SAN FRANCISCO - If the University of California replaces the SAT I with a test based on state curriculum standards, it would not only be more fair, it would help improve high school education throughout California, UC President Richard Atkinson said Tuesday.

This argument emerged as a major part of his strategy to convince UC regents to dump the SAT I as an admissions requirement. Testing experts, representatives from testing companies and university leaders weighed in on a debate that began more than a year ago when Atkinson announced his controversial idea that questioned decades of accepted admissions practices.

Opponents as well as those open to the idea focused on different issues Tuesday during the regents' first serious public discussion of the proposal: Would other major universities accept a new test in lieu of the SAT I, or would students applying to more than just UC have to take another test? Would it harm the university's reputation and the quality of the student body in the long run? What would a new test look like?

"We're playing with the reputation of the institution," Regent Ward Connerly said. "The University of California is one of the best universities in the world. It does beg the question: 'Why are we doing this?'"

Advocates contend that testing students on what they learn in the classroom more fairly assesses their abilities than the SAT I, which Atkinson and others say measures an ill-defined notion of aptitude or innate intelligence.

Instead of students frantically studying verbal analogies for the SAT I, the new test would make it clear that what is taught in the classroom has bearing on whether or not students get into the university.

"I really want to send the message to teachers, students and parents that studying courses in high school will pay off and it will pay off because you will be tested in the admissions process on what we want you to master," Atkinson said. "The overwhelming factor for me is writing. I want these students to write."

Some critics have characterized the proposal as a veiled attempt to bring affirmative action back into the admissions process by helping black and Latino students who score consistently lower on the SAT than their white and Asian-American counterparts.

Last month, the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools, an influential UC faculty committee, recommended the university eliminate the SAT I as an admissions requirement. The regents will meet again in May to further discuss the issue and will likely vote on the proposal in July. The new test would go into effect for students applying for fall 2006 admission.

Much of the discussion centered on whether other universities would accept a score from a California-based admissions test. That is "a tall order" that will require much discussion with other states and universities, said Wayne Camara, vice president of research and development at the College Board, which administers the SAT. He would first like to see California State University and the California community college system agree to accept the new score.

It's not clear what out-of-state students who apply to California will do. One option is that they may still submit an SAT score, university leaders say.

Testing experts presented regents with the pros and cons of eliminating the SAT.

A change could resolve some issues of unfairness, but create new ones if all students don't have an equal opportunity to master California standards, said UC Santa Barbara testing expert Professor Rebecca Zwick.

"We know schools vary in coverage of material and in instructional quality," she said. "We also know curriculum-based tests show economic and achievement gaps that also show up on the SAT I."

She questioned assertions that other universities could accept a California test in lieu of the SAT I by using a conversion score. Tests can't be equated if they're too different, she said. In this case, only one test would have a curriculum basis. Equating tests is also problematic if ethnic subgroups have different average scores, she said.

The SAT I is used to predict freshman year success. In one study, university researchers found the test doesn't do a statistically better job of predicting that success than the lesser-known SAT II subject tests, which are more in line with what Atkinson envisions the university developing.

UCLA professor Matthew Malkan, another testing expert, took issue with that research. He argued, among other things, that studies have shown that students with higher SAT scores select tougher, heavier academic loads and so may not earn high grades their freshman year.

"The University of California shouldn't try to seal itself off somehow from comparison with other universities," he said. "Throwing out the best-established standardized test raises (the) long-term danger of eroding academic standards at UC."

Atkinson thinks it will improve the academic quality of the student body in part, by tamping down grade inflation. If high school students earn all A's in A-G requirement courses for UC but then fail the admissions test, schools will understand they have to improve, he said.

As the K-12 system works to align its curriculum with state standards, the university can be a guiding force, said Gerald Hayward, director of policy analysis for California education and former chancellor of the community college system. "Higher education can provide some of the most effective feedback."

Meanwhile, at UC Berkeley on Tuesday, nearly 50 students, professors, graduate students and others held a noon rally at Sproul Plaza to call for immediate removal of the SAT as criteria for admission to the UC system.

Speakers said the test unfairly discriminates against female, black and Latino students and frustrates efforts to diversify the campus. They added that the test doesn't measure intelligence or serve as a good indicator of whether a student will succeed in college.