How to test potential

Could the row over admissions at Bristol University be solved with the American SAT test? Support is growing for its introduction. In June, a prominent American educationist arrives in Britain to promote the idea further. Lucy Hodges reports

Last week Education Secretary Charles Clarke had a businesslike breakfast with Sir Cyril Taylor, chairman of the Specialist Schools Trust. Over coffee they talked about the Bristol University row. The Education Secretary was adamant that admissions should be entirely on merit, according to Sir Cyril. But the big question is how you define merit: should past exam results be the criterion or should universities be looking for evidence of future potential? If so, what methods should they use?

Sir Cyril, who presides over a membership of 2,000 schools, 70 per cent of the total number of secondary schools in the country, has become an enthusiast for the American SAT test, the multiple choice exam that decides whether Americans go to college. He is keen to see it adopted in Britain as another way of picking clever children from poor families who don't necessarily get top grades at A-level. He is not talking about replacing A-levels, but simply adding the SAT to the information in front of university admissions tutors. "Merit can be identified in more ways than just by A-level results," he says.

The SAT measures something different from A-levels. It is a three-hour exam consisting of analogies, sentence completions, reading comprehension and standard mathematical and quantitative comparisons. Pupils are not required to memorise a body of knowledge as they do in A-levels; instead, they have to apply what they know.

Professor David Vandelinde, vice-chancellor of Warwick University and an American citizen, is a supporter. He believes that universities need to treat admissions not as a reward for previous achievement but as a way to find those students who will graduate with the best degrees. No one piece of information, neither SATs nor A-levels, will tell you everything you want, but taken together they can be very useful.

"SATs have been used for a long time in the USA to select young people for university and they seem to be doing a reasonable job," he says. "We need to use them with all the other information we can get on a student: their A-level results, GSCEs and the jobs they've done. That information should be collected in a portfolio. We can then relate it to how we think they will achieve."

Sir George Bain, vice chancellor of Queen's University Belfast, is also in favour. "I am delighted that we are going to try to get something that measures students' potential rather than achievement, which seem to be at the core of the Bristol row," he says. "I would be keen to try it, not as a panacea, but as another piece of information about young people applying."

The millionaire philanthropist Peter Lampl was the first person in Britain to beat the drum for SATs when, in 1999, he proposed a pilot to ministers. Since then he has used the SAT to pick the bright inner-city pupils who will benefit from the summer schools he funds at Bristol, Oxford, St Andrews and other leading universities. He has also commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research to conduct research into the test.

This study took three groups of pupils, one from selective independent day schools, the second from high-achieving state schools and the third from low-achieving state schools. The first group got the highest scores. But 30 children out of 630 (5 per cent) in the third group – the poor state schools – scored 1200 or more on the SAT, high enough for them to be considered by an American Ivy League university.

Only one of these 30 achieved three As at A-level. Despite doing well on the SAT test, three only got the equivalent of three grade Es.

That study persuaded Mr Lampl that the SAT would give children from poor backgrounds a better chance of success at university entrance. "With the SAT, top universities would consider perhaps twice as many kids from below-average performing schools," he says. Mr Lampl persuaded officials at the Department for Education and Skills, such as Michael Barber and prominent advisers at 10 Downing Street such as Andrew Adonis, that he was on to something. The problem is that those two people have now moved on. "But Charles Clarke is interested," says Mr Lampl.

Three factors mean that the time is ripe for the SAT to be taken seriously. First, the AS-level debacle last year reduced confidence in the AS-level and A-level exam. Second, grade inflation – the fact that increasing numbers are achieving more A-grades – means that the A-level's reputation as a gold standard is tarnished. Third, the desire to make higher education accessible to the whole population, rather than a few, means that more sophisticated methods need to be found to pick the best and brightest.

Some universities like Bristol are overwhelmed with applications. How can they choose among so many good candidates without another tool?At present, no university makes SAT scores part of their UCAS offer. But some universities are working on it (see below).

And this summer, a new attempt will be made to publicise the idea when the American, Kurt Landgraf, president of the Educational Testing Service, comes to Britain on a high-profile visit. He has been invited by Sir Cyril, Professor Vandelinde, and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service and is coming on 30 June on a high-profile visit which will last three days. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the Educational Testing Service develops and publishes the SAT for the College Board in America.

Sir Cyril is hoping that Mr Landgraf's visit will give a boost to the SAT test. He also wants some of his 2000 schools to become specialist testing centres for the SAT and to discuss that with Mr Landgraf.

No one is suggesting that the SAT test is culturally neutral, that it does not work to the advantage of those who are from better-off homes which are rich in parental support and ambition. Like A-levels, the SAT test has been criticised for years for discriminating against young people from ethnic minorities. In fact, the issue became so hot in 2001 that the president of the University of California recommended that it be dropped as an admissions requirement in his state.

Well-heeled American parents pay thousands of dollars to have their offspring "prepped" for the SAT test and are convinced that such tutoring adds significant points to their overall result. Would not the same thing happen in Britain? Mr Lampl has looked into this and found that youngsters who are coached gain an average of 30 points on their score, which works out at about 3 per cent. And most of that boost comes from the first 10 hours of practice testing and coaching.

"If you did introduce the SAT to level the playing field I would recommend that you give everyone practice tests and coaching," he says. "That way coaching is not a big issue."

THE BRITISH UNIVERSITIES THAT ARE TRYING OUT THE AMERICAN TEST

Each year Dundee University runs a summer school for people without the exam grades for university entry. They come with no qualifications, says John Blicharski, Dundee's director of wider access.

After 300 hours of teaching over 10 weeks, they are given tests at the same level as those needed for entry via the normal route. If they pass, they are accepted into a degree course. All are given the SAT test when they enter the summer school. "Our interest is to use the SAT test to identify hidden talent," says Dr Blicharski.

The summer school has been a huge success: attendees do better than average on their degree courses. "They are coming in, staying in and getting better degrees," he says.

Bristol University is also using the SAT test but only in one department in each faculty. All first-year students in that department are given the test. The aim is to build up information on students to see whether the SAT score tallies with their A-level grades and their degree classification. "We think it will give us a stronger feel for whether SATs will be a better predictor of academic potential than A-levels," says a spokesman.

Warwick University is planning to use SAT tests on students coming in to its Academy for the Gifted and Talented. It is also considering using the SATs more widely, says the vice-chancellor, Professor David Vandelinde. Manchester University has begun a three-year pilot project to see whether psychological tests would be useful in admissions to detect whether applicants have the right personal characteristics for university study. The trial will involve students at local schools and undergraduates from Manchester, says Judy Turner, who works on widening access.

l.hodges@independent.co.uk