By MICHELLE LOCKE
.c The Associated Press

BERKELEY, Calif. (March 24) -- In a move that could affect high school
seniors nationwide, the head of the College Board is proposing major
changes to the SAT in an apparent effort to hold on to its biggest client,
the University of California.

Possible revisions include adding a writing test, dropping or reducing the
analogy questions and toughening up the math section, which in its present
form does not require students to have taken advanced courses such as
Algebra II.

``I think it's an important step,'' College Board President Gaston
Caperton said Saturday.

College Board trustees this week authorized Caperton and his staff to
explore the changes with College Board membership, which includes schools,
colleges and universities. Recommended changes would go back to trustees
for a vote in June and would go into effect no earlier than 2006.

The proposed overhaul comes just over a year after UC President Richard C.
Atkinson startled academia with a call for the UC to drop the SAT I, the
two-part verbal and math test taken by about 2 million students each year.

``There is no doubt that the conversation opened by Dr. Atkinson ...
spurred the College Board and the academic community to think faster than
they usually do,'' said Chiara Coletti, the College Board's vice president
of public affairs.

In the UC system, officials greeted the proposed revisions with cautious
approval.

``The history of the SAT has been one of fairly constant change and the
crux of President Atkinson's initial proposal was that it was a test that
no longer served our present needs,'' said UC spokesman Michael Reese.
``It appears at this juncture that the College Board has seen the wisdom
of that argument.''

In calling for an end to the SAT I, Atkinson said students are wasting
time and money prepping for the test, which has come under fire as unfair
to some students.

Caperton said there is nothing wrong with the current test, but that the
board was considering whether the changes would make it better.

``When you're the best the only way you stay the best is continuing
improving what you're doing. That's our goal,'' he said.

SAT supporters say the test helps them identify students who may have
benefitted from grade inflation.

Critics have attacked the SAT as culturally or gender-biased, mainly
because white males tend to do better than most other groups. Test
supporters contend the problem lies in an unfair public education system,
not in the test.

With about 170,000 students on its nine campuses, UC is the largest user
of the SAT I, although it also accepts the ACT. It also requires students
to take two SAT II tests. The SAT II, a lesser-known exam, is a series of
tests on specific subjects such as history or Spanish. The SAT I tries to
test reasoning skills.

Following Atkinson's suggestion to scrap the SAT, a UC faculty committee
recommended in January that the university develop a new test on reading,
writing and mathematics tied to what California students learn in the
classroom. The committee is also recommending that students take three
subject-matter tests.

The change faces some opposition on the board and within UC because of
concerns it would lower standards. If the faculty at large approve the
recommendation, it is expected to go before UC's regents in July. If they
vote yes, the new tests could be in place by 2006.

Reese said the College Board's proposed changes are not likely to affect
UC's timeline.

``The test will then be well, will the SAT fit the faculty's new
criteria?'' he said.

At FairTest, a Cambridge, Mass.-based group that is among the SAT's
harshest critics, spokesman Bob Schaeffer dismissed the suggested changes
as repackaging.

``They're just trying to put some polish on a tarnished product,'' he
said.

AP-NY-03-24-02 0920EST

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