Forbes asks "Should High School Juniors Stop Worrying About The SAT And ACT?"

[Excerpts]

Once upon a time it was a given, an American rite of passage. If you wanted to keep college in your future, you had to face one of the 800 pound gorillas of standardized testing—the SAT or the ACT.

Nowadays, that faceoff is no longer a certain thing. Over 2,000 U.S. four-year colleges do not require the test, according to FairTest, an organization that has advocated for limiting the entrance exams.

The movement toward test optional got a big boost four years ago when COVID made testing difficult (over 1,000 colleges were ACT/SAT-optional before the pandemic hit). Today, that 2,000 represents the majority of four year colleges in the country (in 2021, there were 2,637 four year colleges).

Readers can be forgiven for thinking that the movement had reversed itself. The press has given outsized attention to a handful of highly rejective schools that are reinstating the test. As Harry Feder, executive director of FairTest noted at a recent conference, Yale’s decision to return to an SAT requirement was covered by The New York Times, but the University of Michigan decision to stay test-optional, made the day before, didn’t get any such coverage.

Yale argued, as do many test supporters, that test scores allow colleges to spot “diamonds in the rough.” But a new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research adds to evidence that elite, highly rejective colleges are not unearthing many rough diamonds.

The paper, from researchers Ran Abramitzky, Jennifer K. Kowalski, Santiago Pérez, and Joseph Price, finds that the general college-going population has increased the inclusion of students from the bottom 20% of income distribution. But that contrasts with “elite private colleges such as Harvard and Yale, where there has been virtually no change in the representation of lower-income students” over the last century. Students from the bottom income levels have made up around 5% of the student bodies.

These patterns are remarkably similar across all elite private institutions, including Ivy League universities, other elite universities such as Chicago, Duke, MIT and Stanford, and elite small private liberal arts colleges.

Feder told conference attendees, as reported by Higher Ed Dive, “What do the tests tell us? They tell us how wealthy your parents are. To near perfect correlation.”

Meanwhile, the list of colleges that require SAT or ACT scores is shorter than ever, and the list of schools where scores are not required but can be considered if you submit them is also in flux. For the moment, the tradition of test anxiety can be replaced with uncertainty, and students need to take a careful look at what their favored college or university will be requiring by the time they want to send in that application.

 
Inside Higher Ed reports that "Fewer 18-Year-Olds Enrolled in College This Fall". Enrollment has dropped by 5%.

[Excerpts]

Enrollment of 18-year-old freshmen dropped 5 percent this fall compared to last, a reversal of gains made in 2023, according to a new data analysis released by the National College Attainment Network Monday.

The special analysis, conducted by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, was commissioned by NCAN in order to take an early look at first-year enrollment trends after the U.S. Department of Education’s delayed rollout of last year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The new form, intended to simplify the financial aid process, was riddled with glitches that made it hard for many to complete and waylaid students’ financial aid packages.

The analysis uses data from the end of October, covering about 80 percent of higher ed institutions and about 82.3 percent of students enrolled across the country. This year’s steep drop in 18-year-old freshman enrollment contrasts sharply with the 3 percent enrollment bump the group experienced from 2022 to 2023. Enrollment fell for this demographic in 46 states this fall, with an average drop of 7.1 percent.

Bill DeBaun, senior director of NCAN, said the magnitude of the decline among recent high school graduates is “very large and very discouraging.”

He noted that a number of factors may have contributed to the declines, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to ban affirmative action, drops in the number of high school graduates in certain regions of the country and a relatively strong economy that may be enticing high school graduates to enter the workforce instead of attending college. But he believes the botched FAFSA rollout is the No. 1 culprit. He said June data tracked by NCAN found that FAFSA completions among high school seniors fell 11.5 percent year over year.

“My gut, as one who looks at a lot of FAFSA completion data, is that if we had had a normal FAFSA year last year, we would not be staring at a 5 percent decline in 18-year-old enrollment this semester,” DeBaun said. “We were starting to build some real positive momentum coming out of the pandemic. And this is a full reverse on that momentum.”

 
Stephen Burd at New America examines "The SAT’s Not-Quite-Comeback".

