College-Required Standardized Testing Falls in the Wake of COVID-19

SAT and ACT requirements for the college application process are consitently being made optional by higher education institutions since COVID-19. Credit: Nguyen Dang Hoang Nhu on Unsplash

Colleges and universities across the country have begun to move away from requiring standardized testing for incoming applicants in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Standardized testing has been a touchstone for education in the United States for about 150 years, according to the National Educational Association. Still, it has been falling to the wayside for years, as only recently has there been a major push to become test-optional. 

This can be attributed partly to how students and educators alike view such tests as inaccurate - or only accurate for the short-term - when it comes to predicting how well one will do in college, as well as predicting if one will successfully graduate from a normal four-year undergraduate program.

The first institution of higher education to make such a move toward making standardized testing optional for applicants was Bowdoin College, a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine, in 1969 with certain exceptions (i.e., must take SAT or ACT if homeschooled if chose not to include a graded paper or lab assignment).

Since then, over 800 colleges and universities have become test-optional themselves.

One of the criticisms of the SAT and ACT has been that, as noted by Inside Higher Ed in an article from 2015, those “...scores seem to reflect family income, and that, on average, black and Latino students receive significantly lower scores than white and Asian students do.”

Dan Murray, a former history teacher at Santa Fe Preparatory School - a private middle and high school in Santa Fe, New Mexico - stands by this criticism. He noted that although such tests may be helpful in an evaluation setting, “...there has been far too much weight put on those tests being the only tool.”

“Standardized tests can be biased and favor middle-class, anglo students, and they do not take into consideration learning differences or ESL students,” said Murray. “Lastly, standardized tests do not test for critical thinking skills which, in my opinion, is one of the most important skills students should have.”

In a 2020 interview with CNN on the subject, FairTest’s Interim Executive Director Bob Schaeffer stated, “Schools get more applicants and a more diverse pool of applicants, so it’s a win for them. And on the student side, the opportunity to be evaluated by more than a score is very appealing.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic only added to the move, as there were concerns as to whether students and potential applicants would even be able to go on-site for testing, as reported in a 2022 article for Inside Higher Ed. Additionally, there were concerns regarding racial and socioeconomic disparities and inequalities brought forth by the pandemic.

The history of standardized tests began back in the late 19th-early 20th century, but really caught fire during the period directly before and during World War II when Carl C. Brigham, the father of what became the SAT, brought forth the Army Alpha Test to give to military recruits during the first World War.

According to PBS Frontline, “In 1923, [Brigham] wrote ‘A Study of American Intelligence,’ which analyzed the findings of the Alpha Test by race. Its conclusion…was that American education was declining and ‘will proceed with an accelerating rate as the racial mixture becomes more and more extensive.’”

The Alpha Test was then renamed the Scholastic Aptitude Test, an early version of what students and colleges know today.

Due to the issues surrounding validity, race and equity - made more apparent due to COVID-19 - institutions of higher education are not likely to reimplement the SAT/ACT requirements for applicants.