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Briana Evertsen
Professor Jennifer Courtney
Writing 2010-062
19, October 2015
The Conversation Behind Standardize Testing
Most high school students can say they have endured the suffering of standardized
testing. They know the grueling hours of the test itself and the frustration is causes when the test
does not portray their hard work in their education. This cannot be fair or constructive to the
education our society hopes to give our future generations.
To approach this argument here we need to take a step back and understand what the ACT
and SAT is. The American College Test (ACT), and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) are
standardized tests that high school students usually take to help colleges determine their
admission. They are timed tests to challenge the student to pick the right answer quickly. Is this
single test an accurate way of determining college admissions? This paper brings together the
ideas of many scholars who have been arguing this topic for some time now.
Through this paper I have grouped many topics of this argument into 3 clusters and
camps. The first is the history of the ACT and SAT testing. Why this was brought about and how
it has changed with our growing and developing society. This is important to understand because
how are we supposed to understand the uses of it now if we dont understand why it came about
in the first place? History gives us a broader understanding of why something is the way it is and
gives us the understanding that we might need to change it.
The second conversation was the predictors of college success and if the ACT/SAT was
accurately doing this. What is considered college success and how does college administration

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predict this? Are there better, more systematic ways of achieving this? Scholars are conversing
and believe this is an important topic to modify and reshape the narrow way of college
admissions.
Even though many conversations were going on concerning this topic I narrowed it down
to the limitations the ACT and SAT have when predicting college success. Basically what
problems are going on in the tests themselves? Are they accurate in the way they define a
students ability to handle college courses and life? The scholars I researched gave many insights
on the issues of these tests and question if these single, uncertainly accurate tests should be
determining our future generations college success.
In reviewing the literature on ACT/SATs influence on college admissions, I will show
that college admission faculty viewpoints differ from the scholars we have studied viewpoints.
Whats at stake in these conversations is how ACT/SAT scores are restricting the progress and
potential of students to have a successful college experience and ultimately their opportunity for
a rewarding future.
Historical Background of the ACT/SAT
In an article in TIME magazine, Dan Fletcher explains how standardized testing all began
in China when workers had to take a test to determine how they would perform in the work field.
Slowly Western Europe began to adopt standardized testing as a way to test multiple students on
the same material at one time. Slowly as the years went on, this test evolved into a test that
would measure the IQ level of a person. The SAT was first developed then followed by the ACT.
Over time, the amount of questions and length of time has changed. (Fletcher) Also a freelance
writer and newspaper reporter, Ed Grabianowski, agrees with Fletcher when he explains that the
ACT was originally made as a substitute or alterative to the SAT. Grabianowski enlightens

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readers that the SAT has been around since 1901 and the ACT since 1959. The ACT was in
response to changing patterns in college attendance in the U.S. and a desire for a test that more
accurately judges a student's ability to perform well in college (Garbianoski). They believed this
test to be the answer to the future of education.
Along with why and how these test came about, scholars are discussing the change that
continues to transform this way of college admission. Specifically, in Robert Blackeys paper on
standardized tests, he illustrates how as time went on, standardized tests has developed more
questions and the time has decreased for each section. Blackey teaches that when standardized
tests were first developed, they were about measuring someones skills and knowledge, but with
the increase in questions and the decrease in time, these tests have become more about strategy
and less about your own personal knowledge and ability to correctly answer a question. He
shows how throughout the years, students have strategized on standardized testing and have been
learning less, which is not what these tests are supposed to measure. Also Walt Haney brings this
up in his article on standardized testing. Like Blackey, Haney infers that through standardized
testing and the way students are learning how to take them, they are discussing and learning less.
This brings up the topic of how these tests have changed over time.
Erik Jacobsen illustrates a good time line of the changes in the ACT/SAT. This timeline
begins in the late 1800s where standardized testing started to become a factor in college
admissions which began the discussions about the need for standardized testing to be admitted
into a college or university. As the timeline goes on through the years, it points out specific and
important events that have changed or improved the ACT and SAT. For example, Jacobsen states
The number of students taking the SAT [in 1961] is more than 800,000, roughly ten times the
number taking the test in 1951. The number of students taking the ACT this year is about

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300,000 with a comparison of 1.9 billionU.S. high school graduates in 1960. This gives readers
the understanding that the test is becoming progressively popular. Along with the amount of
students taking this test, Jacobsen presents the changes in the test itself. He also describes how
the test lengths or shortens over the years. How certain sections are being taken out or becoming
optional.
This is helpful to understand because change is needed in our society. We could not use
the test that was created in 1901 as much as we could not benefit from using the test from 2001.
The ACT and SAT are not perfect but as Jacobsen and Grabianoski discussed, constant
modification is helping the process to become more accurate. However, even with test makers
constantly modifying these tests, it is not enough to completely determine a students college
future.
Predictors of a Students College Readiness
Determining college readiness in a future student is needed and important. However, the
way college administration has done this is said to be questionable in need for discussion. Allen
& Sconing, Wiley & Wyatt & Camar, and Espenshade & Chang are perfect scholars when
understanding how accurate these standardized tests are in predicting college readiness. With
many statistics and studies, they offer great insight into what admissions should be looking at.
Judith E. Scott-Clayton, Senior Research Associate at Columbia University, is another
scholar who studies the predictive validity of standardized tests. She describes how the predictive
power of placement exams is quite impressive given how short they are. But overall, Scott shows
the correlation between scores and later course outcomes is relatively weak, especially with the
high stakes that go along with it. She adds that given that students succeed or fail in college-level
courses for many reasons beyond their scores on placement exams, its questionable whether

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their use as the sole determinant of college access can be justified on the basis of anything other
than consistency and efficiency.
Espenshade and Allen & Sconing agree with Scott-Clayton concerning her point on these
tests becoming the determinate to college access. Allen & Sconing admit Although they are
useful predictors of success in first-year college courses, ACT scores above the cutoffs do not
guarantee success. This is important because they show how the ACT cutoffs arent all that
promising. Some students who make the cut off may still be extremely unsuccessful in college.
This makes people question if there are better ways than just a single test? Can colleges look at
more?
The answer is yes. Scholars like William Hiss presents them to the public in his article on
optional standardized testing policies in American college and university admissions. William is
accompanied by many authors in this article and they all have many years of experience in
researching admissions and implementing optional standardized testing policies. Justine
Radunzel and Julie Nobles paper on Predicting Long-Term College Success through ACT
Scores, and High School Grade Point Average coincides with Hiss to help understand that ACT
scores is not the other predictor. Radunzel and Noble express that HSGPA are valid measures of
early college success, defined as first-year college GPA and/or first to second year retention.
This is important because it suggests that High School GPA can be better at predicting the
students first year GPA in college.
An issue that comes up when determining college readiness is the factor of diversity. No
one is the same and no test is going to show accurately the readiness for one student as to
another. Hiss & Franks support this when they say There is little evidence of over-matching:
even with lower scores and from lower socio-economic backgrounds, students succeed at higher

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rates at stronger and more competitive institutions where they are given both high expectations
and support from faculty and staff. They are basically saying that its hard to find one single
predictor because there are underlying circumstances that one test alone will not portray.

