In 2001 the then president of the University of California, Dr. Richard C. Atkinson, gave a Washington address to the American Council of Education proposing that colleges and universities radically change the way they evaluate students applying for admission. He recommended eliminating the Scholastic Aptitude Test, known as the SAT and taken by millions of high school students each year, and replacing it with a new test measuring what students actually learned in high school. An important aspect of this proposal was that the new test include an essay section requiring students to produce a significant writing sample.

On April 28, Atkinson, now UC President Emeritus, and also former Chancellor of the University of California, San Diego, will discuss the history of college admissions testing and describe the process that led, in just a few short years, to the wholesale change in the SAT that will begin nationwide in the fall of 2006. The talk, to be presented by the UCSD Center for the Humanities at 7:30 p.m. in Mandeville Center Auditorium on the UCSD campus, is free and open to the public.

Atkinson had long been a skeptic about the SAT and IQ testing, in general. He served, for the National Academy of Sciences, as chair of the Board on Testing and Assessment, which advises the federal government on these topics. During this tenure, he became immersed in the research on testing and concluded that the SAT, in wide use since World War II, was deeply flawed, did a disservice to young people applying to college, and distorted a student’s high school education. Thus, his call for a complete change in how standardized tests are used when judging applicants to college.

The rest of the story, which took place mostly during Atkinson’s tenure as President of the University of California, will be revealed in the Humanities Center lecture with humorous, and not so funny, experiences along the path. The occasion offers a rare opportunity for an inside look at an educational and cultural change from the point of view of a principal catalyst.

For further information, please contact the UCSD Center for the Humanities, (858) 534-0999.