PACE Study in California Assesses Smarter Balanced for College Success

New Study of UC & CSU Students Finds Smarter Balanced Test is Comparable Indicator of College Success

The Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) research center has released a new study called, “Predicting College Success: How Do Different High School Assessments Measure Up?” The study, which focuses on University of California and California State University students, finds that:

• the Smarter Balanced high school test does as well as the SAT in predicting college outcomes, specifically first-year college GPA and second-year persistence rates for students enrolled in CSU and UC, and
• using high school GPA with Smarter Balanced vs. high school GPA with SAT results in a more socioeconomically and racial/ethnically diverse applicant pool.

In addition, PACE compiled a helpful fact sheet that provides a concise overview of the study’s findings.