At the start of 2024, we were told that, like it or not, the SAT was making a comeback.

The source of this news was no less than the New York Times’s influential journalist and columnist David Leonhardt. In an article entitled “The Misguided War on the SAT,” Leonhardt reported that selective college leaders, many of whom had stopped requiring applicants to submit test scores during the pandemic, were reconsidering their decision to have their institutions adopt “test optional” policies. “A growing number of experts and university administrators wonder whether the switch has been a mistake,” he wrote.

Leonhardt’s column got the ball rolling. In the weeks and months that followed, nearly two dozen articles, op-eds, and newspaper editorials called on colleges to make the submission of test scores mandatory again. In many of these publications, supporters of the SAT and of its parent company, the College Board, essentially took a victory lap, forecasting the collapse of the test optional movement, which they said had been driven by “politically correct” ideologues opposed to standardized testing

“The Days of Optional SAT Scores May Be Coming to an End,” a column in The Hill prophesied. “Colleges Are Bringing Back the SAT. It’s the Right Move,” The Washington Post’s editorial board declared. “SAT Isn’t Racist. How Liberals Got It Wrong With Standardized Tests,” an op-ed in USA Today argued. “Higher Ed Got It Wrong – the SAT Still Matters,” the Republican columnist Rich Barlow wrote for WBUR, a public radio station in Boston.

With the end of the year quickly approaching, it’s a good time to revisit these forecasts to determine how accurate they were. Did the SAT make a triumphant return? And is the test optional movement on the verge of collapsing?

Hardly. After all the sturm and drang, only a little more than a dozen colleges and universities dropped their test optional policies in 2024, according to FairTest, which advocates on behalf of test-optional schools. Nearly 90 percent of the nation’s 2,275 bachelor’s degree granting institutions remain either test optional, leaving it up to students to choose whether or not to submit scores, or “test blind,” meaning that they do not consider test scores at all.

To be fair, the list of institutions that stopped being test optional is made up of some of the biggest names in higher ed, including Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, the University of Texas at Austin, and Yale. The New York Times ran individual stories when most, if not all, of these colleges announced they were switching back, leaving the impression that selective colleges were falling like dominoes.

But many big-name schools, such as Columbia, Emory, the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin, and Vanderbilt, chose to extend their test optional policies or make them permanent this year. But none of their decisions garnered headlines from The New York Times.

And despite Leonhardt’s contention, the leaders of these colleges did not stick with these policies because they are liberals or politically correct. Many have remained test optional because they have found that their institutions are attracting a larger and more diverse set of applicants than they previously had, in keeping with their institutions’ strategic goals and mission.

...the preliminary results of a national research study released this summer showed that many colleges that became test optional during the pandemic have become more diverse. The researchers found that moderately selective colleges experienced a statistically significant increase in Black student enrollment of 13 to 19 percent after they stopped requiring applicants to submit test scores. The study also found evidence that highly selective test optional colleges are enrolling more low-income students as a result of these policies.

Despite the backlash earlier this year, test optional and test blind admissions remain alive and well, and delivering on their promise at many colleges. That is good news but does that mean that advocates for these policies can now rest easy?

Certainly not. Supporters of standardized testing will continue pushing colleges to bring back the SAT for the 2025-2026 academic year. And their efforts could be bolstered by the country’s changing political climate. With Trump returning to the White House, colleges’ diversity efforts will come under even more fire than they have already.

But the challenges of the past year have shown the test optional movement’s strength and resilience, as well as the widespread appeal of these policies to the majority of four-year colleges.

 
West coast students continue to have great difficulty scheduling SAT tests near their homes. Oregon students have joined their California counterparts in complaining about the test center shortfall:

[Excerpts]

High schoolers around the Portland area say they’ve had to compete for scarce spots at SAT testing centers, even flying to other states to be able to take the standardized test for college admissions.

In the immediate wake of the pandemic, many colleges and universities suspended the mandate for applicants to submit standardized test scores from the SAT or ACT as part of their application.

But now, an increasing number of colleges and universities are reinstating the requirement.

