Standardized testing has been ubiquitous within the American educational experience for decades. Tests like the HSAT, SAT/ACT, GRE, LSAT, and more have been cornerstones in educational achievement for diverse student populations. It sounds pretty straightforward; you score highly on these exams and you get into a better school, right? While this may hold true in some cases, there lies a darker history behind the invention of standardized testing that often goes untold. Specifically, standardized testing is historically rooted in racist ideology that systemically perpetuates the notion that Black, Brown, and other minority folks are “less than” and “inferior” to their White peers.
During the early 20th century, against a backdrop of mass European immigration to the United States, White leaders faced fear and anxiety over this demographic change. At this time, the U.S. military, in collaboration with psychologist and eugenicist Robert Yerkes, developed the Army Alpha tests to evaluate the intellectual and emotional functioning of U.S. military recruits during World War I. The problem is that these tests were designed in a way that systematically subjected Black people and other people of color as “less than” by design. Not long after the data collected from the Army Alpha tests, Carl Brigham published his seminal work titled A Study of American Intelligence, where he outlined his pseudo-scientific findings, claiming that “African-Americans were on the low end of the racial, ethnic, and/or cultural spectrum.” To no surprise, following Brigham’s work, he was contracted by none other than the College Board (yes, that one) to develop a standardized intelligence assessment for screening college students that could be used in a wide range of schools and universities. The result of this work was the Scholastic Aptitude Test, otherwise known as the SAT that we have all had to take, or will take, prior to going off to college.
So what does this racist history rooted in eugenics mean for the SAT? Originally, Brigham designed the exam in a way that rewarded and affirmed knowledge typically held by White test takers, positioning people of color to perform worse. For example, questions where White students performed best were selected for the final version of the SAT, whereas questions where Black students excelled were intentionally omitted from the exam. This resulted in systemic bias where people of color, on average, performed worse than their White peers—a trend that persists even today. One might say that the SAT has changed its ways since the early 1900s by removing the word "aptitude" from its name or implementing an “adversity index” to quantify a student’s socioeconomic environment. However, these attempts at change are akin to putting a bandage on a profusely bleeding severed limb.
When we design an assessment rooted in 'knowledge' exclusive to affluent White communities, we send a clear message that we only value a very specific type of knowledge and thus undervalue our Black and Brown communities/students.
The fact is, when we design an assessment rooted in “knowledge” exclusive to affluent White communities, we send a clear message that we only value a very specific type of knowledge and thus undervalue our Black and Brown communities/students. As recently as 2005, the SAT included an analogy question where students had to correctly select the answer of “oarsman:regatta.” If that isn't a culturally biased question, then I don't know what is. Growing up in Queens, New York, regattas were not a common sight; I didn’t even know what that was until writing this. Not surprisingly, affluent White students answered that question correctly at a greater rate than students of color, not because of innate “intelligence” but due to cultural relevance and exposure to that word. As explained by historian Ibram X. Kendi to the National Education Association in 2021, "Standardized tests have become the most effective racist weapon ever devised to objectively degrade Black and brown minds and legally exclude their bodies from prestigious schools."
The implications of this racist history extend beyond just the SAT and impact nearly all forms of standardized testing. As a clinical psychology trainee who has administered numerous intelligence tests, this is a reality I often grapple with. While the intended purpose of administering these tests in a clinical context is to provide information and access to resources for individuals in need, what does it say about the ethics of this process when we are using tools rooted in such a problematic and openly anti-Black history? This is especially concerning when we consider that, due to the results of these assessments, people of color are disproportionately diagnosed with intellectual disabilities, emotional disturbances, and specific learning disabilities—labels which carry significant structural challenges and social stigma. Ultimately, when we create an assessment that claims cultural neutrality and an objective measure of intelligence, we fall into the trap of assessing information relevant only to those who designed the test, often affluent, cisgendered White men. This, in turn, leads to various biases.
With these flaws in mind, the SAT and other standardized assessments are not going anywhere. Too much money has been invested in these tools that continue to maintain the status quo for them to disappear anytime soon. So what can we do to make these tools, specifically the SAT, more equitable for our communities of color? One approach is to embody cultural competence in the way we teach and prepare our students for the SAT. While cultural competence holds many definitions, I define it as the lifelong practice of understanding and respecting the values, attitudes, and beliefs held by communities across cultures and then integrating this understanding practically into the work that we do. In my own work as a teacher and clinical trainee, this idea of cultural competence is central to effectively working with both students and clients. For example, in clinical work, one client may expect a level of professional distance from me as a therapist and show no interest in asking me more personal questions, whereas a client from a different cultural background may come in with the expectation, as informed by their cultural values, that it is okay to ask me questions because it signals authenticity and connection.
With this idea in mind, in partnership with AdmissionSquad, we are working on developing a free-to-access SAT test prep curriculum for our low-income Black and Brown communities in NYC. In this context, cultural competence involves creating content that aligns with the values and ideals of the community we aim to serve while maintaining the expected level of academic rigor. So far, this process has involved developing passages that center the voices of Black artists and poets. It involves contextualizing SAT vocabulary in ways that resonate with our youth, whether this be using it to describe their favorite Brooklyn park or the slow pace of the MTA subway. Overall, the goal is to create SAT prep content that resonates with the lived experiences of the youth who will be utilizing this curriculum.
Creating easily accessible and culturally relevant SAT prep content is certainly not a final solution to dismantling the flawed tools in place within the American educational system, but it is a step in the right direction toward creating a more equitable academic landscape that supports our Black and Brown youth in attaining their educational goals."
While creating easily accessible and culturally relevant SAT prep content is certainly not a final solution to dismantling the flawed tools in place within the American educational system, it is certainly a step in the right direction toward creating a more equitable academic landscape that supports our Black and Brown youth in attaining their educational goals.