Lawsuit Claims SAT And ACT Are Illegal In California Admissions

Fatima Martinez knows there's a lot riding on her SAT score.

"My future is at stake," says the Los Angeles high school senior. "The score I will receive will determine which UC schools I get into."

But that may not always be the case.

A lawsuit expected to be filed Tuesday is challenging the University of California system's use of the SAT or ACT as a requirement for admission. A draft of the document obtained by NPR argues that the tests — long used to measure aptitude for college — are deeply biased and provide no meaningful information about a student's ability to succeed, and therefore their requirement is unconstitutional.

"The evidence that we're basing the lawsuit on is not in dispute," says attorney Mark Rosenbaum of the pro bono firm Public Counsel. "What the SAT and ACT are doing are exacerbating inequities in the public school system and keeping out deserving students every admissions cycle."

Public Counsel is filing the suit in California Superior Court on behalf of students and a collection of advocacy groups.

The University of California system has long debated dropping the tests, and some university leaders have expressed their support. At an event in November, Carol Christ, the chancellor of UC Berkeley, said, "I'm very much in favor of doing away with the SAT or ACT as a requirement for application to the University of California." UC Berkeley was quick to clarify that comment didn't signal a policy change.

UC spokesperson Claire Doan couldn't comment on the lawsuit because it hadn't been filed yet. She says a special faculty task force is currently investigating the use of standardized testing in admissions, and the university system is "waiting for the assessment and recommendations from the ... Task Force before determining whether any steps should be taken on this important issue."

The university has been evaluating the requirement through a policy lens, but the lawsuit argues it's a legal issue: "This policy illegally discriminates against applicants on the basis of race and wealth, and thereby denies them equal protection under the California Constitution."

The University of California serves more than 250,000 students and is one of the largest school systems in the country. About 50 years ago, the system adopted the SAT as a way to weed out applicants — a decision that helped elevate the test to a national standard.

But research has since shown that SAT scores are strongly linked to family income, and a student's high school academic record, regardless of what school they attended, does a far better job of predicting college success.

The College Board, the organization behind the SAT, says grades and test scores function together, providing "more insight into a student's potential to succeed than either measure alone." Research conducted by the College Board maintains that SAT scores are predictive of success in college. The ACT says its test is not biased. In a statement, it tells NPR, "Blaming standardized tests for differences in educational quality and opportunities that exist will not improve educational outcomes."

Nonetheless, more and more schools are turning to test-optional admissions policies. In 2019, nearly 50 schools dropped the standardized tests from admissions requirements, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, an advocacy group that has long been critical of standardized testing. Those schools joined a pool of about 1,000 colleges across the country. One of those colleges, the University of Chicago, claims the decision to go test-optional — along with increased financial aid — has led to an increase of first-generation and low-income students on campus.

"If the University of California were to go ahead and drop the testing requirements, it would have profound and widespread effects in the college admissions arena," says Bob Schaeffer, director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing. "If University of California can go test-optional, pretty much any school could."

Still, attorney Rosenbaum acknowledges that optional testing won't completely solve the problem.

"There probably is no playing field less level than the journey to go to college and higher education — and the SATs are a part of that," Rosenbaum says. "But they're not the whole story."

He hopes the lawsuit will fuel a larger conversation around college admissions.