Sharif v. New York State Education Department

In 1977, New York’s State Education Department (SED) adopted the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) to determine eligibility for the Regents and Empire scholarships. Regents and Empire were intended to reward past academic achievements in high school. The SAT was developed and validated to predict a high schooler’s future academic performance, but it was undisputed that it predicted differently for females and males. The SAT overpredicted the success of male students and underpredicted the success of female students. Furthermore, the SAT was never validated as a measure of past academic success in high school. Allegations arose that SED’s sole reliance on the SAT discriminated against females, who consistently received lower SAT scores than males. In 1988, the state legislature directed the SED to incorporate high schooler’s grade point averages (GPAs) in their determination. More scholarships were awarded to females than in the past; however, SED recommended the termination of the method. The SED claimed that incorporating GPAs placed a higher burden on school staff, provided an unequitable way to compare students from different schools, and encouraged students to enroll in easier courses to achieve a higher GPA. The legislature failed to renew its directive or provide funding to develop a new exam. Female students (plaintiffs) sued SED (defendant) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The students alleged that SED’s sole reliance on the SAT to determine eligibility for Regents and Empire disparately impacted female students who consistently scored lower than males on the SAT in violation of Title IX and the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause. The students moved for a preliminary injunction enjoining defendants from the practice of sole reliance on the SAT.