New York City public schools have taken a big leap in helping students pay for standardized testing and ease the burden of the college application process. The New York Department of Education has announced an initiative coined SAT School Day that will allow high school juniors to take the SAT for free starting in the spring of 2016.
By waiving the registration charge of around $54.50, free testing will go a long way in helping students get into college. Though it was intended to help low-income families have an equal chance of going to college, all students, no matter their income, will be able to take the test free-of-charge.
Schools will also be scheduling SAT test-taking time during the school day so that students won’t have to take time out of their weekends, which is how it is typically done now. High schools won’t make the test mandatory, but this should help improve test participation.
More than anything, this is part of New York State’s educational plan to increase the number of students applying to college after high school graduation. The hope is that taking the SAT will become a regular part of a student’s high school atmosphere. Kids take enough standardized tests as it is, but the SAT has become a requirement for admittance into most major colleges and universities across the nation.
High School sophomores and juniors were given free access to take the PSATs back in 2007 as a step towards ensuring student success. On the same day sophomores take the PSAT, juniors will have the option to take the SAT.
Six thousand students in 40 NYC public schools participated in the SAT School Day pilot program in the spring of 2015, and another 52 schools and 9,000 students will be added to the program. The citywide implementation of the SAT School Day program will happen in the Spring of 2017.
