A selection committee is recommending the Colorado Department of Education use the new computer-based SAT as Colorado’s college entrance exam beginning in 2024. The recommendation will become official after a procurement process, according to a news release.

The committee, composed of teachers and administrators from districts across the state, meets every five years to evaluate vendor bids for the college entry exam. In its latest recommendation, the committee asked the state Department of Education to continue using the College Board, a New York-based nonprofit organization that administers exams such as the PSAT and SAT and that Colorado has used since 2017.

Colorado scaling back its school standardized testing

The College Board last year announced it would transition to a digital-only standardized testing format in 2024. The new computer-based exams would replace pencil and paper exams, with the final paper-based exams being administered this spring. 

The Department of Education will share more information on the change by September after award and contract negotiations are complete, according to the release. 

Colorado high schools first began administering the SAT in 2019 after the committee favored its selection over the ACT, which it had used since 2001. The switch in tests followed 2015 legislation that required the Department of Education to solicit bids for a new 10^th-grade exam and an aligned 11^th-grade college entrance exam. The education department at the time struck a $12.4 million, five-year contract with the College Board.

Colorado students put pencil to SAT testing starting Tuesday

Not all higher education institutions even require the test, however. In 2021 Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a bill that made collecting standardized test scores optional for Colorado’s public universities. 

Students may still choose to submit their test scores to institutions that do not require them.