College Board Will Weigh SAT Scores on 'Landscape' Curve

The College Board on Tuesday announced a plan to include socioeconomic factors in the admissions process.

The move comes after the nonprofit organization in May announced it would develop an "overall disadvantage level" for each SAT taker, a single number that would reflect an applicant's neighborhood and school, prompting an uproar.

The Landscape admissions tool rolled out Tuesday appeared intended to assuage critics.  

"We made changes because we heard and thought we could do better," College Board CEO David Coleman told CBS News. "There is no longer a single number that tries to sum up your neighborhood and school. Today, we'll share with everyone exactly how we calculate it, and within a year, every student and family, they'll be able to see the information for their neighborhood and school."  

The Landscape program will give colleges consistent information on each applicant's high school and neighborhood to highlight students who have done more with less.  

Coleman said the SAT is fair but has its limits.

"What it is, is a fair measure of achievement — but what it doesn't tell is the context in which that achievement occurred," he said. "It might be useful to know, 'Wow they achieved that score on the SAT, but it was 300 points higher than anyone ever at that school.' That's an amazing context."  

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