The SAT test was specifically started to keep a certain type of student out of elite schools. (All the ugly history is just a google search away.)
When President Howell of Bowdoin made the pioneering decision to adopt a test optional policy in 1969, one of the reasons was specifically to increase access. Howell felt that holistic admission, which Bowdoin had already been using, allowed Bowdoin to select students who best fit the qualities the school was looking for.
From the Bowdoin Orient at the time, a quote from the then director of admissions Richard Moll:
According to Richard Moll, Director of Admissions, Bowdoin’s admission policies have been emphasizing “use” more than “ability." “What good is the person who has high ability and limited powers of application?” he asked. “We want a class with both high ability and strong powers of application, but innate ‘bright’ aren’t as important as developed powers of application.”
https://digitalcollections.bowdoin.edu/file/60139/content
The words from that day are obviously dated, and from a time when the SAT was seen as an aptitude test, a claim which Bowdoin’s leaders were skeptical of.
This policy change was incredibly forward thinking at the time. The next school that adopted a test optional policy wasn’t until Bates did so in 1984, 15 years after Bowdoin.
Data show certain types of students with low test scores just don’t apply to elite schools that require test scores. So, Dartmouth and other test required schools never even see apps from these students.
Similarly, it can actually be difficult to get certain types of students with low scores to apply to test optional elite schools, which is why some schools have hired AOs to specifically find and encourage apps from these students. Some test required schools also have AOs with this focus.
IMO, a school can have whatever test policy that suits them. The idealist in me just wants schools to be honest about the reasons for their policy.
IMO standardized testing discussion should be on a different thread, maybe this one Stanford, Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Penn, Brown, CalTech, JHU, and UT-Austin to Require Standardized Testing for Admissions
or maybe the race thread:
https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/race-in-college-applications-faq-discussion-14/3627043/2287