Priority to go to proficiency-based admissions
■ New admissions standards
for OUS schools take effect in
2005, and give priority to skill
proficiency over test scores
By Marty Toohey
Oregon Daily Emerald
By 2005, Oregon universities
will prize skill mastery over SAT
scores and high school GPAs when
deciding who enters their hal
lowed halls. State-administered
proficiency tests will replace the
decades-long scoring method.
The Oregon University System’s
plan — titled the Proficiency
based Admissions Standards Sys
tem — will put higher education
in line with a bill passed in the
1995 Oregon Legislature to imple
ment more skill testing at the K-12
level. PASS participants will gain
admission by demonstrating skills
in subjects ranging from English
and math to visual and
performing arts.
Although the University will
continue to use grades and SAT
scores as admissions criteria after
2005, PASS students will receive
preferential admission treatment.
“PASS won’t be the only way for
students to be admitted into the
University,” University admissions
Director Martha Pitts said. “What
it means is that if there is one
space available for two students,
and one of them has participated
in the PASS system, that student
will be the one admitted.”
She added that out-of-state ad
missions standards would not im
mediately change, but like the rest
of the system, “(They) would be
evaluated over time,” Pitts said.
Oregon’s change reflects a na
tionwide philosophical shift from
test scores and grades to skill pro
ficiency. Washington, Maryland
“PASS won’t be the only
way for students to be
admitted into the University,
... What it means is that if
there is one space available
for two students, and one of
them has participated in the
PASS system, that student
will be the one admitted. ”
Martha Pitts
director of
University admissions
and California are implementing
systems similar to Oregon’s, and
several state universities have ten
tatively agreed to accept each oth
er’s proficiency-based admissions
standards, Pitts said.
Other schools are moving to
ward tests such as the SAT-II,
which is a series of separate tests
in math, writing, foreign language,
physics, chemistry and biology.
Most require math and writing
plus a third of the student’s choice.
California University System As
sistant Vice President Michael Re
ece said his system is also consid
ering creating its own testing
system to further emphasize
proficiency.
“In this day and age, with the
emphasis placed on achievement,
we’re emphasizing achievement
rather than some vague notion of
aptitude,” Reece said. “The SAT-II
demonstrates mastery of a specific
subject matter. That’s why it’s pre
ferred (over the SAT).”
The College Board, the company
that owns the SAT and SAT II,
disagrees with the CUS argument.
Amy Schmidt, the company’s
director of higher-education
research, said the SAT-II is
necessary to differentiate students’
ability levels, but most schools do
not require that level of
differentiation. She also disputed
the notion that the SAT is purely an
aptitude test.
“When you have any test, you
have to have some academic subject
matter to it, or else it just becomes an
IQ test,” Schmidt said. “The SAT is
not an IQ test, was not designed as
one, and we don’t want it to be.”
Pitts backed Schmidt’s argument,
and said it is “a myth” that the SAT
is strictly an aptitude test. She also
said the PASS system is not
designed to be a more selective
system, but to make the in-state
admissions process more efficient.
Contact community reporter Marty Toohey
at martytoohey@dailyemerald.com.
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