When David Coleman took over leadership of the College Board last year, he said reshaping the SAT to better reflect the new Common Core State Standards would be high on his agenda. (See Catherine Gewertz's coverage in May.)
Now, he is trying to make good on that promise. In a letter to College Board members, he announced the beginning of a collaborative effort to redesign the widely used college-entrance exam. The new assessment will aim to better connect K-12 and higher education institutions and more sharply focus on a core set of knowledge and skills that are essential for readiness, access, and success in college, wrote Coleman, one of the chief architects of the common standards for K-12.
"We will develop an assessment that mirrors the work that students will do in college so that they will practice the work they need to do to complete college," he wrote in the Feb. 25 letter.
