Merit (1920-1945)
The SAT
The standards used to create and evaluate the SAT subordinated those who taught knowledge through the school curriculum to a new expertise of measurement authorities as the determiners of what knowledge mattered the most.
Marvin Lazerson
"The College Board and American Educational History"
A Faithful Mirror
The changes in testing that the College Board promoted reflected questions related to measuring merit and the transition from secondary to higher education.
- The college preparatory curriculum in the secondary schools: Moving away from subject-based examinations and essay tests, both of which more directly dictated the high school curriculum, the College Board placed greater emphasis on its Scholastic Aptitude Test as a predictor of academic potential and even as a tool for guidance. College Board officials believed in the power of tests to provide the "Information, Power, Prognosis" to identify talented youngsters and to predict whether the student would actually benefit from higher education.
- Assessing aptitude versus achievement: More frequently, educators in secondary and higher education placed greater value and emphasis onaptitude testing versus achievement testing. The College Board's SAT slowly emerged to do just that.
- College admission plans: To ease admission difficulties during this period, in the 1920s the College Board accommodated two plans of admission to college and expanded its testing program for placement purposes since many colleges and universities were already doing so. Eventually, the College Board eliminated the essay examination during the "Revolution of 1942."
Between 1920 and 1945, the College Board was quickly expanding its program of testing. By the 1940's, College Board officials recognized that opportunities to expand the Board's role had slowly emerged over the previous two decades.
Looking back over the development of the Board, College Board officials connected its expansion with the changing nature of testing.