The College Board, which administers the SAT, says that nationally, SAT test capacity has returned to pre-pandemic levels, save for in Washington and California.

The organization says that in theory, Oregon students shouldn’t have a problem finding a seat and that test center availability here is higher than it was in 2021.

Some students, though, say they’ve experienced a very different reality.

Seats are taken by the time many get to the sign up page, especially at peak times of the year, Portland area students say.

Lakeridge High School junior Drishti Singh said she had to adjust the parameters on the website of the College Board, which administers the SAT, to within 100 miles of her ZIP code to secure a spot to take the SAT on Aug. 24.

Singh took the exam in Vale, Oregon, at the Idaho and Oregon border. She flew to Boise, then drove with her mom one hour back into Oregon to Vale.

“I took it there because it was the only testing center open in Oregon for the August SAT,” said Singh. “Apparently, many of the kids there had driven hours from different places in Oregon because they all couldn’t find testing centers near them.”

Singh said that there were no other spots in Washington or northern California at the time she signed up, which was in early June. She had checked earlier, but the College Board did not have August SAT sign-ups open then.

Traveling for students to take the SAT can become a time consuming and costly barrier, raising equity issues. Mary Shipley, a Portland Public Schools parent, sent her son to Boise for him to take this year’s August SAT. She said she spent almost $1,000 to send him there with his sister, and they ended up missing a family gathering.

“I feel fortunate that we were able to have my son take the test, but I feel that it’s unfair that others surely couldn’t afford that,” said Shipley. “[Colleges] are saying that this element of their application process is an equalizer or it’s leveling the playing field, but how can that be if it takes this amount of resources just to take the test?”

 
California students continue to struggle with SAT test availability as well:

[Excerpts]

Students are traveling hundreds of miles to take their SAT as less than half of California SAT centers have reopened after COVID-19. “All over the Bay Area, kids are struggling to get seats for the SAT and ACT, not just at M-A,” M-A [Menlo-Atherton High School] College and Career Center counselor Mai Lien Nguyen said.

Junior Niklas Klemmer plans to fly to Pasadena and possibly Beverly Hills for the SAT. “Originally, I was going to have to go to Arizona, near Phoenix. That’s pretty common for people,” he said. “It’s really hard to find a testing location unless you log on the day that they post the link to get it.”

“I scheduled an SAT for Oct. 5 during the summer, probably in early August, a month after the actual dates dropped. The closest thing available was in Bakersfield, a four-hour drive away,” junior Phineas Bjorlin said.

Senior Mayra Arias began looking for openings in her junior year. “The only testing spot I could get is three hours away and in May,” she said. “I was hoping to take the test near M-A, but all the spots were full, so I had to make my appointment for June 1st in Fresno.”

“I had to go to Nevada to take the SAT in August during my junior year,” senior Holly Cheung said.

Senior Ryan Dyer took the test in far Northern California. “The booking was a couple of months in advance, but the closest one was still six or seven hours away,” he said.

“I couldn’t find anything nearby,” senior John Cutler, who went to Portland, Ore., said. “There was nothing within 100 miles.”

 
The ACT annual testing report for the class of 2024 has been released. A total of 1.38 million members of that class took the test during high school, compared to 1.97 million for the SAT. However, Illinois has announced that it will switch from the SAT to the ACT next year, which should narrow the gap between the two tests from nearly 600,000 in 2024 to about 360,000 in 2025. The total number of students listed in the combined SAT+ACT testing reports (which includes "double testers" who took both exams) reached a high of 4.05 million in 2018, and has declined to 3.35 million in 2024.

Composite ACT scores have declined steadily in recent years (from 21.2 in 2007 to 19.4 in 2024), reaching their lowest level in more than three decades.

The 2024 ACT press release touts the increasing importance of SAT School Day participation:

[Excerpts]

A record-high 78% of ACT exam takers who graduated in 2024 tested through State and District programs that provide school-day testing at no cost to students, according to new data released by ACT.

While the percentage of students testing during the school day grew in comparison to self-selected weekend testing, average scores remained steady. The national average ACT Composite score for the high school class of 2024 — students who were freshmen during the first full year of COVID-19 learning disruptions — was 19.4, comparable to the 19.5 average for the class of 2023.

