Presidential Papers—Richard Atkinson

In the aftermath of SP-1 and Proposition 209, the University of California has adopted several strategies in order to maintain access. In the long term, the university seeks to work with individual students to improve their academic preparation and to expand partnerships with the K-12 public sector. The state’s need to educate more of its minority citizens is urgent, however, so in the shorter term the University has focused on three strategies in its admissions process: comprehensive review, Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC), and the Dual Admissions Program (DAP). The paper also discusses the use of standardized tests in judging students’ readiness for university-level work, and especially changes to the SAT tests that have come about partly in response to UC policies. The paper concludes by assessing the ongoing debates over racial preferences in college admissions.

Statement on the College Board’s new test, which will be in accord with specifications developed by UC’s Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools.

Paper based on keynote address at the conference “Rethinking the SAT: The Future of Standardized Testing in University Admissions,” University of California, Santa Barbara, November 16, 2001. Published in Issues in Science and Technology, Winter 2001-02.

Opinion piece about initiatives to expand opportunities for students to achieve admission to UC.

Opinion piece about elimination of the SAT I examination as a requirement for admission to the University of California.

Opinion piece about the role of standardized testing and the SAT I.

The 2001 Robert H. Atwell Distinguished Lecture, delivered at the Eighty-third Annual Meeting of the American Council on Education, Washington, D.C., February 18, 2001.