By: Laura Bart
Published on: April 14, 2025
After the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions. v. University of North Carolina (“SFFA”) holding that both schools’ admissions policies were unconstitutional, colleges and universities can no longer legally consider race as a “tip” or “plus” factor for underrepresented minorities in deciding which qualified applicants to admit.[1] The historic decision sparked an overhaul of the admissions process for institutions of higher education across the country and dealt a devastating blow to diversity on college campuses.[2]
Schools that remain committed to fostering a diverse student body must now explore ways to do so without considering race in admissions. In addition to other “race-neutral” strategies, an increasing number of colleges and universities are reevaluating standardized testing requirements in an attempt to help salvage their diversity goals.[3] Research showing a correlation between performance on standardized tests and race has led many prominent institutions to remove testing requirements in an effort to lessen unnecessary barriers for minority students.[4]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions replaced their standardized testing requirements with a test-optional model, which gives applicants the option of not submitting or reporting test scores in their application.[5] Almost three years later, many institutions are left with the decision of whether to continue using a test-optional policy, or move to a test-flexible or test-required policy.[6] Test-flexible policies require applicants to submit test scores, but allow the option of using an Advanced Placement (“AP”) or International Baccalaureate (“IB”) exam score in lieu of an SAT or ACT score.[7] The test-required approach means that the institution requires that the applicant include an SAT or ACT score as part of their application.[8] Many institutions sticking with test-optional policies cited efforts to increase diversity as part of their decision.[9] At the same time, a few highly-regarded institutions are taking a different approach, arguing that requiring test scores actually helps increase diversity.[10]
The University of Michigan is now one of the most outspoken proponents of the test-optional approach, despite initial resistance during the pandemic when it gained popularity.[11] While other institutions embraced the test-optional model in 2020, the University of Michigan used a test-flexible policy.[12] Now, the University has pivoted and formally implemented a test-optional admissions policy as part of its effort to provide access to students from all backgrounds.[13] Other large universities have relied on similar reasoning in their decisions, including sixty-four SUNY campuses across New York State that unanimously decided to retire SAT and ACT requirements in 2023.[14] In announcing the decision, the Chancellor stated that fewer high school students in the state are taking the SAT, especially among underrepresented groups.[15] Many institutions believe that removing standardized testing requirements will help by forcing institutions to consider more holistic factors about a student like personal essays, participation in extracurricular activities, and grade point average (“GPA”).[16] As of April 2024, nearly eighty percent of four-year colleges, or approximately 2,000 institutions, identify as test-optional.[17]
While the majority of institutions are going test-optional to boost their diversity enrollment, Yale University made headlines for taking the opposite approach. In February of 2024, Yale announced that it would be making the shift to a test-flexible policy that will require test scores, but permit students to submit scores from subject-based AP or IB tests in lieu of traditional SAT or ACT scores.[18] Like many other institutions, Yale had been operating under a test-optional policy during the pandemic.[19] The University said that they aimed to identify a new approach to advance their mission to “assemble a group of high-achieving students whose strengths and differences contribute to a rich learning environment that develops their intellectual, moral, civic, and creative capacities to the fullest”.[20]
Yale’s move followed Dartmouth College, which went test-required in February 2024.[21] In supporting the decision, Dartmouth referenced an analysis of test scores of students who had chosen not to include them in their applications to Dartmouth while the college was test-optional.[22] The study found that many of the lower-income students withheld scores that actually would have helped increase their chances of admission, under the erroneous belief that they were not high enough.[23] The Dartmouth Admissions Office claimed that they would have actually judged the scores, which were in the 1400s range, as a positive sign that the students had overcome a difficult environment and could thrive at Dartmouth.[24]
Yale also claimed that standardized tests are highly valuable for students attending high schools with fewer academic and college-prep resources.[25] Yale’s Dean of Admissions explained that when students do not report test scores, the admissions committee focuses on other elements of their application file, which they believe inherently benefits students that attend well-resourced high schools offering advanced courses, extracurriculars, and more opportunities to receive praise from teachers for their classroom contributions.[26] He also noted the value in the ability of test scores to predict academic success in college, and said he views test scores as a way to give the admissions committee more information to help their process.[27]
