{"id":335847,"date":"2026-05-28T12:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/335847\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T12:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:10:09","slug":"uc-faculty-want-to-bring-back-testing-for-math-science-applicants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/335847\/","title":{"rendered":"UC faculty want to bring back testing for math, science applicants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of University of California faculty members signed an open letter this week calling for the return of standardized testing requirements for applicants to math and science majors by next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0UC system disbanded <\/a>the decades-old standardized testing requirement in 2020, under a legal challenge from students who argued that the metric gave students who could afford test prep services and travel to exam sites an advantage. The system\u2019s nine undergraduate campuses were among hundreds of colleges nationwide that made the test optional during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But more than five years later, a coalition led by\u00a0UC Berkeley math professors argues the drop in students\u2019 math levels is \u201csevere.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must\u00a0reteach middle-school mathematics while simultaneously teaching the material students need for sciences, engineering, economics, and other quantitatively demanding fields,\u201d read the letter, which was signed by more than 600 professors from faculty across STEM disciplines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The letter cites a November report from\u00a0UC San Diego\u2019s Senate-Administration Workgroup on Admissions, which concluded that the number of students whose mathematical abilities were below the typical high school level had increased thirty-fold in the past five years.<\/p>\n

Of those students, 70% were found to fall below middle-school math levels, according to the report \u2014 roughly one in 12 students entering the\u00a0UC system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SAT\/ACT mathematics requirement is not an obstacle to equity; rather, it is a prerequisite for it,\u201d professors wrote in the letter. \u201cFailing to measure preparation gaps does not remove barriers; it moves them into the classroom, where they become harder to overcome.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0UC system received a record number of applications the year the standardized testing requirement was dropped, admitting what was then its largest and most diverse<\/a> class. But the faculty signatories argued that without the testing requirement, a disparity persists \u201cbetween underprepared and well-prepared students.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The faculty members who signed the letter frame standardized tests as an external check of students\u2019 preparation for college-level coursework. They warn that \u201csevere grade inflation and AI-assisted application essays\u201d at the high school level make other application metrics less reliable, calling for score requirements to be reinstated as early as the 2027 application cycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ahmet Palazoglu, the chair of the UC Academic Senate, said in a statement that faculty on the the UC system\u2019s Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools would work to \u201caddress timely topics tied to students\u2019 college readiness and UC\u2019s admission process\u201d in light of the signatories\u2019 concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBOARS is in the process of proposing a roadmap of policy work and partnership building with other state and K-12 education leaders in the next academic year and beyond,\u201d Palazoglu said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz pointed to the \u201cnational challenge\u201d of early math preparation, which she said had been exacerbated by periods of remote instruction during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

She added that the\u00a0UC system would \u201ccontinue to focus on strengthening instruction, collaboration and support\u201d in partnership with both K-12 and higher education institutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of University of California faculty members signed an open letter this week calling for the return of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[184,7,15,143,145,144,149,2012],"class_list":["post-335847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-education","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-uc-berkeley","tag-university-of-california"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}