The SAT Is Going Digital. Will That Make the Test More Equitable?

Posted bySophiaPosted inUncategorized

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Are we facing improving the state of education or are we sending the SAT assessment into extinction?

By Daniel Mollenkamp    

Jan 25, 2022

Good read…

The move comes as a growing number of colleges and universities have gone test-optional in admissions, in part because the pandemic made it harder for students to gather safely to take the test, and in some cases out of concern that standardized tests may prevent barriers for some types of students.

The College Board announced today that the SAT will be going fully digital, arguing that the shift will make the test easier to take and administer—and a better fit for today’s students.

Many critics of the test, though, remain skeptical that the changes are meaningful.

Priscilla Rodriguez, vice president of College Readiness Assessments for the College Board, and others affiliated with the design made the case in a call with reporters that the test now offers a “more approachable and less stressful experience” for students and educators, a goal that they say was “at the center” of the new changes.

Among the changes, the exam length has been cut down by an hour, from three to two, with shorter passages about a broader range of topics and one question per reading section. Scores will also be delivered faster. 

Not everything has changed, though. In fact, the core components appear to be much the same. The test will still be scored on a 1,600 point scale, and it will still be administered at a school or test center, College Board says, so students will not be taking it at home. The group did run trials of an at-home version of the SAT early in the pandemic, but it moved away from that idea because it said it “would require three hours of uninterrupted, video-quality internet for each student, which can’t be guaranteed for all.”

The College Board said it had run a successful pilot in November of the digital version it did opt for.

The College Board argues that the new changes will increase the amount of options for schools regarding when and how to administer the exam. “As we move digital, we are going to be able to give each student a unique version of the SAT,” Rodriguez stressed. This increases the security of the exams and affords schools more flexibility in when they offer the test, and increasingly, students take the exam during the school day and so the flexibility will keep the doors of opportunity open to more students, she argued. 

Changing Landscape

Bob Schaeffer, executive director of FairTest, a nonprofit that advocates for making the tests optional, said in a statement today that the SAT’s move to digital is simply a “repackaging” of the SAT that does not appear to seriously address the criticisms of the test’s validity or equity. 

“Shifting an unnecessary, biased, coachable, and poorly predictive multiple-choice exam that few schools currently require from pencil-and-paper delivery to an electronic format does not magically transform it into a more accurate, fairer or valid tool for assessing college readiness,” Schaeffer wrote.

More than 1,800 colleges and universities have test-optional admissions policies today, compared to 1,000 just before the pandemic hit, according to figures from FairTest.

Others have also expressed skepticism.

“The issue was not that the SAT was in paper format… that was not the issue AT ALL,” Tweeted Jennifer Jessie, a longtime SAT tutor. “That has not ever come up in the years I’ve tutored this test.”

Published by Sophia

I am of Greek descent and a graduate/ post graduate student in education. a lifelong learner, it is my passion to continue educating people of all ages of all backgrounds end of all types of learning styles. I have taught at the college level as well as the key through 12. A Dept Chair for design as well as language arts specialist for students with learning disabilities. I continue to educate myself so that I can share the years brick by brick, over 30 years of teaching experience and writing. My dream is to have global awareness of the need to educate our children to prepare them for future goes far behind their generation. I want to bring a awareness that there is a huge deficit due to our society changes, pandemic outcomes, children that are left, socially and emotionally voided without proper understanding and tools to head head towards a future that will require knowledge and tenacity. With a masters degree in education specializing in ruction ul technology, I compounded that with a degree in post graduate studies as an education specialist. Completing a dissertation will give me a Doctorate in Education in teaching and learning, as well as curriculum design. Educated in the United States, I am continuing my learning here in Athens, Greece. I have lived all over the world in combining my deep, faith, and belief that each and everyone of us has the capacity to make a difference there is no child that should be left behind who desires a future with dreams to fulfill. My Vlogs combine education, emotional awareness and growth in the impact of art therapy in trauma. Children grow into adults, healthy children grow into healthy adults, so we must always start at the seed which Rose into becoming the root. we owe it to ourselves. If we are trauma survivors to share our experiences and stories, if we are educators, share our knowledge and experience, if we have the talent of art expression shirt with those who need to express themselves. We will continue to follow the root as it grows into a beautiful and strong tree. Thank you for visiting my pages of expression. Sophia Epitropoulos M.Ed EdS EDD (ABD)

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