The College Board announced sweeping changes to the SAT test that will align the exam more closely to what students learn in the classroom and more accurately reflect their future performance, College Board president David Coleman said in a videotaped press conference on Wednesday.
Coleman also announced a new partnership with the Khan Academy, a nonprofit educational organization, that will provide free SAT support, including videos and interactive software, with the aim of leveling the playing field and supporting low-income students taking the test.
Debuting in the Spring of 2016, the new SATs will eliminate the required essay portion, include fewer arcane vocabulary words, and return to its previous 1600-point assessment system, among other revisions. The changes are intended to make the test more accessible to students from all economic backgrounds.
The new SAT will also include a “Founding Documents and Great Global Conversation” reading passage, drawn from American texts that students are likely to have seen in school, such as the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, or a letter from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., replacing more esoterically focused essays.
Coleman, a supporter of the Common Core State Standards who became College Board president in 2012, outlined many central revisions in his speech, as reported widely in the New York Times , Forbes, and other news outlets. While the College Board will not release full details of the overhauled exam until April 16, the organization has created a new website for information about the changes, DeliveringOpportunity.org.
From the New York Times:
The Key Changes
■ Instead of arcane “SAT words” (“depreciatory,” “membranous”), the vocabulary definitions on the new exam will be those of words commonly used in college courses, such as “synthesis” and “empirical.”
■ The essay, required since 2005, will become optional. Those who choose to write an essay will be asked to read a passage and analyze the ways its author used evidence, reasoning and stylistic elements to build an argument.
■ The guessing penalty, in which points are deducted for incorrect answers, will be eliminated.
■ The overall scoring will return to the old 1,600-point scale, based on a top score of 800 in reading and math. The essay will have a separate score.