Balance (1965 - 1990)
SAT Troubles
The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) had long been the College Board's major testing program for college admission purposes. However, the test became the center of controversy for two main reasons during this time period.
Criticism of the SAT as culturally biased became more pronounced in the 1970s. Critics who charged that the SAT was biased against minorities basically were arguing that standardized tests and the entire college admission process were not based upon the principle of merit, as they supposedly were. Rather, critics claimed that the unfairness of exams like the SAT was calculated and deliberately designed to perpetuate an unfair social system that denied opportunities and rewards to those who sought them.
A further trouble that the SAT encountered was with the decline in the mean test scores on both the mathematical and verbal sections of the examination. Many people in society believed that the drop in SAT scores indicated that the American educational system was in need of repair.
As concern over the drop in student test scores mounted and as public focus shifted to educational excellence and student achievement, The College Board renewed its focus on academic concerns.
The College Board published Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need to Know and Be Able to Do in 1983, the same year as A Nation at Risk, the federal government's report on the state of American education. Academic Preparation for College emphasized that the outcomes and expectations for student must be known. Academic Preparation for College suggested that curricular design should be left to the schools and teachers, although standards should exist.
Concerns about educational opportunity were not overlooked in Academic Preparation for College. The College Board began its emphasis on intertwining both quality and equality in education.
