Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


More Colleges Backing off SAT and ACT Admissions Rule

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 01/17/18

A running tally shows that more than a thousand accredited, four-year colleges and universities now make their admissions decisions about all or many applicants without considering ACT or SAT test scores. The count is being maintained by FairTest, a non-profit that advocates against high-stakes testing in university admissions and public schools because of its potential negative consequences.

According to FairTest Public Education Director Bob Schaeffer, half of the top 100 liberal arts colleges listed by U.S. News & World Report show up on the test-optional list, as do most of the colleges and universities in New England and more than half in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The list covers colleges and universities in every state, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

The fastest growth of institutions leaving the ACT and SAT "mandates," said Schaeffer, has occurred since the SAT was redesigned. Since then, "more than 100 colleges and universities reduced standardized exam requirements in that period."

Top-rated "test-optional" schools include American, Brandeis, George Washington, Wake Forest and Worcester Polytechnic. The latest to drop the admissions requirement was New Jersey's College of St. Elizabeth, which made sharing exams results optional last fall. As President Helen Streubert explained at the time, "We feel that academic achievement, particularly a student's overall grade point average and grades in core areas and teacher recommendations, are far better indicators of how a student will perform in college than the results of a standardized test."

"College and university leaders are sending a clear message," Schaeffer concluded. "Test scores are not needed to make sound educational decisions. It's time for K-12 policy makers to pay attention and back off their testing obsession for public schools."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Campus Technology Announces 2025 Product of the Year Winners

    Sixteen companies were selected as winners for their product achievements.

  • Abstract digital cloudscape of glowing interconnected clouds and radiant lines

    Cloud Complexity Outpacing Human Defenses, Report Warns

    According to the 2026 Cloud Security Report from Fortinet, while cloud security budgets are rising, 66% of organizations lack confidence in real-time threat detection across increasingly complex multi-cloud environments, with identity risks, tool sprawl, and fragmented visibility creating persistent operational gaps despite significant investment increases.

  • large group of college students sitting on an academic quad

    Student Readiness: Learning to Learn

    Melissa Loble, Instructure's chief academic officer, recommends a focus on 'readiness' as a broader concept as we try to understand how to build meaningful education experiences that can form a bridge from the university to the workplace. Here, we ask Loble what readiness is and how to offer students the ability to 'learn to learn'.

  • top-down view of a collaborative team working on AI technology development

    1EdTech Launches K-20 Collaboration to Shape Responsible AI in Education

    The 1EdTech Consortium recently announced plans to lead a cross-sector collaboration "to define how AI can responsibly and effectively support teaching and learning."