Validating Standardized Testing: The Role of the SAT and ACT in Undergraduate Admissions. [Background Information to Legislative Hearing].

Senate Publications, 1020 N Street, Room B-53, Sacramento, CA 95814 ($10 plus current California sales tax, publication number 955-X). Tel: 916-327-2155.

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424

Admission (School); College Applicants; College Entrance Examinations; High School Students; High Schools; Legislators; Public Colleges; Standardized Tests; State Legislation; Test Use

A hearing was planned by the California Senate Select Committee on Higher Education Admissions and Outreach to consider the role of the Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT) in the admission of students to California's public universities. The hearing was intended to provide a serious discussion of the merits and concerns surrounding these admissions tests and to consider their effectiveness and some other forms of assessment used in other states and private colleges. The hearing was planned in the context of California Senate Constitutional Amendment 7, which would redefine the criteria for admission to the University of California and California State University. This document contains the following background materials for the hearing: (1) an introduction with the hearing announcement, press release, agenda, and the text of the proposed amendment; (2) "Eligibility of California's 1996 High School Graduates for Admission to the State's Public Universities" (California Postsecondary Education Commission); (3) "University of California Follow-Up Analyses of the 1996 CPEC Eligibility Study" (University of California, Office of the President, Student Academic Services); (4) "Undergraduate Admission Requirements" (California State University); (5) data on independent California colleges and universities from the "1997-1998 California and Independent Colleges and Universities Guide"; (6) "Briefing Paper on the SAT" prepared for the hearing by the College Board; (7) "Using the ACT Assessment in Making Admissions and Course Placement Decisions" (brief prepared by the American College Testing Program); (8) "Latino Student Eligibility and Participation in the University of California: Ya Basta! Report Number Five" (the Latino Eligibility Task Force); (9) "The Princeton Review of Orange County and Riverside" (The Princeton Review); (10) fact sheets and information from FairTest, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing; (11) a collection of supplemental materials related to the use of college admissions examinations, including some court case descriptions; and (12) a collection of news articles related to test use. (SLD)

2001

ED448671