College Board said it would offer a digital version of the SAT last year but abandoned that plan … [+]
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The College Board announced today that it is getting rid of the optional SAT essay and SAT subject tests and working on plans to offer a digital version of the main SAT. In a press release, the College Board, the New York City-based nonprofit that owns the tests, describes the changes as an effort to “reduce demands on students.” It says the pandemic has “accelerated a process already underway” to make changes.
But as Forbes reported in September, the College Board and its lone rival, Iowa City-based ACT, have taken a beating since schools went online in March. Numerous test centers have canceled exams, sometimes at the last minute, angering students and families. Colleges have responded by adopting test-optional admissions policies. According to FairTest, a nonprofit watchdog organization, more than 1,600 schools are not requiring fall 2021 applicants to submit scores.
In April, College Board President David Coleman said that if schools didn’t reopen in the fall, the College Board would offer a virtual version of the SAT, but abruptly canceled that plan two months later without explanation. Today’s announcement says that College Board is “investing in a more flexible SAT—a streamlined, digitally delivered test.” A College Board spokesperson declined to say whether the plan is to offer a remote-only test in the future or to make remote testing an option along with in-person exams. She also declined to elaborate on how the test will be streamlined.
The test costs $52 and runs for three hours, not including breaks. College Board has been charging $62 for the SAT with the optional essay, which adds an extra 50 minutes of test time. (Fee waivers are available for low-income students.)
The essay will be offered through June 2021, and students should check with the schools where they plan to apply to decide whether to submit scores or sit for future tests. If they have already registered for spring 2021 subject tests, they can cancel and receive a full refund.
The essay will still be given in some states that deem it useful for assessment purposes. The College Board has struck deals over time with 14 states including Illinois and Michigan to give the SAT to all students during the school day, paid for by the states because the test doubles as a federally required assessment.
Standardized entrance exams have long been controversial. Before the pandemic hit, the influential University of California system was already planning to adopt a test-blind admissions policy because of data showing that disadvantaged students and Black and Latino test takers score lower than privileged whites. In May, UC announced it was adopting a test-blind policy starting in 2023 and in November it said that because of the pandemic, all UC campuses would be test-blind this year. UC has said it may develop its own admissions test.
SAT subject tests cost $26 for three exams. They have been offered in 20 different disciplines, including U.S. history and world history and nine languages like Latin and modern Hebrew. College Board’s announcement today says it is discontinuing the tests because the College Board-owned AP exams cover the same ground and are widely available for “low-income students and students of color.” But after the UC system stopped requiring the subject tests in 2012, hundreds of other colleges followed suit.
College Board’s announcement implies that eliminating subject tests expands admission opportunities for disadvantaged students. But the College Board charges $95 for each AP exam, far more than it charges for the subject tests, and the College Board’s own data shows that Black and Latino students routinely score worse than white students on AP exams, as they do on the SAT.
In September, Forbes estimated that the College Board, whose most recently available tax filing in 2018 showed revenue of $1 billion, has already lost $200 million from canceled SAT tests. That number has surely grown.
