A new front has opened up in the battle over the SAT, and the combatants are profiled in a long (14 page) article in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education. The new critics of the SAT don't argue that it's biased; they're upset that it's not based on the school curriculum. Using what is essentially an IQ test for college admission creates incentives for students to learn gimmicks to ace the test, they argue. If colleges instead used curriculum-based tests for admission purposes, students would have new reason to pay attention to their high school courses and a clear idea of what standards they must meet. Such tests could also be used to identify areas where schools need to improve instruction. Several groups mentioned in the article are studying whether today's state assessments could replace the SAT in college admissions and some of the groups are helping states design better tests. Some of the challenges they're wrestling with include a fear that college admissions directors will face logistical nightmares trying to make sense of scores from 50 different state tests and a concern that developing fair questions and ensuring security for tests used for college admissions purposes will be costly for states. For more see "The SAT's Greatest Test," by Ben Gose and Jeffrey Selingo, The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 26, 2001. (available only to subscribers)
