UC Board Discusses SAT Fate

Regents of the University of California launched their first formal discussion Tuesday of a proposal that the university drop the SAT test as an admissions requirement, and several immediately expressed serious concerns.

A little more than a year ago, UC President Richard C. Atkinson shook the higher education community nationwide by challenging the value of the venerable test and calling on the university to stop requiring it for admission.

In January, a key faculty committee agreed, recommending that the university drop the SAT in favor of developing an exam more aligned with high school coursework.

The regents are not scheduled to vote on the faculty proposal until July at the earliest, but Tuesday’s half-day “informational” session offered a glimpse into their thinking on the issue. Although many expressed initial support, especially for the idea of linking an admissions test to California’s curriculum, others worried about the cost and potential upheaval involved.

“We are about to embark on a very disruptive, very costly and very complex process, one in which we are not certain what the outcome will be,” said Regent George Marcus.

He asked the university’s administration and regents to consider possible alternatives, such as continuing to use the SAT but de-emphasizing it relative to other exams, including the SAT II achievement tests.

“Why put the system, the students and the state through this, unless it can be clearly demonstrated” that the benefit is worthwhile, Marcus asked.

Atkinson has argued that the SAT is unfair to many students and fails to measure how much they learned in high school. Instead, he--and the influential faculty committee governing admissions--have said that they want a “core” achievement test closely aligned with California state standards for elementary and high school education.

On Tuesday, Atkinson said a new test would not necessarily involve starting from scratch but could combine elements of various admissions exams now used at UC and other colleges, including the ACT, the SAT and the SAT II. Any new test is likely to take effect no earlier than for the class entering the university in 2006.

Along with Marcus, other regents expressed concerns about the proposed test, including whether, as suggested, it could be formulated in such a way that a score equivalent to either the SAT or ACT could be derived from it. That would be important for California students applying to colleges elsewhere.

But several voiced support.