TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Longer, Costlier SAT May Not Be Better

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: June 18, 2008

The writing section added to the SAT has done very little to improve the exam's overall ability to predict how students will do in college, according to research released Tuesday by the test's owner.

Critics of the SAT seized on the College Board's findings, which came three years after the revamped, nearly four-hour exam made its debut.

"After all their ballyhoo about how the new test was going to be a better tool for college admissions, it's not," said Robert Schaeffer, director of the group FairTest. "It's longer and more expensive. That's all you can say about it."

Tuesday's findings are the most comprehensive study yet of the new exam, covering about 150,000 students.

The analysis measured the connection between SAT performance for the high school class of 2006 and college grades.

The correlation scale ranges from minus 1 to 1. A correlation of zero would indicate no connection between scores and grades, and 1 would show a perfect correlation - basically, that high scorers on the SAT are guaranteed to earn high college grades.

The study found high school GPA had an 0.54 correlation with college grades, which is considered fairly strong. Individually, all three SAT sections had lower correlations, but taken together they were 0.53

Combining high school GPA with the three sections' scores was stronger still - 0.62. But that was just 0.01 higher than if the writing portion were not included.

A 2001 analysis of the old SAT found the correlation ranged from 0.44 to 0.62.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT