The number of U.S. colleges electing to not require standardized admission tests continues to grow.
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The number of bachelor-degree granting colleges and universities that will be using ACT/SAT-optional, test-blind, or score-free admission procedures for fall 2023 now exceeds 1,900 institutions according to the latest numbers from FairTest, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing. According to FairTest, that number represents 83% of four-year U.S. schools.
In addition to the fall 2023 tally, FairTest also reported that 1,783 institutions- equal to about 78% of four-year colleges and universities – have already extended their test-optional/test-blind policies at least through fall 2024.
Those decisions come ahead of the pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on race-conscious college admissions, involving two cases –
Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. University of North Carolina.
Admissions offices increasingly recognize that test requirements, given their negative disparate impact on Black and Latinx applicants, are race-conscious factors, which can create unfair barriers to access higher education, said FairTest Executive Director Harry Feder in the organizations news release. They also know that standardized exams are, at best, weak predictors of academic success and largely unrelated to college-ready skills and knowledge. If the Supreme Court bars affirmative action, we expect that very few schools will continue to require the ACT or SAT. And it is likely that many more graduate programs will eliminate requirements for exams such as the GRE, GMAT, LSAT and GMAT.
The number of colleges using test-optional or test-free admissions has grown steadily – nearly doubling – over the past three years. First, the Covid-19 pandemic made testing difficult, and many schools opted to skip requiring them, at least temporarily. However, concerns about socioeconomic and racial disparities in student test performance have helped convert more and more of the temporary suspensions into permanent test avoidance as colleges decide they simply no longer need the tests to make their decisions.
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Here, according to FairTest, is a timeline showing the anti-test momentum:
1,075 ACT/SAT-optional schools pre-pandemic (as of March 15, 2020)
1,700 schools did not require ACT/SAT scores for fall 2020
1,775 schools did not require ACT/SAT scores for fall 2021
1,825 schools did not require ACT/SAT scores for fall 2022
1,904 schools do not require ACT/SAT scores for fall 2023
Commenting on what these numbers may mean as colleges await the Supreme Courts decision in the two admission cases, FairTest Public Education Director Bob Schaeffer added, Test-optional policies are a proven, race-neutral way to enhance campus diversity while maintaining academic quality. Though not a full substitute for affirmative action, they are important tools in a robust set of holistic admissions strategies to improve access for under-represented applicants. Upcoming Supreme Court decision could be the death-knell for standardized admissions exams.
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