Harvard says it does not discriminate, and at trial the university argued that considering socioeconomic factors alone would not bring in enough minority students of the academic caliber that it wants.

A Boston federal court judge is due to decide the case this summer. But it is widely expected to go up to the Supreme Court.

The new adversity score may signal an effort by the College Board to preserve the SAT at a time when it is under attack, said Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation who consulted with the College Board on the tool. There have long been racial disparities in SAT and other standardized test scores — a factor in some colleges’ decisions to make the tests optional.

“For the SAT to survive it needs to come up with a new way of ensuring that it can coexist with racial diversity in elite colleges,” Mr. Kahlenberg said.

[Is the college cheating scandal the final straw for standardized tests?]

Eric Maloof, the vice president for enrollment at Trinity University, a liberal arts college of 2,500 students in San Antonio, said he had used the College Board’s tool as part of a pilot program that began a few years ago, in part to ensure that his school maintained racial diversity as it became more selective.

It has since taken on greater significance, he said, with current court battles over affirmative action. “Knowing the gravity of what could be coming down the road, it’s nice to know we have this in our back pocket if circumstances change,” he said.

Florida State University also volunteered to participate in the pilot. John Barnhill, an enrollment management official there, said that the university had previously gleaned information about disadvantage through essays, or “ferreting it out of the application.”