Delivering Opportunities

Delivering Opportunities is a comprehensive report College Board releases periodically that evaluates through empirical research how well the SAT Suite of Assessments prepares students to succeed in college and career training programs. We use this research to measure what is working and why, and to pinpoint where we need to do more work. We are committed to looking for ways to improve this process and to better serve students.

This year's report is the first to include a cohort that had access to the Suite from 8th grade through high school graduation. In this report, you'll see results on how well College Board delivered opportunities to students in 2019–20, including these major findings:

• Taking college readiness assessments early appears to improve scores, particularly for underrepresented students.
• Students who took an SAT Suite assessment each year showed a steady upward trend in average scores.
• The number of those students meeting or exceeding benchmarks for college readiness also increased.
• More students from low-income backgrounds are taking the SAT than ever before.
• When a college admission test is given to all students, four-year college-going rates increase, with students from underrepresented backgrounds benefitting the most.
• Free, personalized SAT practice works for all students, and it works particularly well for underrepresented students.
• Retaking the SAT increases college access, especially for students from underrepresented and low-income populations.
• Fee waivers improve college access for students from low-income families.

The COVID-19 pandemic is deepening the longstanding inequities that College Board was founded to combat. Vulnerable students are at heightened risk of missing the opportunities they have earned, and our society is at risk of losing valuable talent we will inevitably need in the years to come. This report explains how to deliver opportunity to more students, an effort that calls for our fullest devotion.

In this time of worry, sadness, and isolation, this report shows that there are promising strategies students can use both in and out of school to help them take advantage of the opportunities they so richly deserve.