More than 3,000 UC faculty members have recently signed letters or petitions urging a return to standardized testing, and the Board of Regents could revisit its earlier decision to drop test score requirements. Much of that conversation has centered on a narrow question: do SAT and ACT scores actually help predict which students will thrive academically at UC?

Faculty are split. Some contend that test scores reveal gaps in academic preparation that grade point averages alone don’t capture. Others counter that once a student’s socioeconomic background is factored in, the tests lose much of their predictive value — suggesting they mostly reflect family wealth and access to resources rather than raw ability.

Both arguments matter, but neither addresses a deeper structural issue: how much should the UC system be sorting students into different campuses based on predicted academic performance in the first place?

Picture a typical large public high school. It can’t turn away students who meet basic enrollment requirements. It offers everything from remedial classes to advanced coursework, and a wide mix of students takes those classes according to their interests and readiness.

Now picture two public high schools located in neighborhoods with sharply different income levels. Both receive comparable state funding, but one benefits from significant private donations that give it smaller class sizes and stronger teachers. Unsurprisingly, students there tend to have better outcomes.

The UC system today looks a lot more like that second example than most people realize. Although its ten campuses are technically part of one public university, they function within a clear pecking order.

Take UC Merced and UC Berkeley as an example. Merced actually receives more state funding per student than many other UC campuses. But once you account for private donations and endowment income, Berkeley spends nearly twice as much per student overall.

The disparity shows up in admissions, too. Berkeley’s acceptance rate hovers around 11%, while Merced accepts roughly 95% of applicants. Naturally, students who enter Berkeley tend to arrive with stronger grades and test scores. They’re also more likely to be taught by full-time faculty rather than lecturers. Graduation rates run higher at Berkeley, and so do the starting salaries graduates report after leaving campus.

In other words, the hierarchy baked into the UC system may be deepening — rather than easing — existing social, economic, racial and geographic divides among students.

To be clear, students should meet certain academic standards to enroll in college and to take advanced coursework. But there’s good reason to question whether it makes sense to separate students across entirely different campuses based solely on where they stand academically at age 17 or 18. That kind of stratification carries its own set of consequences, many of them troubling.

California could instead move toward a more integrated approach.

The state already has a modest tool for this: the Eligibility in the Local Context program, which guarantees UC admission somewhere in the system for students who finish in the top 9% of their graduating class at participating high schools. Research shows the program has boosted graduation rates for eligible students who chose a UC campus instead of a Cal State or community college. Even so, most of those students end up at the system’s less selective campuses rather than its flagship schools.

Texas offers a bolder model worth considering. Under its Top Ten Percent Plan, the top-performing students from every public high school in the state earn automatic admission to any Texas public university — including its most prestigious ones. (UT-Austin later narrowed that guarantee to the top 5% of students, but the underlying principle remains.)

That principle is simple but significant: once students clear the bar for admission, the most academically prepared among them shouldn’t automatically be funneled into only the best-funded, most prestigious campuses while everyone else lands elsewhere.

Such a shift wouldn’t come without trade-offs. Campuses would need to adapt to different student populations. Flagship schools might slip in national rankings. Some students could choose to attend elsewhere altogether, and recruiting and retaining top faculty might grow more complicated.

Those trade-offs deserve honest, public discussion. The University of California belongs to the people of a vast and diverse state, and its admissions policies should reflect a deliberate vision of what public higher education is meant to accomplish.

The SAT debate offers a useful opening to ask these bigger questions. As the Board of Regents weighs how to better evaluate California students for admission, it might also ask whether the system has been sorting them too rigidly all along.

Original source: CalMatters

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The confusion comes at a time when a growing chorus of faculty members and media commentators are pushing the UC system to bring back the SAT as part of its admissions process. The Board of Regents eliminated the testing requirement in 2020, overruling a recommendation from the UC Academic Senate that the university continue relying on the SAT and ACT. That vote was unanimous.

The latest wrinkle emerged last month, when the Academic Senate announced it would launch a review of standardized admissions tests along with the high school coursework students must complete to meet minimum UC eligibility requirements. Then, on Monday afternoon, several news outlets reported that a Senate committee overseeing admissions had decided to scrap that review altogether.

