As students across the nation argue the validity of the SAT/ACT tests, colleges have finally began to listen.  Several colleges, including Wake Forest and Smith College, just admitted their first class of applicants who could decline to submit SAT or ACT scores.  So far, several hundred colleges have gone test-optional for at least some students, including a small but growing number of more selective liberal arts schools.

While the trend seems to be growing, the vast majority of colleges still use standardized tests in admissions.  The College Board, which owns the SAT, says only 45 schools are truly test-optional for all students.  The College Board isn’t really that nervous that colleges will stop using their test, but if schools like Harvard or Yale stop requiring students to take the test, it is likely they will begin to squirm.

Wake Forest plans on re-examining the decision to make SAT testing optional in five years.  Lafayette College made SAT scores optional back in the 1990s, but after a short period they went back to requiring SAT scores.  They claimed that the change didn’t attract the applicants it hoped for, and it concluded it needed SAT scores to predict student success.

The largest dilemma regarding the SAT testing is that minorities and poorer students face a disadvantage when it comes to taking the test.  Affluent high school students (that tend to be white) are able to hire tutors, take classes, and attend schools that better prepare them for the SAT test.  In turn, colleges have begun to inflate scores for minorities in order to make them more comparable.  A study found that on a 1600-point scale, when compared to whites, African Americans receive an additional 230 points and Hispanics receive an additional 185 points.  Interestingly, Asians lose 50 SAT points when compared to white test takers.

The not-for-profit College Board said in an e-mailed statement the SAT has been validated in hundreds of studies and remains important because high school grade inflation makes it hard to compare students. The statement noted the organization has always advised colleges to use SAT scores in combination with other factors, especially grades.