What’s next for the test-optional movement?

Higher Ed Dive

Danielle McLean

May 20, 2024

Earlier this year, Yale University joined a handful of other Ivy League and highly selective institutions that shed their policies making standardized tests optional for applicants.

Other prestigious institutions that have recently reverted back to policies requiring the SAT and ACT include Brown University, Georgetown University, Dartmouth College and the University of Texas at Austin. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology reinstated its testing policy in 2022.

The high-profile moves raise questions about the future of the test-optional movement that was gaining momentum before becoming widely adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when students couldn’t take the tests in-person due to lockdown restrictions.

At the heart of the matter is whether test-optional policies actually help even the college admissions playing field for students who are part of racially, economically and geographically underrepresented populations. Standardized testing critics say such requirements give wealthy students who pay for pricey test prep and tutoring an advantage during the admissions processes.

Continue Reading