In a return to pre-pandemic norms, Idaho students can now gain automatic admission to the state’s colleges and universities based on two factors: test scores and GPA.
But there’s one difference: the scores will be pulled from the Idaho Standards Achievement Test, rather than the SAT.
State officials say the change will open doors to postsecondary education for more high school graduates, creating a pathway for students who don’t earn the required 3.0 GPA, but do achieve the needed scores.
Idaho high school seniors will now gain automatic admission to the state’s higher education institutions if:
- They earn a 3.0 GPA OR
- They earn a score of proficient or advanced on the high school math and ELA ISAT
Seniors will begin receiving letters of acceptance in late September. Their next step is to use Apply Idaho to select the institutions where they would like to enroll. Find out more here.
Research shows that 12% of students with qualifying ISAT scores have GPAs below 3.0, according to a State Board of Education press release.
“We want to expand their opportunities for postsecondary success,” said Linda Clark, president of the State Board.
Idaho students take the math and ELA portions of the ISAT in grades 3-8, and once in high school. For a primer on the ISAT and other standardized tests, go here.
Before State Board trustees decided at their June meeting to incorporate ISAT scores into college admission decisions, ISAT achievement levels had no bearing on a student’s ability to graduate or enter college. The change may impact student attitudes toward the test.
“Many students were not all that excited about taking another test, but hopefully once they realize there’s value in it for potential benefits after graduation, they will work harder (on the test),” said Mike Keckler, the spokesman for the State Board.
In 2023, 65% of high school students earned qualifying scores on the ISAT ELA exam, and 34.7% of high school students earned qualifying scores on the math portion. Students must achieve proficiency on both to gain automatic college entrance in Idaho.
Statewide, the 2023 ELA and math results were well below target scores, and the ELA scores were the lowest they’ve been since 2017.
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The turn away from the College Board’s national college entrance exam (SAT) coincides with waning emphasis on such tests nationally and in Idaho since the pandemic.
The State Board officially removed the SAT as a graduation requirement in 2022, during a time in which many colleges nationally were eliminating college entrance exams as a required part of the student application. That trend has somewhat reversed, as some higher education institutions are re-adopting such tests in their admissions process.
Last spring, participation in the SAT declined sharply statewide — only 64% of the state’s juniors took the exam, as compared to 97% in 2022.