By Adam Mandell

A new feature provided by the College Board this year to give students more say over the SAT scores they send to universities has recently come under fire, as some argue that it undermines the academic value of tests and favors wealthier students.

The new “Score Choice” policy allows students to choose which SAT scores their prospective colleges see. The policy is not mandatory, and if certain students do not wish to use the feature, all of their scores will be automatically sent to the colleges of their choice.

While the College Board, which produces the SAT, allegedly aimed to lessen the pressure of the standardized exam with Score Choice, several institutions around the country are responding negatively to new feature.
Several universities, including Cornell, Rice and Yale, have criticized the new policy and continue to require that applicants submit all of their SAT scores. Representatives from several of these dissenting schools warn that the new policy may have unintended negative repercussions and contend that they already have protocols in place to reflect a student’s test-taking ability.

Under the Score Choice policy, students can choose one test date and have the critical reading, mathematics and verbal scores from that specific date submitted to colleges. The policy counters measures by colleges that would otherwise choose the student’s highest sectional scores from a variety of test dates.

The College of Wooster is one such school. An applicant’s best composite score — determined by combining the highest scores on each SAT section from any number of tests — is used for admission purposes.

“We encourage students to submit all of their scores,” Scott Jones, senior assistant director of admissions at the College of Wooster, told the Daily. “We only count the highest composite score sent, hence the score choice leaves really no effect.”

Tufts’ Office of Undergraduate Admissions also uses a student’s highest composite score and requires that applicants send all SAT scores.

“Our goal is to keep the admission process as straightforward as possible,” Tufts’ admissions office Web site says. “Since our database already selects the highest sectional score for inclusion in the application file, ‘score choice’ is redundant.”

The Score Choice policy has also raised concerns that students from less wealthy demographics may be severely disadvantaged. The policy provides an incentive for students to take the SAT multiple times, but not all students may be able to pay to take the test numerous times.

“With such an incentive to take the test more, the assessment becomes focused on the coaching and gamesmanship,” said Robert Schaeffer, the public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest), a non-profit that monitors standardized testing.

Although there are fee waivers for allowing students who demonstrate need to take two free tests, any additional attempts must be paid in full, according to Allen Grove, director of the Alfred University’s First-Year Experience Program, which helps students make the transition from high school to college.

“Poor student demographics have always been at the losing end of standardized testing,” Grove told the Daily.

Schaeffer agreed that the test could offer a significant advantage to well-off applicants. “The test has become a very good measure of accumulative advantage,” he told the Daily. “It seems slightly counterproductive to the notion of equity.”

Schaeffer was among the many who questioned the College Board’s motivation behind the policy change. The SAT has suffered in the competitive market battle with the ACT, which has a test submissions policy similar to Score Choice.

“It is a double-edged sword. While it helps test takers by preventing a bad score sticking with that student for life, it reveals a very greedy element to the College Board which creates more confusion, anxiety [and] test-taking costs for the students,” he said.

Criticism has not been uniform, however, with several universities, including Harvard and the University of Chicago, voicing support for the new policy.

Still, the newfound student incentive to take the exam multiple times has prompted fears among some that test scores will lose their value.

“Scores will start meaning less; this could bring into question the credibility of the scores,” Grove said.

To facilitate student understanding, the College Board is providing an online forum in which colleges can publicize their specific SAT submission requirements. The Web site aims to decrease confusion about policy changes by providing a one-stop location for individual university regulations.