Optional SAT During the 1960s and 1970s, there was a movement to drop achievement scores. After some time, the countries, states, and provinces that reintroduced them agreed that academic standards had dropped, students had studied less, and had taken their education less seriously. Testing requirements were reinstated in some places after research concluded that these high-stakes tests produced benefits that outweighed the costs. However, in a 2001 speech to the American Council on Education, Richard C. Atkinson, the president of the University of California, urged the dropping of aptitude tests such as the SAT I but not achievement tests such as the SAT II as a college admissions requirement. Atkinson's critique of the predictive validity and powers of the SAT has been contested by the University of California academic senate. In April 2020, the academic senate, which consisted of faculty members, voted 51–0 to restore the requirement of standardized test scores, but the governing board overruled the academic senate and did not reinstate the test requirement anyway. Because of the size of the Californian population, this decision might have an impact on U.S. higher education at large; schools looking to admit Californian students could have a harder time.
Optional SAT During the 1960s and 1970s, there was a movement to drop achievement scores. After some time, the countries, states, and provinces that reintroduced them agreed that academic standards had dropped, students had studied less, and had taken their education less seriously. Testing requirements were reinstated in some places after research concluded that these high-stakes tests produced benefits that outweighed the costs. However, in a 2001 speech to the American Council on Education, Richard C. Atkinson, the president of the University of California, urged the dropping of aptitude tests such as the SAT I but not achievement tests such as the SAT II as a college admissions requirement. Atkinson's critique of the predictive validity and powers of the SAT has been contested by the University of California academic senate. In April 2020, the academic senate, which consisted of faculty members, voted 51–0 to restore the requirement of standardized test scores, but the governing board overruled the academic senate and did not reinstate the test requirement anyway. Because of the size of the Californian population, this decision might have an impact on U.S higher education at large; schools looking to admit Californian students could have a harder time.