An NCAA task force has recommended high school students looking to play Division 1 or Division 2 sports shouldn’t have to submit their SAT or ACT scores as part of the recruiting process.
The Daily Caller reported that the NCAA Standardized Test Task Force made the recommendations on Friday as part of the NCAA’s attempts to promote “racial equity.”
“The announcement stems from the NCAA’s Plan to Advance Racial Equity, which includes eight proposals to ‘address racial justice and equity at the national office and among the membership.’ The SAT and ACT score component is a significant part of the plan when evaluating the initial eligibility requirements for Division 1 and Division 2 student-athletes,” the outlet reported.
David Wilson, who led the task force and is also the president of Morgan State University, said in a statement that the recommendation “reflects the NCAA’s commitment to continually reviewing our academic standards based on the best available data and other relevant information.”
“We are observing a national trend in NCAA member schools moving away from requiring standardized test scores for admissions purposes and this recommendation for athletics eligibility aligns directly with that movement,” he added.
The move follows the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ (NABC) recommendation last year to eliminate the reporting of standardized test scores for students hoping to join college teams.
“The NABC Committee on Racial Reconciliation believes that the SAT and ACT are longstanding forces of institutional racism and no longer have a place in intercollegiate athletics or higher education at large,” the organization said in July 2020.
As the Caller noted, the NABC praised the NCAA’s recommendation to remove standardized test scores for prospective athletes.
“A[n] NCAA task force has backed removal of standardized test scores as a component of Division I and II initial eligibility. Their support follows a 2020 NABC proposal calling for the elimination of standardized tests for NCAA eligibility.
The NCAA is the latest to suggest standardized test scores harm minorities. In 2019, while running for president, Joe Biden suggested he would end “the use of standardized testing in public schools” in response to a question about their “history of racism and eugenics.”
In June 2020, The Daily Wire reported that University of California’s Board of Regents voted to stop using the SATs and ACTs while judging admissions. Some members claimed the tests were racist and hurt minority students.
“Yet only a few weeks earlier, the entire faculty senate voted to retain the SAT as a result of a study commissioned by UC system president Janet Napolitano that found that the SAT and the ACT increased minority enrollment across the UC system,” The Daily Wire reported.
That report found that “of the 22,613 students guaranteed admission through the statewide index (the admissions pathway in which test scores can compensate for lower HSGPA) but not through Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC), which only considers high school grades, about 25% were members of underrepresented minority groups, and 47% were low-income or first generation students. These students would not have been guaranteed admission on the basis of their grades alone.”
In June 2021, Princeton bragged that 68% of its incoming freshmen class were students of color after it waived the SAT score requirement.