PEDIATRICS Vol. 83 No. 6 June 1989, pp. 939
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SAT SCORES

J. F. L. MD

More than 1.7 million high school students will take the Scholastic Aptitude Test this academic year, mostly because the Educational Testing Service and the College Board - the nation's two largest nonprofit testing organizations - have done a masterful job of convincing colleges and universities that requiring the test is a good thing.

But while ETS and the College Board have succeeded at public relations, they still fail to demonstrate that they provide a useful service. After six years of research drawing on three national surveys, hundreds of studies conducted by colleges, and analyses prepared by ETS itself, I have concluded that ETS and the College Board have promoted the SAT on three grounds. And I have found that they have not disclosed evidence that undermines each one: The SAT helps colleges. ETS's own data show that the SAT changes very few admissions decisions in American colleges. At least 84% of the decisions to admit or reject applicants would be the same if the policy were based on the high school record alone. The percentage is in the mid-nineties at many colleges and for many programs within individual universities.

Furthermore, the SAT does not improve admissions decisions appreciably in the few cases where it changes them. Consequently, the typical gain to colleges from adding the SAT to the high school record is an increase in average freshman grades of only 0.02 on the usual four-point scale. The SAT is even less useful in predicting which students will graduate from college. . .

Mr. Crouse is a professor of educational studies and sociology at the University of Delaware. He is co-author with Dale Trusheim of "The Case Against the SAT" (University of Chicago Press).