While there may be some truth to the argument that removing testing takes away a meaningful data point in a student’s application that could disproportionately impact certain racial and socioeconomic groups, this ignores the fact that the same reasons for racial gaps in access and resources behind the disparities in the non-testing factors are not only present, but even more prominent, in standardized testing.[28] While there is a lack of research supporting the theory that requiring standardized testing will help admit diverse students, there is an overwhelming amount of research proving the existence of a performance gap for Black students. From under-resourced schools in predominately Black areas, to inadequately-prepared teachers and insufficiently-challenging curricula, there are a number of explanations for this gap, proving just how many different types of disadvantages standardized testing presents.[30] As the standardized testing industry has expanded, there is also an increasing amount of test-prep resources available at high prices that has dramatically widened the achievement gap.[31]
These factors work together to perpetuate the disadvantages minority students experience in standardized testing. Institutions choosing to ignore this and use a test-flexible or test-required policy in hopes of increasing diversity are unfairly subjecting minority students to be part of an experiment that could reduce their access to higher education even more than it already has been after the SFFA decision. The test-flexible and test-required approaches take a chance by relying on a theory that the bulk of research has yet to support, and challenging research that has been developed for decades. In a time full of unprecedented barriers to higher education for underrepresented minority students, colleges and universities addressing standardized testing requirements should stick to what we know and act in the best interests of students, not admissions offices. For institutions to effectively succeed in the educational mission of fostering diversity and increasing access to higher education in a post-SFFA world, standardized testing must become a thing of the past.
[1] See Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. Presidents and Fellows of Harvard Coll., 600 U.S. 181, 231 (2023) (holding that the policies lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful expiration dates).
[2] See id. (holding that Harvard and University of North Carolina’s admissions policies cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause due to their use of race as a plus or tip).
[3] See Liam Knox, The Future of Testing Is Anything but Standardized, Inside Higher Ed (Feb. 26, 2024), https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2024/02/26/no-emerging-consensus-standardized-test-policies (explaining the future of standardized testing methods across institutions and the wide variation of policies often centered on the goal of increasing diversity); Jed Applerouth, The End of Affirmative Action and the Testing Landscape, applerouth (July 24, 2023), https://www.applerouth.com/blog/the-end-of-affirmative-action-and-the-testing-landscape.
[4] Keena Arbuthnot, Filling in the Blanks: Standardized Testing and the Black-White Achievement Gap 34, 35 (1st ed. 2011) (showing that in the state of Illinois, the New Trier Township high school district which, has a racial composition of 87.9% white and 0.6% Black spends $19,720 per pupil, while the Harvey School District 152 with a racial composition of 80.9% Black and 0.5% white spends $9,690 per pupil).
[5] See Darrell Lovell & Daniel Mallinson, How Test-Optional College Admissions Expanded During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Urb. Inst. (Dec. 16, 2021), https://www.urban.org/research/publication/how-test-optional-college-admissions-expanded-during-covid-19-pandemic (noting that the number of four-year institutions with test-optional policies nearly doubled from 713 to 1,350 between spring 2020 and winter 2021).
[6] See Knox, supra note 3 (explaining that only five of the fourteen institutions in the Big Ten athletic conference have made long-term decisions on testing as of 2024, and noting that most likely want more time to collect data and make an informed decision).
[7] Liam Knox, Yale Tries to Straddle the Testing Divide, Inside Higher Ed (Feb. 23, 2024), https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2024/02/23/yale-adopts-test-flexible-admissions-policy.
[8] Nial Rele, Standardized Testing Policies in 2023, Bright Horizons Coll. Coach (June 15, 2023), https://blog.getintocollege.com/standardized-testing-policies-in-2023.
[9] See Knox, supra note 3 (noting that Michigan’s test-optional decision was based in part on research that showed the policy would improve access and diversity at the institution).
[10] Id. (explaining that Yale admissions officials concluded that requiring all students to include some exam results in their application would benefit underrepresented students and increase diversity).
