compromising America's educational system, Atkinson recommended an alternative practice under which admissions would be based primarily on students' course work and tests that relate more concretely to the subject matter studied, such as the SAT II subject tests.

"In America, students should be judged on what they have accomplished during four years of high school, taking into account their opportunities," Atkinson said in his speech. "The problem is tests that do not have a demonstrable relationship to the student's program of study."

Atkinson said schools need to consider other factors that are more important than numbers.

"I recommend that all campuses move away from admission processes that use narrowly defined quantitative formulas and instead adopt procedures that look at applicants in a comprehensive, holistic way," he said.

Atkinson said he was disturbed when he visited an upscale private school and found that students were spending a large portion of their class time studying verbal analogies in anticipation of the SAT.

"The time involved was not aimed at developing the students' reading and writing abilities, but rather their test-taking skills," he said.

Another criticism Atkinson had about the SAT was the perception that they measures innate ability. "Most troubling of all, SAT scores can have a profound effect on how students regard themselves," he said.

Atkinson added that the SAT puts pressure not only on students, but also on teachers, parents, admissions officers and even university presidents.

According to Atkinson, teachers spend a great deal of time preparing their students for the SATs because the teachers know they will be judged based on their students' performances.

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College admissions officers are also under pressure to bolster the SAT scores of the entering class, leading them to sometimes overemphasize the importance of these scores.

Parents who can afford the high cost often enroll their children in SAT preparation courses, Atkinson said. Others have even gone so far as to shop around for a psychologist who is willing to certify that their child is learning disabled so that he will be given more time for the test.

"Given attempts of some individuals and institutions to gain any advantage, fair or foul, is it any wonder that leaders of minority communities perceive the SAT to be unfair?" Atkinson asked.

Atkinson's proposal is that standardized tests used in the admissions process be directly related to the required college preparatory curriculum. He said students from any high school in California should be able to score well if they have mastered the material from the courses they have taken.

He said achievement test scores should be a good indicator for admissions officers to evaluate an applicant's readiness for college-level work, information he does not feel the SAT presently provides.

Atkinson proposed that until more alternative tests are available, the UC system will rely on the SAT II examinations.

In addition, UC recently implemented "Eligibility in the Local Context," a program that grants the top four percent of seniors in each California high school eligibility for the UC system. The program is based on their grades in UC-required courses and does not consider standardized test scores.