Test Optional Schools List Tops 815!
Submitted by fairtest on March 3, 2009 - 9:17am
Jesse Mermell (617) 350-8207
Robert Schaeffer (239) 395-6773
for use on or after Tuesday, March 3, 2009
LIST OF TEST-OPTIONAL SCHOOLS TOPS 815;
AS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PREPARE FOR ADMISSIONS TESTS, MORE COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES ELIMINATE ACT/SAT REQUIREMENTS
As high school students across the nation prepare for the March 14 administration of the SAT and April 4 ACT college admissions exams, a new survey has found that more than 815 bachelor-degree granting colleges and universities do not require most applicants to submit scores from either test.
The number of such schools has soared since revised versions of the SAT and ACT were introduced in March 2005, according to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) which compiles the test-optional list. Last fall a blue-ribbon commission sponsored by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) issued a report encouraging more institutions to consider ending admissions exam mandates.
"Nearly four-dozen colleges and universities have adopted test-optional admissions for all or most applicants in the past several years," said FairTest Executive Director Jesse Mermell. "They recognize that neither the SAT nor ACT measures what students most need to succeed in higher education. An applicant's high school record remains a better predictor of college performance than either test is."
FairTest Public Education Director Bob Schaeffer added, "Many more schools are re-examining their standardized exam requirements in the wake of the NACAC Commission report. We expect the ACT/SAT optional list to continue growing as more institutions recognize that the tests remain biased, coachable, educationally damaging and irrelevant to sound admissions practices."
A regularly updated FairTest directory of test-optional schools is available free online at http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional. Nearly 200,000 students, parents, and guidance counselors access these lists each year.
A chronology of recent test-optional policy adoptions and a list of top schools which do not require ACT or SAT scores are available on request.
See below to download a print formatted copy of this press release.
Optional Release March 2009.pdf 12.33 KB