But two senior UC officials say a fresh look at the role of standardized testing in admissions remains very much on the table. One of them is Ahmet Palazoglu, chair of the Academic Senate.

“The Academic Senate is not walking back its commitment to conducting a comprehensive review of standardized testing in the admissions process,” Palazoglu wrote in a statement posted Monday night on the UC Office of the President’s website. He said the Senate is simply adjusting its original timeline for completing the broader admissions review.

At a Board of Regents meeting Tuesday, the board’s new chair, Maria Anguiano, said the Academic Senate will wrap up its review “no later than the end of this academic year” — meaning around June 2027.

That actually moves the timeline up. A Senate document released last month had indicated the panel’s final report and recommendation to the board would come sometime in fall 2027.

Palazoglu clarified in an email Tuesday that the June deadline applies specifically to the standardized testing question. The Academic Senate is scheduled to meet July 22 to determine a separate approach for reviewing the high school coursework requirements students must satisfy to be eligible for UC admission.

While the Academic Senate wields considerable influence within the UC system, it cannot unilaterally reinstate the SAT for undergraduate admissions. Only the Board of Regents has that authority. Under standard procedure, the board must first hear at least one informational item on the topic before voting on any policy change at a later meeting.

Students push back against SAT’s return

The University of California Student Association sent a letter to the Board of Regents this week opposing any reinstatement of the SAT. The association, which represents roughly 237,000 UC undergraduates, said it does not believe bringing back the SAT or ACT would lead to better-prepared students. The letter pointed out that racial and ethnic diversity across the UC system has grown since 2020, even as graduation rates have held steady or improved.

“The purpose of public education is to ensure that all students can access their right to a strong, quality learning experience, and UC should not be limiting the number of students who can enter its classrooms,” the students wrote.

Back in 2020, students were among those urging the Board of Regents to drop standardized testing from admissions. The board reaffirmed its ban on admissions testing in 2021.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Anguiano signaled some unease with how much attention the testing debate has commanded. “In my view, recent public conversations have focused too heavily on admissions and standardized testing,” she said.

Why some faculty want the SAT back

More than 2,000 UC faculty members in science, technology, engineering and math fields have signed a petition calling on the university to reinstate the SAT or ACT as an admissions requirement for STEM majors starting in fall 2027. Nearly 1,000 additional faculty members from other disciplines signed a separate letter calling for the full restoration of standardized testing across all admissions.

The STEM faculty petition argues that high school grades alone are not a reliable measure of college readiness, pointing to rising grade inflation and growing numbers of students relying on artificial intelligence to complete coursework. As a result, some students arrive at UC unprepared for the rigor of its academic programs, the petition contends.

Mina Aganagic, a physics and mathematics professor at UC Berkeley, spoke in favor of bringing back the SAT during Tuesday’s meeting. “Without the SAT, our introductory courses are forced to re-teach material from elementary and middle school. That wastes opportunity and misallocates resources instead of expanding access to higher education,” she said.

But the head of an influential nonprofit that advocates for greater access to the UC system said focusing on the SAT is the wrong approach.

“This is absolutely the wrong solution for an undefined problem,” said Jessie Ryan, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity. “Based on the UC Office of the President’s own research, we know that since the testing requirement was dropped, our retention rates have remained stable and graduation rates have actually gone up.”

She added: “If we truly want to address college readiness, the answer isn’t to become more selective — it’s to provide more support to students throughout the state. We need to work with our K-12 partners to improve preparation, rather than shutting the door on thousands of students.”

Critics of the SAT have long argued the test disadvantages low-income students, who are less likely to afford test-prep services that can boost scores.

Standardized tests were historically just one piece of the puzzle UC campuses used to evaluate applicants. Other factors considered include the rigor of a student’s course load, how that course load compares with peers at the same high school, special talents or achievements, and the location of the applicant’s school.

Original source: CalMatters

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The clarification comes amid mounting pressure from faculty members and commentators who want the UC to bring back standardized testing requirements that the Board of Regents eliminated in 2020. That decision, approved unanimously by the regents, went against a recommendation from the UC Academic Senate, which had favored keeping the SAT and ACT as part of the admissions process at the time.

