After a yearslong trend of elite colleges dropping standardized test requirements from their applications, the tide seems to be turning for the SAT. Long derided as unfair, unnecessary, or even sexist and racist, college entrance exams are gaining new defenders who point out that, contrary to common conception, standardized tests help—not hinder—talented yet disadvantaged students.
On Sunday, The New York Times published an extended article by David Leonhardt making this exact case. Leonhardt argues that the trend among elite colleges of ditching mandatory SAT or ACT test requirements for applicants is misguided and that the reasons typically given for removing the requirement—that the tests punish disadvantaged students and don't meaningfully correlate with college success—are factually incorrect.
