Record number of schools no longer require SAT/ACT in admissions

The number of schools no longer requiring SAT/ACT scores has risen to over 1,900 according to a recent statistic from The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest).

This new figure represents an increase of over 70 new schools not requiring the tests since Campus Reform reported on this trend less than a year ago. The total number also accounts for 83% of all four-year colleges in the country.

Per the FairTest webpage, the group’s goal is to “end overuse and misuse of admissions tests, which research shows provides only limited predictive validity and disadvantages women, low-income students, and underrepresented minorities.”

[RELATED: The SAT is racist? Why California schools ditched standardized testing requirements.]

In a statement, FairTest Executive Director Harry Feder claimed that standardized tests exclude racial minorities from accessing higher education. 

“Admissions offices increasingly recognize that test requirements, given their negative disparate impact on Black and Latinx applicants, are ‘race-conscious’ factors, which can create unfair barriers to access higher education,” he said. “They also know that standardized exams are, at best, weak predictors of academic success and largely unrelated to college-ready skills and knowledge.”

The website also posts a running list of schools where tests are optional and schools that do not look at test results at all.

The movement away from the entrance exams began during the pandemic, and many schools have since continued the trend.

Columbia University recently became the first Ivy League school to do away with the testing requirement permanently.

In a post to its website, Columbia claims “the holistic and contextual application review process … is rooted in the belief that students are dynamic, multi-faceted individuals who cannot be defined by any single factor.”

[RELATED: Florida seeks to replace SAT with CLT, following classical education trend]

It attempted to justify its decision, saying, “Based on an internal study encompassing multiple years of performance data, we found that test-optional admissions—which we provisionally introduced in 2020-2021 due to the pandemic—did not lead to a diminishment of the academic performance of our admitted classes or the academic success of our enrolled students.”

Campus Reform reached out to FairTest and Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

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