TCB 16047-0_SAT_flyer_04.indd

How the
SAT
®
Can Help Your
Institution
An Updated Overview for Admissions Officers
Working together to help students achieve their college dreams
Putting
Students &
Education First
The new SAT® debuted in March
2005 for the high school class of
2006. Guiding the changes were
the valuable contributions and
insights of thousands of experienced
and dedicated admissions officers,
university professors, researchers,
secondary school superintendents,
principals, teachers, and high school
counselors from across the country.
As a result of their efforts, the SAT
now includes a writing section to
measure this essential skill for
college success. The addition of
this section, along with the other
changes summarized below, makes
the SAT more closely aligned
than ever with a strong college
preparatory curriculum.
A Brief Overview
of Changes to
the
SAT
Mathematics
Expanded to cover third-year
college-preparatory math;
quantitative comparisons dropped
Critical Reading
Formerly verbal section; analogy
questions replaced by additional
short reading passages
Writing
New multiple-choice questions
(grammar and usage) and a
student-written essay added
Frequently Asked
Questions
Here are answers to the questions
about the SAT that have been raised
most often in recent months.
How can I determine the value of the new SAT,
especially the writing section, to my institution?
This fall, your new freshman class will arrive on your campus
with their new SAT scores. We can help you conduct the
research you need to determine how the SAT, including
the new writing section, can best serve your institution.
We suggest the following steps:
• Require a writing assessment as part of your
admissions policy
• Collect data from all students
• Conduct validity studies using ACESTM — a free College
Board resource
• Develop admissions and placement practices based
on the results
How are colleges and universities using the
writing section?
Institutions have reported to the College Board that they are
using SAT scores in a variety of ways, including:
• Admissions
• Placement
• Scholarships
• Research
• Advising
Where can I find preliminary percentiles for the
SAT writing section?
Readers are required to keep a number of criteria in mind when
scoring essays, including:
Percentile ranks, often used to help interpret individual student
scores, and information on how institutions can use them, are
now available at www.collegeboard.com/writingdata.
• Using the Scoring Guide in conjunction with the sample
essays selected for training
While the current math and critical reading percentiles are based
on a full year’s worth of data, the preliminary writing percentile table
was developed using the scores of students who took the new
SAT during the first four administrations (March, May, June, and
October 2005). The final table will be available in August 2006.
• Reading the entire essay before scoring, and then
scoring immediately
How can my institution be assured that SAT essays
are scored validly and reliably?
• Reading quickly to gain an impression of the whole essay
• Reading supportively, looking for and rewarding what is done
well rather than what is done poorly or omitted
• Ignoring the quality of the handwriting
• Judging an essay by its quality, not by its length
• Understanding that no one aspect of writing (coherence,
diction, grammar, etc.) is more important than another,
and that no aspect of writing is to be ignored
Essays are scored in a manner that is fair and consistent using
a holistic approach. In holistic scoring, a piece of writing is
considered as a total work, the whole of which is greater
than the sum of its parts. The essays are scored by highly
qualified readers who take into account such aspects as
complexity of thought, substantiality of development, and
facility with language. A reader will not judge a work based on
its separate traits, but rather on the total impression it creates.
The College Board’s years of experience in scoring essays
on the SAT Subject Test in Writing have been invaluable in
creating and maintaining a rigorous process for scoring essays
on the writing section of the SAT Reasoning TestTM .
The SAT Scoring Guide (available at www.collegeboard.com)
defines the criteria readers use to evaluate and score the
student essays. The Scoring Guide is structured on a six-point
scale. Readers are trained to use the Scoring Guide in
conjunction with anchor papers, which have been scored by
consensus as representative examples. The language of the
Scoring Guide provides a consistent and coherent framework for
differentiating between score points, without defining specific
traits or types of essays that define each score point.
• Students who perform at the same level may have a slightly
higher percentile on the ACT. However, when colleges
translate the SAT to the ACT score (or the ACT to the SAT
score) these differences are removed. Test scores must be
converted through a concordance table rather than based
on percentiles.
Each essay is scored independently by two qualified readers,
on a scale of 1 to 6 by each reader, with the combined score for
both readers ranging from 2 to 12. (Essays not written on the
essay assignment will receive a score of zero.) If the two readers’
scores differ by more than one point, a third reader scores the
essay. Over the first 6 administrations of the SAT, only 6% of
essays have required a third reader.
How do SAT Reasoning Test scores compare with
ACT scores?
TM
For example, a student who scores 24 on the ACT is at the
70th percentile and concords to an SAT of 1090-1120 which
is at the 61st-68th percentiles. A student needs an SAT
score of 1150 to be at the 70th percentile.
• SAT field trial research has conclusively demonstrated that test
scores on the new critical reading section are comparable to
scores on the previous verbal section, and that scores on
the new math section are comparable to those on the old
math section. Therefore, existing concordance tables can
still be used to compare new SAT and ACT scores. These
tables can be found at www.collegeboard.com/satdata.
How can participating
in the new
SAT
Validity Study
help my
institution?
• The new study will evaluate the
validity of the SAT Reasoning
Test and high school grades for
admission and the validity of SAT
Reasoning Test scores for placement
into first-year English composition
and math courses.
• The study will also evaluate the
ability of the SAT Reasoning
Test to predict retention to the
sophomore year.
• College Board researchers will
aggregate data across institutions
to provide a comprehensive report
in the spring of 2008.
The College Board will provide an
honorarium to each participating
institution. For more information
about the study and how to
participate, contact your College
Board regional office or visit
www.collegeboard.com.
Where Can I Get
More Information
About How The
College Board Can
Help Me And
My Institution?
Please contact your College
Board regional office.
The
College Board:
Connecting Students to
College Success
The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association
whose mission is to connect students to college success
and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed
of more than 5,000 schools, colleges, universities, and other
educational organizations. Each year, the College Board
serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000
high schools, and 3,500 colleges through major programs
and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment,
financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among
its best-known programs are the SAT®, the PSAT/NMSQT®,
and the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®). The College
Board is committed to the principles of excellence and
equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its
programs, services, activities, and concerns.
For further information, visit www.collegeboard.com.
© 2006 The College Board. Advanced Placement Program, AP, College Board, SAT,
Student Search Service, SSS, and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the
College Board. Admitted Class Evaluation Service, ACES, connect to college success,
SAT Reasoning Test, and SAT Subject Tests are trademarks owned by the College
Board. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of the College Board and National
Merit Scholarship Corporation.
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