FairTest
National Center for Fair & Open Testing
for further information, contact:
Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773
mobile (239) 699-0468
for immediate release Wednesday, September 18, 2019
BEST YEAR EVER FOR TEST-OPTIONAL HIGHER ED. ADMISSIONS
AS 47 ADDITIONAL INSTITUTIONS DROP ACT/SAT SCORE REQUIREMENTS;
MORE THAN HALF OF “TOP 100” LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES
ARE AMONG 1,050 SCHOOLS NO LONGER REQUIRING STANDARDIZED EXAMS
This is a record year for colleges and universities deciding that students can apply without submitting ACT or SAT standardized exam scores. Over the past twelve months, 47 schools have announced new test-optional admissions policies, according to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), which maintains the master database. That brings the total of accredited, bachelor-degree institutions that will make decisions about most applicants without regard to test scores to 1,050.
More than half of the U.S. News “Top 100” liberal arts colleges now have ACT/SAT-optional policies. So do a majority of colleges and universities in the six New England states and several other jurisdictions including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
All told, U.S. News includes more than 360 test-optional and test-flexible schools in the first tiers of their respective categories. Top-rated test-optional colleges include Bates, Bowdoin, Colorado College, Furman, Holy Cross, Pitzer, Rollins, Sewanee, Smith, Trinity, Wesleyan and Whitman. Among leading national universities, Brandeis, George Washington, Rochester, University of Chicago, Wake Forest and Worcester Polytechnic are all ACT/SAT-optional.
“The past year has seen the fastest growth spurt ever of schools eliminating ACT/SAT requirements,” explained FairTest Public Education Director Bob Schaeffer. “This summer alone, 20 colleges and universities went test-optional, a pace of more than one per week.”
“We are especially pleased to see many public universities and access-oriented private colleges deciding that test scores are not needed to make sound educational decisions,” Schaeffer continued. “By going test-optional, they increase diversity without any loss in academic quality. Eliminating ACT/SAT requirements is a ‘win-win’ for students and schools.”
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– FairTest’s frequently updated directory of test-optional, 4-year schools is available free online at https://www.fairtest.org/university/optional
– A list of test-optional schools ranked in the top tiers by U.S. News & World Report is posted at http://www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/Optional-Schools-in-U.S.News-Top-Tiers.pdf
– A chronology of schools dropping ACT/SAT requirements is at http://www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/Optional-Growth-Chronology.pdf
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s worth noting that David Coleman’s mother is a Dean of a college (?) that signed on with FairTest a few years ago. Even she knows her son is a scam artist…..how proud she must be of her baby boy.
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Bennington
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David Coleman’s mom is a dean at Bennington?
My daughter just graduated from their MFA Writing Program there!
(&, no, no GRE required.)
& this, after having graduated undergrad at Sarah Lawrence–one of the first 2 schools to drop the testing requirement (back in Winter, 2004-05). Funny, she started there (on early decision) in 2005, but had taken the ACT (& made herself crazy over it, even though she attained a good score) in case she might not get in. Luckily, she didn’t have to sweat out her admission, as did most of her friends. The whole thing is brutal.
The final sweet part of this story (@#$& you, Coleman!!) was that she got her first MA right after graduating from S.L.; she had moved to Dublin, & we decided that since college/university is cheaper there 7 she was going into a field where she would likely need a Masters to get a job, she attended Trinity College where, again, no entrance test
(esp. not the ACT or SAT) was required.
I have to laugh when I read the # of opt out schools, just thinking about the lo$t College Board profit$. Do you think Jean-Claude Brizard is a victim of downsizing?!
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I’m sure there was some “tension” in that family when David was growing up.
David shows signs of being attention starved as a little boy and is now taking out his anger on teachers, schools, parents and anyone else who reminds him of mommy and daddy.
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& doesn’t poor David remind you of someone else, who is now taking out his anger & insecurity on the whole country?
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Unfortunately the research shows that instead of expanding economic and racial diversity in colleges, test optional policies have actually had the opposite effect:
https://theconversation.com/if-you-thought-colleges-making-the-sat-optional-would-level-the-playing-field-think-again-89896
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