TESTING ACADEMIC TALENT. THE GLOBAL DISSEMINATION, APPROPRIATION AND CONTESTATION OF US-AMERICAN COLLEGE ADMISSION TESTS DURING THE COLD WAR.

The aim of this project is to offer a historical, transnational, multi-scalar, and comparative analysis of test-based college admission in the intersection of comparative and history of education, global history and policy studies. Focusing on the global spread of the US American Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) during the Cold War, the project investigates how standardized testing reshaped the definition and assessment of academic talent by examining its cultural, social, political, and epistemic implementations across different contexts. Through this investigation it will become clear how this model of student selection transformed college admission worldwide and significantly shaped individual biographies and life chances of millions of students.