Indicator: SAT and ACT participation and performance

Definition

High school students take and earn a “college-ready” score on the ACT or SAT before graduating high school.

Recommended Metric(s)

Percentage of grade 11–12 students who take the SAT/ACT 

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Percentage of grade 11-12 students who take the SAT/ACT

CEDS Connections offer guidance, including data elements and step-by-step analysis recommendations, for how to calculate select metrics.

Percentage of grade 11–12 students who earn a “college-ready” score, based on the benchmarks set by the SAT and ACT 

View CEDS Connection

Percentage of grade 11–12 students who earn a “college-ready” score, based on the benchmarks set by the SAT and ACT

CEDS Connections offer guidance, including data elements and step-by-step analysis recommendations, for how to calculate select metrics.

Type(s) of Data Needed

Assessments

Why it matters

Although test-optional and test-blind college application policies are on the rise, college entrance tests like the ACT and SAT have long played a gatekeeping role in students’ college prospects and may still play a role in determining college course placement. According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), 55 percent of all four-year colleges and universities nationwide (nearly 1,600 institutions) waived standardized testing requirements for 2020–2021,1 a trend that continued in 2021–2022, when more than 1,800 four-year institutions were test optional.2 Nevertheless, evidence suggests that such tests can be a useful and cost-effective approach for identifying high-achieving students from marginalized backgrounds for the purposes of college access and outreach initiatives.3 There is also evidence that universal testing mandates requiring all students to take the ACT or SAT raise college enrollment rates among students from low-income households.4 However, there are persistent disparities in the test scores of Black, Latino, and students from low-income households, and their White, Asian, and economically advantaged counterparts.5, 6, 7 In addition, the disparity between White and Black students’ SAT scores remains virtually unchanged at .92 standard deviations over the past 15 years, which is a considered a large magnitude of difference.8

What to know about measurement

Amidst ongoing changes in college admissions policies9 and concerns about the fairness of admissions tests,10, 11 framework users should be aware of evolving considerations when implementing this indicator. Although differences in educational opportunities can account for some of the disparities in scores among groups of students, and these tests have been validated12 for use with diverse populations, there is also some evidence of racial and cultural biases within the test questions themselves.13, 14 Research also shows that test scores are manipulable through test prep; thus, the tests may conflate students’ college-ready skills and knowledge with their access to test prep resources.15 Disparities in test scores may also be attributable to stereotype threat.16 Due at least in part to these concerns, some university systems have eliminated their use in admissions policies.17ii On the other hand, expanding access to college admissions tests has been shown to help low-income students who otherwise might not take the tests enroll in college at higher rates,18leading to questions about the extent to which these measures bar or promote equitable access to higher education.19

Although many colleges and universities have recently adopted test-optional admissions policies, a trend which the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated,20 we recommend that educational entities continue to track the rate at which students both take and earn college-ready scores on the SAT and ACT, given the gatekeeping role these tests have historically played in access to higher education. Our first recommended metric—participation rate—can shed light on whether students have access to college admissions tests. As of 2018, 25 states required high school students to take the ACT or SAT (which the state paid for).21 Our second metric uses benchmarks set by the ACT and SAT for the minimum scores associated with “a high probability of success in credit-bearing first-year college courses.”22 In 2022, the SAT benchmarks were 480 for evidence-based reading and writing and 530 for math. For the ACT, the benchmarks were 18 for English, 22 for math and reading, and 23 for science. As of 2018, at least 11 states included the ACT/SAT college-ready benchmarks as an option for students to meet college and career readiness requirements in their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plans.23 We encourage framework users to stay abreast of further changes in policies and evidence regarding use of the ACT and SAT.

ii For example, following a 2019 lawsuit filed on behalf of the Compton Unified School District, the University of California Board of Regents voted unanimously in May 2020 to stop requiring the ACT and SAT as part of admissions applications. The state plans to introduce a new assessment in their place.

Source frameworks

SAT participation and/or performance was included in six sources reviewed for this report. For example, the College Readiness Indicator Systems (CRIS) menu of college readiness indicators includes both SAT/ACT score and SAT/ACT participation.

References