This is the subject of ongoing debate at the leadership level of my kids' private school. The school rarely produces a NMSF despite being a pricey "college prep" day school.
The school takes the position that the SAT does not really matter or measure anything substantive. PBS had an interview with the CEO of the Princeton Review that totally rips the value of the SAT as well. The Princeton Review guy claims that the SAT only measures test taking ability and that it is a poor predictor of college success.
OTOH, past discussions of SATs on this board seem to presume that the SAT somewhat accurately measures a child's education, information base and problem solving. Colleges certainly consider it, hopefully for more reason than because they are in the habit of doing so. (I was a NMSF so my bias is that the test is HIGHLY accurate.)
I would love to hear the thoughts of the board on this. My own feeling is that our school is doing CYA and the lack of NMSF indicates a deficit somewhere.