As attention spans get shorter, so does the SAT -- and soon the ACT

As colleges return to requiring test scores for admissions, the SAT has become shorter and easier, charges Michael Torres,  policy director for the Classic Learning Test (CLT), on the Martin Center blog. The SAT now caters to students who have trouble reading long, complex texts.

High-school grade inflation has made standardized test scores the only way to measure students' preparation for college, he writes. But the changes have made the SAT less reliable.

College Board, which does the SAT, cut "reading passages from 500-750 words all the way down to 25-150 words, or the length of a social-media post, with one question per passage," writes Torres. The test eliminated material, including “passages in the U.S. founding documents/Great Global Conversation subject area,” because of their “extended length." The new, shorter content helps “students who might have struggled to connect with the subject matter.”

Professors say many students lack college-level literacy and attention spans, he writes. You'd think that "being able to pay attention to and analyze texts of extended length on complex subject matters that one may not find immediately entertaining should indeed be a prerequisite for college."

The SAT math section has fewer questions, giving students more time per question, and allows students to use a calculator for the entire test. However, they comport with a more than 15-year trend.

Finally, the optional essay was eliminated completely.

The ACT "began implementing several significant changes in April of this year, which seem to mirror the new SAT," Torres writes.

Of course, the relatively new Classic Learning Test is a competitor. The CLT seeks to identify the best students, not appeal to the weakest, he writes.

Students who take the CLT read "classic works of literature, philosophy, history, religion, and the sciences from Plato to Frederick Douglass and from Euclid to Albert Einstein," Torres writes. "Our math section includes more questions on the most challenging subject areas (geometry and trigonometry) than do the other exams. CLT also tests students’ fundamental knowledge of complex arithmetic. And calculators are not allowed."

The College Board and ACT have lobbied state lawmakers for a monopoly or duopoly, Torres charges. "Besides the tests’ usually optional use for college admission (though 80 percent of applicants still take the exams, and usually only low-performing test-takers choose to withhold scores), test scores are often tied to state-funded scholarships, required for high-school graduation, used to fulfill federal K-12 testing requirements, and more."

CLT is positioning itself as a rigorous alternative. Some southern states have approved it as an alternative to the SAT and ACT.