STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS AND THE USE OF THE SAT TEST DISCLOSURE MATERIALS

Following the enactment of the New York state standardized admissions testing law, students taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in New York acquired the right to request and receive a copy of test questions used in calculating their scores, a copy of their answer sheet, and various interpretive materials. The purpose of this study was to examine (1) the differences between examinees who requested these disclosure materials and those who did not, and (2) the differences between different examinee sub‐populations in the likelihood of their requesting disclosure. For this study, the records of all New York SAT examinees who reported scores were extracted from the full SAT data files following the March, May, and June 1980 administrations, which were the first three administrations after the enactment of the legislation. For each administration, a data set was prepared that contained data for all requestors (4.77 percent of all test takers for the three administrations) and for a same‐size random sample of nonrequestors. Several analyses were undertaken. The first question of interest was answered by univariate comparisons between requestors and nonrequestors that showed significant differences on the majority of indicators available from the Student Descriptive Questionnaire and the registration form, and on SAT verbal and mathematical scores. Because so many differences were observed, linear multiple regression analyses were conducted, with requestor status the dependent variable. These analyses, which were undertaken to reduce the number of discriminating variables, showed among other things that requestors came from wealthier, more educated families; that requestors were more academically achieving than nonrequestors; and that requestors reported higher academic aspirations then non‐requestors. Categorical indicators of these variables were selected for subsequent analysis. The second question, regarding differences in the likelihood of requesting disclosure for different examinee subgroups, was answered by a multiple contingency table analysis of the effects on requesting disclosure of ethnic identification, parental education, parental income, academic achievement, and academic aspirations considered simultaneously. For this analysis, only the March and May administration cohorts were of sufficient size to be analyzed. Significant differences in both raw and adjusted odds‐ratios were found between examinee subgroups within each of these categories. Within category, those most likely to request were examinees who were not seeking financial aid for college attendance, had fathers with advanced degrees, achieved higher SAT mathematics scores, reported having higher class rank, and aspired to a doctoral or professional degree. The likelihood of requesting disclosure differed both among different ethnic groups and across the two SAT administrations. Following the March SAT administration, black examinees and other non‐Asian minority examinees were less likely than white examinees to request disclosure, while Asian examinees were more likely to request disclosure materials than were white examinees. Following the May administration, however, all ethnic minorities were more likely than white examinees to request disclosure materials.