The Idaho State Board of Education passed an amendment earlier this summer that changed policies requiring Idaho students to take entrance exams, like SAT and ACT, to be admitted into Idaho’s four-year institutions. This leaves individual institutions, including University of Idaho, to decide if they will still require the exams for admissions.
ISBE President Kurt Liebich spoke on the board’s decision this past June.
“When COVID-19 hit in March of 2020, every university dropped SAT requirements based on the fact that students didn’t have equal access,” Liebich said. “There is also a growing body of evidence that the exams may not be the best predictor of what a student can achieve.”
Liebich noted that high school students at the moment still require a college entrance exam to graduate, as well as the decision from four-year institutions if they will require an exam as part of their admission requirements.
Dean Kahler, UI vice provost for strategic enrollment management, finds there are different factors to consider for admissions.
“We still need a way to measure college readiness, and possibly the SAT may not be it,” Kahler said. “There are interviews, essays, recommendations or grades from high school.”
UI has changed its admission requirements the past year due to the pandemic.
“Prior to COVID-19, it was a requirement to have a 3.0 GPA and an SAT on file for placement,” Kahler said. “In the fall of 2020, the faculty senate passed a proposal to the president lower the requirements.”
Currently, the adjusted requirements for UI admissions allow students with an unweighted GPA of 2.6 or higher in with any SAT or ACT score. Those who have a GPA lower than 2.6 and are unable to sit for a test have to appeal through the university’s admissions committee.
“There has been a lot of debate if we should use SAT and ACT, but GPA can vary from state to state,” Kahler said. “The goal is to make sure a student is successful in college.”
In August, the ISBE will meet to change the minimum high school graduation requirements, which currently require students to take a college entrance exam to graduate.
Daniel V. Ramirez can be reached at [email protected] or Twitter @DVR_Tweets