Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) begins
The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a standardized college admissions test that originated in the 1920s, designed to assess high school students' readiness for college. Initially developed from the Army Alpha test, it was first administered on June 23, 1926, to about 8,000 students. Over the years, the SAT has evolved, with adjustments made to its structure and scoring, which currently ranges from 200 to 800 for each of its two main sections: mathematics and verbal reasoning. The test has become integral to the college admissions process in the United States, influencing scholarship opportunities and university acceptance decisions.
In 1948, oversight of the SAT transitioned to the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which has continued to administer and revise the test into the 21st century. Notable changes include the introduction of a writing section in 2005 and the rebranding of the test through various names to reflect its evolving purpose. Despite its widespread use, the SAT has faced criticism regarding its effectiveness and potential biases, sparking ongoing discussions about its role in educational equity and access. Overall, the SAT remains a significant milestone for many students as they pursue higher education.
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Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) begins
Developed in the 1920s, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) has emerged as the premier college admissions test, taken by generations of high school students. SAT scores have become critical components of the scholarship and admissions procedures for many universities.
As the United States was about to enter World War I, American Psychological Association president Robert Yerkes spearheaded several programs to assist with the war effort, one of which was the development of an intelligence test for army recruits. Yerkes chaired a committee made up of other prominent psychologists of the time, including Henry Goddard, Lewis Terman, and a young Carl Brigham. The result was a group-administered multiple-choice intelligence test in two formats: the Army Alpha for literate recruits and the Army Beta for the illiterate. The Army Alpha test would provide the basis for the development of the SAT.
In the early 1920s, Brigham, now a professor of psychology at Princeton University, became chairman of the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB), established in 1900 by a group of colleges in the Northeast in order to oversee college admissions testing. It was in this capacity that Brigham created the SAT, adapted from the Army Alpha test and designed to predict success in college. The SAT was first administered to high school students on June 23, 1926. It consisted of nine different types of problems and was primarily multiple choice. Taking the first test were approximately eight thousand students, about 60 percent of whom were male.
The SAT slowly gained in popularity, with scores increasingly being used to make scholarship and college admission decisions. The nine problem types were decreased to seven in 1928, then again to six the following year. In 1930, the test was formally divided into mathematics and verbal sections, with scores for each section ranging from 200 to 800, scaled to a mean of 500 and a standard deviation of 100.
Impact
In 1948, SAT development and administration duties were shifted from the CEEB to a new agency, the nonprofit Educational Testing Service (ETS), located in Princeton, New Jersey. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the SAT underwent significant revisions and name changes; the Scholastic Aptitude Test became the Scholastic Assessment Test in 1990, the SAT I: Reasoning Test (as distinct from the SAT II: Subject Tests) in 1993, and finally the SAT Reasoning Test in 2004 (with the Roman numeral being dropped from the SAT Subject Tests as well). A writing section was introduced in 2005, and the verbal section was changed to the critical reading section. Since its introduction in the 1920s, the SAT has become the most widely used test of its kind, although some critics have disputed the test’s accuracy and raised issues of potential bias.
Bibliography
Gregory, Robert J. Psychological Testing: History, Principles, and Applications. 6th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2011.
Lemann, Nicholas. The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999.