Limitations of the ACT/SAT

As briefly introduced before, diversity is a factor that restricts the ACT from being
completely accurate to all societies. Rebecca Zwick wrote a Harvard Educational Review
concerning this topic. She discusses how SAT scores have been proven to have a correlation with
the success of students in universities. Zwick describes how SAT/ACT tests are debated because
they are not fair to minorities. She explains a new way colleges were thinking of admitting
students is to admit the top students in each high school but this way did not work because it
lowered the standards for the universities. The second way was admission lotteries, but was soon
thrown out because students with lower academic scores were chosen over those with higher
academic scores. Zwick states that small universities are able to choose more diverse applicants
while larger universities cant.
Brian Shanley proves that this can change simply by the process of admissions. He also
wrote a Harvard Education Review and writes about Providence College, a small liberal arts
college, that has always tried to admit applicants that are from minority groups. He explains the
admission process they focus more on the grades the applicants received in high school and what
classes they took. They are now test-optional and do not focus on standardized tests. Also, their
scholarships are more need based than merit based. Shanley describes how this makes it so

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applicants that cannot afford school have more of a chance to go and make it. Zwick and Shanley
realize that there is a lot at stake with this issue of standardized tests, and they treat it with care.
Conclusion
Jacobsen, Grabianowski and many more scholars show how standardized testing has
changed over the years and why it needs to continually change for the growth of universities and
student opportunity. This coincides with the topic of many scholars like Allen & Sconing and
Radunzel & Noble of predictors of college success. The scholars I have researched agree that
without change and refinement of standardized tests over time, colleges cannot accurately
determine if a student is going to be prosperous in their college classes.
A gap or issue that I wished scholars addressed more was the plan of action to fix this
problem. They all discuss why these tests can be detrimental to a students future but not many of
them have a clear solution. Also, another factor many of these researched scholars did not go into
was the idea of uncertainty. No test is going to accurately show a persons ability to handle
stresses and responsibility. It seemed scholars choose to not discuss this important factor.
Society expects us to do our best and go to college and get good jobs but how are we
suppose to do this if a single bias standardized test determines if we are able to go to college?
There are so many other factors that proves a student is motivated, successful or even smart. If
one achieves high scores on the ACT/SAT, it just shows you can strategize and is that all college
is? College is so much more and all different types of predictors should be in place to determine
how qualified a student can be to successfully complete college.

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Works Cited
Allen, Jeff, and Jim Sconing. Using ACT assessment scores to set benchmarks for college
readiness. ACT Research Report Series 2005-3. ACT Incorporated, 2005.
Blackey, Robert. So Many Choices, so Little Time: Strategies for Understanding and
Taking Multiple-Choice Exams in History. Society for History Education 1.43
(2009): 53-66.
Espenshade, Thomas J., and C. Y. Chang. "Standardized admission tests, college
performance, and campus diversity." Unpublished paper. An earlier version of this
paper was presented at the Conference on Rethinking College Admissions, Wake
Forest University. 2009.
Fletcher, Dan. "Standardized Testing." Time 11 Dec. 2009. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
Grabianowski, Ed. "A Brief History of the ACT." HowStuffWorks.com. InfoSpace LLC,
n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.
Hiss, William C., and Valerie W. Franks. "Defining promise: Optional standardized testing
policies in American college and university admissions." Report of the National
Association for College Admission Counseling (2014). Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
Jacobsen, Erik. "A (Mostly) Brief History of the SAT and ACT Tests." Erikthered.com,
2014. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.
Radunzel, Justine and Julie Noble. "Predicting Long-Term College Success through Degree
Completion Using ACT [R] Composite Score, ACT Benchmarks, and High School
Grade Point Average. ACT.org ACT Research Report Series, (2012-5): 1-80.
Scott-Clayton, Judith E. "Do high-stakes placement exams predict college success?."
Columbia University Academic Commons. (2012). Web. 4 Oct. 2015.

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Shanley, Brian J. "Test-Optional Admission at a Liberal Arts College: A Founding Mission
Affirmed." Harvard Educational Review 77.4 (2007): 429-35.
Wiley, Andrew, Jeffrey Wyatt, and Wayne J. Camara. "The development of a
multidimensional college readiness index." College Board (2010-3): 1-25. 7 Oct.
2015.
Zwick, Rebecca. "College Admissions in Twenty-First-Century America: The Role of
Grades, Tests, and Games of Chance." Harvard Educational Review 77.4 (2007): 41929.