This is simply wrong:
1.1. What Does the SAT Measure?
The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and American College Test (ACT) are two examples of standardized tests widely used in college admissions. Perhaps because of the high stakes nature of these exams and the fact they are administered to over a million students every year, they have come under fire despite their considerable psychometric reliability and validity. One of the most common critiques of the SAT is that it is nothing more than a âwealth testâ [7]. It has been argued that the verbal section of the SAT measures âthe size of student housesâ [8] and that âthe only thing the SAT predicts well now is socioeconomic statusâ [9]. However, these statements are contradicted by the fact that the SAT and ACT both actually measure general intelligence or g to a large degree [10,11], see also [12], despite the test companies themselves marketing them as academic or achievement measures. For example, Frey and Detterman [10] showed the correlation between g derived from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and the SAT in a sample of 917 participants was 0.82, and Koenig et al. [11] showed the correlation between g derived from the ASVAB and the ACT in a sample of 1075 participants was 0.77. SAT scores are also correlated between 0.75 to 0.86 with GRE scores (see [13,14], respectively), which is additional evidence suggesting that the SAT measures something stable, like general ability or IQ. As Hunt ([15], p. 157) pointed out, âCollege entrance is substantially a cognitive screening process.â In fact, Kelley [1] noted that the overlap between intelligence tests and school achievement tests was about 90% and in their independent analysis Coleman and Cureton [2] noted that this overlap was about 95%. Thus, this overlap has been noted for many decades.
Such statements are also contradicted by the broad research evidence showing the predictive validity of all kinds of standardized achievement tests on important academic and career outcomes (e.g., [16]), and the effects of cognitive ability on life outcomes are stronger than the effects of wealth or SES [17]. The fact that the SAT and ACT measure g in part, serve as reasonable proxies for g, and that many researchers, the test companies themselves, and the public do not understand and accept this, is a core reason myths such as the idea that these tests are âwealth testsâ continue to persist (e.g., see âWhy the new SAT scores are meaninglessâ in The Washington Post by Strauss [18]). Counter to claims of such tests being âbiased,â low income talent has been shown to be underperforming relative to their ability level [19], and could be identified more fairly by âuniversal screeningâ of all students [20â23].
One class of variables that are directly relevant to the field of education broadly is the structure of cognitive abilities, specifically general intelligence or g [24â27]. Spearman [28] classically argued that the specific content of mental tests was not all that important because g enters into the performance on any mental test. Research has corroborated his initial claim, showing that g is measured to some extent by nearly any challenging cognitive test with a variety of question types and tasks, independent of analytic technique or items used [26,29], and even when tests are initially designed to measure a variety of achievements and abilities, g is found (e.g., [30,31]). Cognitive g and academic achievement g are roughly the same from a measurement perspective [32], meaning the variance accounted for by g among cognitive ability tests is roughly the same variance as that accounted for by g among academic achievement tests. The SAT and ACT are often thought of as achievement and/or aptitude tests but as indicated earlier, are in fact reasonable proxies for g [10â12].
https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence6030037
2.1. The SAT Measures Intelligence
Although the principal finding of Frey and Detterman has been established for 15 years, it bears repeating: the SAT is a good measure of intelligence [1]. Despite scientific consensus around that statement, some are remarkably resistant to accept the evidence of such an assertion. In the wake of a recent college admissions cheating scandal, Shapiro and Goldstein reported, in a piece for the New York Times, âThe SAT and ACT are not aptitude or IQ testsâ [6]. While perhaps this should not be alarming, as the authors are not experts in the field, the publication reached more than one million subscribers in the digital edition (the article also appeared on page A14 in the print edition, reaching hundreds of thousands more). And it is false, not a matter of opinion, but rather directly contradicted by evidence.
For years, SAT developers and administrators have declined to call the test what it is; this despite the fact that the SAT can trace its roots through the Army Alpha and Beta tests and back to the original Binet test of intelligence [7]. This is not to say that these organizations directly refute Frey and Detterman; rather, they are silent. On the ETS website, the word intelligence does not appear on the pages containing frequently asked questions, the purpose of testing, or the ETS glossary. If one were to look at the relevant College Board materials (and this author did, rather thoroughly), there are no references to intelligence in the test specifications for the redesigned SAT, the validity study of the redesigned SAT, the technical manual, or the SAT understanding scores brochure.
Further, while writing this paper, I entered the text âdoes the SAT measure intelligenceâ into the Google search engine. Of the first 10 entries, the first (an advertisement) was a link to the College Board for scheduling the SAT, four were links to news sites offering mixed opinions, and fully half were links to test prep companies or authors, who all indicated the test is not a measure of intelligence. This is presumably because acknowledging the test as measure of intelligence would decrease consumersâ belief that scores could be vastly improved with adequate coaching (even though there is substantial evidence that coaching does little to change test scores). One test prep book authorâs blog was also the âfeatured snippetâ, or the answer highlighted for searchers just below the ad. In the snippet, the author made the claims that âThe SAT does not measure how intelligent you are. Experts disagree whether intelligence can be measured at all, in truthâ [8]âlittle wonder, then, that there is such confusion about the test.
I really love that heâs going to get a GREAT education, that will not culminate in a bunch of debt. Smart parents, and smart student!
