Grading the Test

The College Board soon realized, however, that the scores from the revamped SAT, particularly those from the writing test, were getting less than an enthusiastic reception. The disclosure that SAT graders were instructed to overlook factual errors and spelling mistakes on the writing test didn't increase its popularity with college administrators. (Good organization, a clear focus and evidence of "outstanding critical thinking" are among the qualities rewarded.) Neither did the news that a writing professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had conducted an experiment in which he successfully taught a handful of high-school students to game the writing test by writing long and loading up their essays with big words.

Bruce Poch, admissions director at Pomona College, said colleges were also concerned that the writing test might prove to be disproportionately damaging to students stuck in failing schools where they got little individual attention. "Just as we were pushing to knock down barriers and improve access to students across the economic and ethnic spectrums, [our fear was] that another barrier could appear," he said. The New York Times reported in November 2006 that even the University of California system, which had inspired the change, was not yet downloading the SAT essays or using the writing scores in its admission deliberations.

Meanwhile, the SAT's biggest competitor, the publishers of the ACT exam, chose to make their writing test optional, and they have have continued to see their portion of the college-admissions market grow.   

Caperton expressed optimism this week that the validation results would improve acceptance of the SAT writing test. "Many colleges said they were waiting for validity studies before deciding how to use the writing scores," Caperton said. "We expect in the future that all colleges will use and require the writing scores" because "they will help them to choose the students likely to succeed at their institution."

Poch said he expects as time goes on, more schools will start incorporating the score into their deliberations. "I do think more [colleges] are certainly recording the score than may have been the case initially," he said.

But Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers, said few colleges are likely to view the validation of the writing test "as a transformative gain." The main value of the test, he said, is that colleges "get to see the actual writing" of students in a proctored setting and can use it as a point of comparison with the often heavily edited essays submitted with the application. But they will also recognize that "some [students] write well under deadline and some don't and that may be all this tests shows. Not all colleges will agree that this conveys something profoundly meaningful about an applicant's accomplishments and abilities." Many admission offices will prefer to trust their own judgment concerning the quality of student writing, he said. On that, Poch agrees. "We look at everything but obsess about little," he said.

© 2008