华盛顿邮报原文——
[Washington Post] How many Chinese take the SAT every year? We may soon learn
October 31,2014
By Nick Anderson
Want to know how many Californians take the SAT?
The College Board reports that every year with precision. The number of students in the class of 2014 from the Golden State who took the college admission test: 236,923. Growth compared to the previous class: 2,156.
The same is available for every state , as well as Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Want to know how many Chinese take the SAT?
The College Board has released no public data on that. Nor has it specified the number of test takers from South Korea or South Africa or Sweden or any other foreign country.
That is likely to change soon.
On Friday, College Board spokesman Zachary Goldberg wrote in an e-mail: “Historically we have released domestic data on SAT participation, but based on growing interest we plan to release international data in the coming months. As with all our data, we want to ensure we are providing consistent and accurate information.”
Goldberg confirmed that meant the College Board plans to disclose per-country usage numbers. The College Board, a nonprofit organization based in New York, owns the SAT.
ACT, a nonprofit organization based in Iowa, declined Friday to provide a count of how many students from China or other foreign countries take the rival ACT college admission test. “Sorry to frustrate you,” ACT spokesman Ed Colby wrote. He said the ACT considers the data “proprietary information.” But he said that 60 percent of international ACT usage is in Asia.
Detail on international test-taking is relevant for multiple reasons.
First, the globalization of higher education means that ever more students from abroad have ambitions and realistic hopes of going to college in the United States. Knowing exactly where admission tests are taken, and by exactly how many students, would be a key metric in tracking this phenomenon and would yield very interesting information about education patterns in specific countries and regions.
Second, this week's revelation of cheating allegations involving Chinese and South Koreans who took the SAT on Oct. 11 spotlights the growth of testing in that part of the world and how test security is maintained there. Knowing how many Chinese or South Koreans take the SAT (and where they take it) would provide important context for that story. (Worth noting: Chinese generally must leave the mainland to take the test, going to Hong Kong or elsewhere.)
Here's what is known about international test usage from previous College Board reports: The total number of students in the Class of 2014 who took the SAT was 1,672,395. The total from the United States, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, was 1,535,049.
So the total not from the United States was 137,346.
A significant fraction of that total were undoubtedly Chinese or South Korean because those two countries are the top annual suppliers of foreign undergraduates in U.S. colleges.
Soon, it appears, we will learn more about just how many Chinese and Koreans - and others from foreign countries - take the SAT.
想知道加州有多少人参加SAT考试吗?College Board每年都有准确的数据报告。2014年，加州参加大学入学考试的人数为23.6923万人，比去年增长了2156人。其它各州的数据都能查到，包括波多黎各，哥伦比亚特区和美属维京群岛。
那么，你想知道有多少中国学生参加SAT考试吗?College Board从未公布过相关数据。不仅如此，韩国、南非、瑞典等其它国家的考生人数也从未公布。
这种情况很快将有所变化。
上周五，College Board发言人Zachary Goldberg在一封邮件中写到：“作为惯例，我们一直有发布美国本土的SAT考生数据。不过，鉴于人们对国际考生数据的关注度越来越高，我们在接下来的几个月里将会发布这方面的统计报告。并且，我们要像以往一样，确保数据信息准确、严谨。”经Goldberg确认，这意味着College Board将按国别发布每个国家的考生数据。
College Board总部设在纽约，是主办SAT考试(全称Scholastic Assessment Test,中文名称为“学术能力评估测试”)的一家非营利性机构。
ACT(全称“American College Testing”，中文名称为“美国大学入学考试”)，另一家设在爱荷华州的非营利性机构，在上周五表示他们不能提供中国及其它国家参加ACT大学入学考试的考生数据。“抱歉，令您失望了，”ACT发言人Ed Colby写道。不过，他表示60%的国际考生都来自亚洲。
国际考生数据统计的意义主要体现在几个方面：
首先，高等教育的全球化意味着越来越多的外国学生有抱负、也有现实的希望能进入美国的大学就读。准确地了解入学考试在哪儿举行，有多少人参加考试，将是跟踪分析这一趋势的关键指标，也会体现出特定国家和地区教育模式的特点。
此外，本周关于中国和韩国学生参与10月11日SAT考试时涉嫌作弊的报道也引发了公众对该地区考生人数增长和考试保密措施的广泛关注。了解有多少中国、韩国考生参加SAT考试(以及考试的地点)将非常有助于我们理解该事件发生的背景。(注：中国学生不能在内陆地区参加SAT考试，考SAT必须到香港或其它地方。)
根据College Board已经发布的考生数据，2014年总计有167,2395万人参加了SAT考试，其中来自美国本土，包括波多黎各和美属维京群岛的人数为153,5049人，从中可以看出国际考生的数量。也就是说，来自美国以外的考生数量为13,7346人。这其中相当大的比例无疑来自中国和韩国，因为在美国大学里，来自这两个国家的本科留学生人数最多。
那么，到底有多少中国和韩国学生参加SAT考试?又有多少SAT考生来自其它国家?看起来，不久之后，我们就会得到更多关于这方面的消息。