Confusion over the university’s plans surfaced last month after the Academic Senate announced it would review both standardized testing and the high school coursework requirements used to determine UC eligibility. Then, on Monday, several media outlets reported that a senate committee overseeing admissions policy had abandoned that review altogether.

UC officials pushed back on that characterization. Ahmet Palazoglu, chair of the Academic Senate, issued a statement Monday night through the UC Office of the President insisting the review remains active.

“The Academic Senate is not rescinding its commitment to a comprehensive review of standardized testing in admissions,” Palazoglu wrote, adding that the faculty body is simply adjusting its original schedule for completing the broader admissions study.

At a Board of Regents meeting Tuesday, newly appointed board chair Maria Anguiano said the Academic Senate now intends to wrap up its testing review by the end of the current academic year — around June 2027. That’s earlier than the fall 2027 target laid out in a senate document circulated last month.

Palazoglu later clarified in an email that the accelerated June deadline applies specifically to the standardized testing question. A separate discussion about how to review high school course requirements for UC eligibility is scheduled for a senate meeting July 22.

Even with a completed review, the Academic Senate cannot single-handedly restore the SAT to UC admissions. That authority rests solely with the Board of Regents, which must first consider an informational presentation before voting on any policy change at a later meeting.

Students renew opposition

The University of California Student Association, which represents roughly 237,000 undergraduates across the system, sent regents a letter this week reiterating its opposition to reviving standardized testing requirements. The organization argued there’s no evidence the SAT or ACT would produce better-prepared students, noting that racial and ethnic diversity on UC campuses grew after the 2020 policy change without any corresponding drop in graduation rates.

“The role of public education is to ensure all students can access their right to a robust, quality learning experience, and the UC must not limit the number of students able to enter its halls,” the students wrote.

This isn’t the first time students have weighed in. It was student advocacy in 2020 that helped convince regents to drop the testing requirement, and the board reaffirmed that stance in 2021.

Anguiano appeared to signal some frustration with how the debate has unfolded publicly. “Recent public conversations have focused on admissions and standardized testing, too narrowly, in my opinion,” she told fellow regents Tuesday.

Faculty push for reinstatement

More than 2,000 UC faculty members in STEM fields have signed a petition calling for the SAT or ACT to become mandatory again for students applying to science, technology, engineering and math programs, with a proposed start date of fall 2027. Separately, nearly 1,000 professors from other academic disciplines signed a letter urging a full return to standardized testing for all applicants.

The STEM faculty petition contends that high school transcripts alone don’t reliably indicate whether a student is ready for college-level coursework, citing grade inflation and the rise of artificial intelligence tools that some students use to complete assignments. Supporters argue this leaves some incoming students unprepared for the academic demands of a UC education.

Mina Aganagic, a physics and mathematics professor at UC Berkeley, told regents Tuesday that dropping the SAT has created real classroom challenges. “Without the SAT, our introductory courses are forced to reteach elementary and middle school material. This wastes opportunities, misallocating resources rather than increasing access,” she said.

But not everyone agrees the SAT is the answer. Jessie Ryan, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, a nonprofit focused on expanding access to higher education, said reviving the test would address the wrong problem.

“This is absolutely the wrong solution to an undefined problem,” Ryan said. “What we know, based on the UC Office of the President’s own research, is that since going to test-free admissions, our retention rates have remained stable and graduation rates have also increased.”

Ryan argued that if the university wants to improve student preparation, it should focus on strengthening support systems and partnerships with K-12 schools rather than raising barriers to entry. “We should be looking not at becoming more selective, but being more supportive to students across the state,” she said. “Working with our K-12 partners to improve preparation, not slamming the door on thousands of students.”

Opponents of reinstating the SAT have long argued the exam disadvantages low-income students, who often lack access to costly test-preparation resources that can boost scores.

Even when standardized tests were part of UC admissions, they were only one factor among many. Campuses also weighed the rigor of a student’s coursework relative to peers at the same high school, extracurricular achievements and special talents, and the socioeconomic and geographic context of an applicant’s background.

Original source: CalMatters

The post UC to Reassess SAT and ACT Admissions Policy by June 2027 appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.