Fairness of SAT



Fairness of SAT Testing

Introduction

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) is a not-for profit testing, educational research, and measurement organization headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. ETS administers in excess of 12 million examinations each year. These examinations include the SAT (formerly called the Scholastic Aptitude, or Scholastic Assessment Test), Advanced Placement (AP), and other examinations for the College Board, as well as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), and the Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers Series (Praxis).

At the undergraduate level, universities and senior colleges (institutions offering four-year course), often require the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) or ACT (American College Test) to those who want to integrate a first year (freshman year). These are tests of knowledge of English and Mathematics from any American candidate or not American. The SAT also includes test subjects, i.e. assessment of your knowledge in certain fields of study.

For decision making in higher education, many officials in colleges and universities in the United States and abroad use SAT tests. More than 2 million students take the SAT every year. SAT helps universities and colleges in selecting students for admission, and similarly, it helps parents and students in selecting colleges for higher education. SAT is owned and managed by nonprofit organizations i.e. College Board. The College Board has redefined the SAT as an assessment test for college admission. Over the years, SAT has embraced developments in the field of testing and measurements, and to some extent College boards have also been in the forefront of advancements in the testing and measurement field.

The paper will discuss the unfairness of SAT testing. It will discuss its origin, advantages and controversies. Further, it will show that SAT is not fair to poor and bilingual students.

Discussion

SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test)

The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) is one of the most commonly used standardized college placement tests in the United States. The College Board, developer of the SAT, reports that nearly 2 million students take the test each year. The SAT is typically taken by college aspirants during the junior or senior year of high school. Examinees may register, at cost, to take the SAT Reasoning test and/or one or more of the SAT Subject tests. Most recently revised in 2005, the SAT Reasoning test yields two scores (Critical Reading and Mathematics) that are usually added together to yield a decision score, along with a Writing score. College and university officials use this decision score, along with other student profile data (e.g., high school grade-point averages [GPAs], writing samples, interviews, letters of recommendation) when making admission decisions. Some postsecondary institutions also require or accept SAT Subject test scores. The College Board offers 20 different subject tests in five categories English, history, mathematics, science, and languages.

SAT Critical Reading, Mathematics, Writing, and Subject tests are each scored on a standardized metric where µ = 500 and s = 100; thus, the decision score (combined Critical Reading and Mathematics scores) is standardized with a mean of 1,000 and ...