Ohio State welcomes changes in college entrance exams

COLUMBUS – Applicants to The Ohio State University freshman class of 2006, presently high school freshmen, will be the first to provide a writing sample when taking college entrance exams.

In the 2004-05 academic year, the ACT assessment will include an optional writing section, an option which students planning to apply for admission to Ohio State will be required to take. Ohio State’s Faculty Committee on Admissions unanimously approved a recommendation late last month that the writing section be required of all ACT testers applying for admission to the university. The College Board previously announced that it will include a required writing section on its SAT I exam beginning in spring 2005.

Mabel Freeman, assistant vice president for Undergraduate Admissions and First Year Experience, said an early announcement that Ohio State will require the ACT’s writing section will give students appropriate time to prepare.

“It is our intent to ensure that students who are beginning to examine their college choices are informed of the admission standards required by Ohio State,” Freeman said. “It is important to us that both students and high schools are given sufficient time to prepare for this change.”

Approximately 84 percent of students admitted to Ohio State provide ACT scores, and 66 percent provide SAT scores. Many applicants submit score results from both exams. Freeman noted that requiring the ACT writing section will allow Ohio State’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions to correlate ACT testers with those taking the SAT I, in which the writing section will be required of everyone.

“The development of effective writing skills is critical to an individual’s success in high school, college, and beyond,” Freeman said. “Our requirement of a writing assessment is a reflection of our commitment to the importance of effective written communication in our society.”

Both ACT and College Board, responding to concerns about the need to put a greater emphasis on writing skills for entering college students, announced changes to their exams last summer.
Ohio State joins the universities of Texas and Michigan, each of which has plans to require the writing assessment of applicants taking the ACT exam.

ACT and Ohio State plan to collaborate on validity studies this fall with a sample of students in order to determine the correlation between performance on the exam and performance in college-level composition courses. Such studies will allow the university to determine how best to use writing assessment scores in its admissions and course placement processes.

ACT notes that its writing test will be based upon the results of a National Curriculum Survey conducted with high school teachers and college instructors across the country, ensuring that the assessment will measure the writing skills taught in America’s schools and deemed necessary for incoming college freshmen. According to ACT, which also tests students in English, math, reading and science, Ohio is one of the top five states in the number of ACT-tested high school graduates. Nationally, more than 2 million ACT assessments were administered in 2001-02.

Additional contacts: Allen Kraus, Ohio State Undergraduate Admissions and First Year Experience, kraus.1@osu.edu, (614) 292-1252; Ed Colby, ACT, ed.colby@act.org, (319) 337-1147