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] See Lauren Love, U-M Formally Adopts Test-Optional Admissions Policy, The U. Rec. (Feb. 21, 2024), https://record.umich.edu/articles/u-m-formally-adopts-test-optional-admissions-policy/#:~:text=The%20University%20of%20Michigan%20has,as%20part%20of%20their%20application (quoting the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management at the University of Michigan, “Our commitment today to a test-optional policy for undergraduate admissions demonstrates our focus on providing access to high-achieving students from all backgrounds.”).
[14] See Alyssa Sciarrone, SUNY Drops Standardized Testing Requirement, The Oracle (May 4, 2023), https://oracle.newpaltz.edu/suny-drops-sat-requirement/ (quoting the admissions director at SUNY Brockport’s statement that test-optional environments can close opportunity gaps and make the schools admissions process more equitable).
[15] Memorandum from Dr. John B. King, Jr., C. on Continuation of Test-Optional Guidelines for Undergraduate Admissions to Members of the Bd. of Tr. 2 (Apr. 11, 2023) (on file with author).
[16] Wendy Wright, SUNY Colleges to Maintain Optional SAT Testing for Another Year, Spectrum News 1 (Apr. 17, 2023, 6:08 PM), https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/rochester/news/2023/04/17/suny-colleges-to-maintain-sat-testing-optional-another-year#:~:text=For%20now%2C%20SUNY%20campuses%20across,the%202023%2D2024%20school%20year.
[17] Test Optional and Test Free Colleges, https://fairtest.org/test-optional/ (last visited Apr. 25, 2024).
[18] Id.
[19] Yale’s New Flexible Testing Policy, Yale Univ. (Feb. 2024), https://admissions.yale.edu/test-flexible.
[20] Id.
[21] Stephanie Saul, Yale to Require Standardized Test Scores for Admissions, N.Y. Times (Feb. 22, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/us/yale-standardized-testing-sat-act.html.
[22] David Leonhardt, A Top College Reinstates the SAT, N.Y. Times (Feb. 5, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/05/briefing/dartmouth-sat.html#:~:text=Dartmouth%20College%20announced%20this%20morning,deciding%20whether%20to%20do%20so.
[23] Id.
[24] Id.
[25] Yale Announces New Test-Flexible Admissions Policy, YaleNews (Feb. 22, 2024), https://news.yale.edu/2024/02/22/yale-announces-new-test-flexible-admissions-policy.
[26] Id.
[27] Id.
[28] Andrea A. Curcio, Carol L. Chomsky, & Eileen Kaufman, Testing, Diversity, and Merit: A Reply to Dan Subotnik and Others, 9 U. Mass. L. Rev. 206, 271-72 (2014).
[29] Id; Meredith Phillips, The Black White Test Score Gap 1, 60 (Christopher Jencks eds., 2011) (articulating that the typical Black student scored below seventy-five percent of white students on most standardized tests); Lynn A. Karoly, The Economic Impact of Achievement Gaps in Pennsylvania’s Public Schools (2015) (stating that there were sharp race-ethnic differences in student achievement in eighth-grade reading and math and the share of white students achieving proficiency exceeded the share for African American and Latino students by as much as twenty-four to thirty-eight percentage points in Pennsylvania standardized tests).
[30] Curcio, supra note 28.
[31] Amanda Peacher, The College Test Prep Industry is Changing, As More and More Schools Make the Tests Optional, Marketplace (Jan. 27, 2022), https://www.marketplace.org/2022/01/27/the-college-test-prep-industry-is-changing-as-more-and-more-schools-make-the-tests-optional/.
[32] See H. Rep. No. 74-668 (1987) (testifying to the discrepancies between the performance of white, middle-class students and the rest of the school population).
This FN is citing a source that I don’t think is in the citations – pls update with the correct source + make sure the Id. ids to the right source or input the full cites of the pieces – thank you!
Suggesting this because i’m assuming it’s the prices that furthers the gap & added it as an explanation – if it’s not accurate pls feel free to change!
Arbuthnot isn’t at note 10 or in the citations – pls either update with a full cite or remove!