College Board Admits SAT Coaching Can Boost Scores Significantly

Today, the College Board reversed at least six decades of claims and admitted that SAT coaching can boost scores to a meaningful degree (https://www.yahoo.com/news/ap-ahead-test-prep-industry-183356336.html). Of course, the test-prep program that they now admit has a significant impact is the one the College Board endorses, Khan Academy (not surprisingly, they did not study any other programs). 

The magnitude of this policy change cannot be understated: sixty years ago the College Board's Annual Report to the Director stated, "If the Board's test can be regularly beaten through coaching, then the Board is itself discredited." Forty years ago, the president of the Educational Testing Service, the College Board's long-term partner in SAT design and administration, stated, ""the existence of the coaching schools is noting more than the triumph of hope over reality. . . " And, even today, the College Board's website includes this "data table" claiming coaching has minimal effects: http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/highered/ra/sat/coaching.pdf 

Given the latest news, its hard to understand how a conscientious admissions office should value any particular score -- is that 650, for example, the result posted by an applicant who took the SAT "cold," or after using Khan Academy (or one of the other free websites that also offers test-prep courses)? Or was it the result of a $1000 Kaplan/Princeton Review/Compass/etc intensive course, a $2500 personalized tutoring process or intervention by the self-styled New York City SAT "guru" who charges $1,500/hour for his services?

Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director
FairTest: National Center for Fair & Open Testing
contributor: SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions
web- http://www.fairtest.org