Research Under Discussion in Plans to Make SAT Optional

Posted in the College Street Journal - May 26, 2000

The College is working to finalize plans to make the submission of SAT scores optional for a five-year trial period starting with students applying to enter in the fall of 2001. The trial period will be used to study the role of the SAT in the College's admission process and the impact of this policy change on subsequent enrolling classes.

"An SAT-optional policy will more closely align our application process with the College's mission and goals," said President Joanne V. Creighton. "We are prompted to undertake this change in admissions policy because of our concerns about the limitations of the SAT as a measure of academic potential and the unwarranted centrality it has assumed in college admissions nationwide. Because the SAT does not measure the range of intellectual and motivational qualities that our own educational environment requires, and because the test disadvantages certain groups, we wish to de-emphasize its place in our admissions decisions. As long as the test is required, it assumes a larger role than it should in the eyes of perceivers and blurs the message we wish to send about Mount Holyoke."

Mount Holyoke's application process is thorough and individualized and includes, among many components, a comprehensive review of a student's high school record within the context of extensive data on the quality of that school. The College's writing requirements for admission are also rigorous and include several essays and the submission of a graded paper. Interviews are strongly encouraged. The College also looks for less tangible qualities, such as intellectual curiosity, thoughtfulness, leadership, creativity, civic engagement, and social conscience. None of these qualities is measured by the SAT.

The move to make test score submission optional has been under study at the College for some time. An optional SAT admission policy was first recommended last fall by the Faculty Advisory Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid. After extensive and thoughtful discussion, it was approved by a wide margin by the faculty at its March meeting. Then, the proposal was brought to the College's board of trustees in March for an initial review. Subsequently, it has continued to be shaped and refined through extensive consultation with colleagues at other institutions as well as with faculty, students, administrators, and the board of trustees. This collaboration has advanced the initial proposal significantly by incorporating both a trial period and a substantive research component to be underwritten by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a leading nonprofit organization working in the field of higher education.

A team of faculty members and administrators, in conversation with the Mellon Foundation, is now working out the details of the studies planned for the five-year trial. A number of broad areas of research are currently being discussed, both to document the impact of SAT-optional admission on the composition and performance of the student body and to inform national discussions concerning public perception and actual utility of the SAT.

First, the College will undertake a five-year study of the five entering classes beginning with the class of 2005, the first class to enter under the new optional submission policy. Mount Holyoke will track the application, admission, and matriculation rates, retention, academic performance, and majors of those who do and do not submit SAT scores.

The College is also discussing a second avenue of research that would compare the aggregate characteristics of the classes of 2003 and 2005, utilizing a number of indicators of success. These would include: retention, progress toward graduation, grade point average, numbers of students engaged in independent research and receiving honors, placement in desired graduate and professional schools and careers, leadership roles played at the College, and meaningful engagement with the world, such as internships and community service.

Notably, this second study would be integrated with efforts, already under way at the College, to assess the success of various initiatives here to build a climate of achievement for all students. A racial and ethnic cross section of the class of 2003 is already under study in research also supported by the Mellon Foundation.

The College is also discussing a third research component that would use focus groups and surveys to formally assess the attitudes of high school students and counselors toward the SAT in an attempt to understand a frequently noted disjunction in public thinking about the SAT and access to higher education. Although colleges and universities consistently downplay the significance of the SAT in their decision making, secondary students, their families, and counselors just as consistently appear to believe that SAT scores play a dominant role in gaining access to institutions of higher education. There has been little systematic research to explain this disjunction, and the impact of the SAT on the educational and career aspirations and achievements of the nation's increasingly diverse college-bound population has not been widely studied.

According to Jane Brown, dean of enrollment, "We expect that our research on the SAT will be useful not just to Mount Holyoke, but to peer colleges that may share our concern about the exaggerated role these tests have taken on throughout American higher education. We are seeing increasing concerns among educators at the high school and college levels about the basic fairness and utility of these tests. I think that our move toward de-emphasizing standardized tests in our admission process will be watched closely throughout higher education."

The SAT, developed by the College Board, a 100-year-old nonprofit organization, is a standardized test administered to many high school students and seeks to measure a student's potential for success in college. In recent years, the value of the SAT and questions about equity and access have been the subject of ongoing national debate.