Additionally, 30% of 2024 high school graduates met three or four of ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks in English, math, reading, and science, while 57% met one or more benchmark. Students who meet the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks have a roughly 50% chance of earning a B or better in the corresponding first-year college courses and a roughly 75% chance of earning a C or better.

 
Akil Bello of FairTest summarizes 5 sessions regarding test optional policies at the recently-held NACAC convention in Los Angeles:

[Excerpts]

Here is a summary of some of the major points in the sessions.

Test optional policies get underrepresented populations enrolled in the class:

Tim shared data from Emory:

– 71% of underrepresented students did not submit scores
– 74% of students from high challenged neighborhoods did not submit scores
– 77% first generation students didn’t submit scores
This data belies the “diamonds in the rough” argument. Seems like Emory is finding more diamonds WITHOUT scores.

A few more points from the session:

– Harry highlighted the media focus on highly rejective colleges warping the conversation about whether colleges are going back, specifically think about how littler coverage Michigan got when it extended its policy (the same day Yale went back to requiring tests).
– Nikki pointed out how unlikely it is that Hawai’i will go back because the tests doesn’t represent well the skills of her students.
– Tim reinforced that requiring the test may prevent more students from applying
– Sheila highlighted how important it is for colleges to be clear and consistent about their policy narrative, saying “If a college doesn’t take control of its narrative, someone else will tell the (wrong) story for them.”

 
CNBC reports on the continuing practice among affluent parents of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on college admissions consultants and SAT/ACT tutors:

[Excerpts]

At the nation’s top schools, including many in the Ivy League, acceptance rates hover near all-time lows.

“College admissions only ever gets more competitive and there’s a lot of stress from families about the stakes and how to get in,” said Thomas Howell, the founder of Forum Education, a New-York based tutoring company.

For some families, getting their child into a top school is an investment, and to that end there is almost no limit to what they will spend on tutors, college counselors and test prep.
Meanwhile, as the sticker price at some private colleges nears six figures a year, some students have opted for less expensive public schools or alternatives to a degree altogether. For those willing to pay for a four-year, private college, it should be worthwhile, the sentiment often goes.

“The value proposition of higher education is splitting,” Howell said, “it’s either a top school or a real value.”

For this crop of college applicants, it’s “top 20% or bust,” he added.

As a result, universities in the so-called “Ivy Plus” are experiencing a record-breaking increase in applications, according to a report by the Common Application.

The “Ivy Plus” is a group that generally includes the eight private colleges that comprise the Ivy League — Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale — plus the University of Chicago, Duke, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford.

To get into this elite group of schools, many families look for outside help to get a leg up.

“The consensus is it’s only worth going to college if it’s a life changing college,” said Hafeez Lakhani, founder and president of Lakhani Coaching in New York.

“What hasn’t changed is people with enormous resources willing to invest over $100,000, which is about 20% of our clients,” Lakhani said. “This might be the single largest thing they’ve spent on other than a car.”

Lakhani Coaching’s clients spend an average of $58,000 on counseling, but some have spent as much as $800,000 over the course of several years, according to Lakhani.

At that price point, students receive “essentially a ‘SEAL-team’ level tutor through almost every class,” he said.

Lakhani charges $1,600 an hour for his services, the top rate at his company, and still, families often choose to work with him over the less senior coaches there, some of whom charge about $290 an hour, he said.

Even if he charged more, that dynamic likely would not change, he added.

Parents often say, “it’s worth the investment,” he added. “That word investment comes up over and over again.”

At Command Education in New York, counselors meet with students weekly starting in eight or ninth grade. Families are charged $120,000 per year, not including the Standards Admission Test (SAT) or American College Test (ACT) test prep. By graduation, they’ve spent roughly half a million dollars.

Command caps the clientele at 200 students worldwide, mostly on a first-come, first-served basis, although they will turn students away if they don’t think they can deliver the desired outcome, according to Christopher Rim, the founder and CEO.

“At the end of the day, results are most important,” he said.