The University of California system announced a comprehensive review of its standardized testing policy after more than 1,400 faculty members across UC campuses signed an open letter demanding the reinstatement of SAT and ACT mathematics requirements, according to Fox News Digital.
UC President James B. Milliken confirmed the review in a statement. "The Board of Regents and University leadership take very seriously the critical issue of college preparedness, and the UC Academic Senate has proposed a comprehensive, data-driven review to support its recommendations to strengthen student readiness and success at UC," Milliken said. "There are few things more important on our agenda."
The review will be led by the faculty Academic Senate and will examine both admissions practices and student preparation, including whether standardized testing should be reinstated as a requirement. Milliken and the Board of Regents are expected to receive an initial update from the review in July.
The open letter was signed by faculty from across the UC system, including seven of UC's nine mathematics department chairs. The professors argued that eliminating standardized testing removed an objective benchmark from the admissions process, allowing serious academic deficiencies to go undetected before students arrived on campus.
"We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must re-teach middle school mathematics while simultaneously teaching the material students need for sciences, engineering, economics and other quantitatively demanding fields," the letter read.
Internal data supports the concern. A report from UC San Diego's Senate-Administration Working Group on Admissions found that the number of incoming first-year students whose math skills tested below a high school level jumped from roughly 1 in 200 students in 2020 to nearly 1 in 8 students over a five-year period. That represents close to a thirtyfold increase in underprepared students in five years.
The numbers go further. Of those underprepared students, 70% fell below middle school proficiency, meaning roughly 1 in 12 members of the entire entering class was performing below a middle school math level. Faculty members also warned that high school transcripts have become, in their words, nearly meaningless because of grade inflation, and that application essays have been compromised by widespread use of generative artificial intelligence.
The UC system voted to eliminate SAT and ACT requirements during the pandemic, a decision that was made permanent in 2021. At the time, supporters argued that the tests disadvantaged low-income students and students of color. Faculty who signed the open letter focused specifically on reinstating math requirements for students entering science, technology, engineering, and math programs.
The Board of Regents is set to hear initial findings from the Academic Senate review in July.
