History of Testing in the United States: Higher Education

Since the founding of Harvard College, colleges and universities have used many types of examinations to serve multiple purposes. In the early days of student assessment, the process was straightforward. Each institution developed and administered its own unique examination to its own students to monitor their progress and to prospective students who applied for admission. Large-scale standardized tests emerged in the twentieth century in part to relieve the burden placed upon high schools of having to prepare students to meet the examination requirements of each institution to which a student applied. Up to that point, local communities of tutors and teachers were attempting to prepare students to succeed on each higher education institution’s unique examination. Large-scale standardized tests have enjoyed more than a century of popularity and growth, and they have helped higher education institutions to solve problems in admissions and placement, and to measure learning outcomes. Over time, they have also become controversial, especially pertaining to race and class. This article is a historical view of educational testing in U.S. higher education, linking its development with past and present societal challenges related to civil rights laws, prominent higher education policies, and the long struggle of African American people in the United States.