The Academic Senate’s review of undergraduate admissions policy has been accelerated, meaning a policy change could come as soon as the 2027-2028 school year.
UC Board of Regents/UC leaders are reconsidering their decision to suspend use of standardized test scores as part of its undergraduate admissions process. University of California leaders are reconsidering whether standardized test scores should be required again for undergraduate student admissions..
One of those would be tasked with re-evaluating whether undergraduate hopefuls should be required to submit their scores for standardized tests, including the SAT and ACT, when applying to UC schools. Academic Senate President Ahmet Palazoglu said its review of the UC undergraduate admissions policy will be delivered by June 2027, as requested by the Board of Regents, pushing back against chatter ahead of the Board of Regents’ July 14-15 meeting that the plan was scrapped.
That means a policy change could come as soon as the 2027-2028 school year, Palazoglu said.
“The Academic Senate is not rescinding its commitment to a comprehensive review of standardized testing in admissions,” Palazoglu, professor of chemical engineering at UC Davis, said in a statement. In May of that year, the Board of Regents voted to stop requiring the exams in admissions, but allowed campuses to give applicants the option to submit test scores through fall 2022.
That September, however, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled that UC had to suspend all use of SAT and ACT scores in admissions, issuing a preliminary injunction that prevented UC campuses from using test scores. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by students with disabilities against UC, who argued that those students had not been able to access the tests during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time, the change was made in hopes of easing already high anxiety among applicants during the COVID-19 pandemic. But concerns were also raised thatto entry to college for students of color and those from marginalized communities, and that high scores often came from students with sufficient resources or who were from wealthy backgrounds, not necessarily from those who were smarter.
By July 2, more than 2,300 faculty members had signed the letter, including seven of UC’s nine mathematics department chairs. About 41% of UC math faculty members signed that STEM letter, according to Stett Holbrook, a spokesperson for UC President James B. Milliken. Faculty members said an admissions process “that ignores foundational readiness” is a disservice to students applying who are the most vulnerable.
The current admission metrics, they said, which are primarily based on high school grade point averages and essays, “can no longer reliably distinguish readiness for university-level STEM majors in an era of severe grade inflation and AI-assisted application essays. ” “The SAT/ACT mathematics requirement is not an obstacle to equity; rather, it is a prerequisite for it.
Failing to measure preparation gaps does not remove barriers; it moves them into the classroom, where they become harder to overcome,” the letter said.to the Academic Senate and the Regents, calling for the reinstatement of the standardized test score requirement. More than 900 faculty members have signed as of Thursday.
Gloria Romero “California once had the best education system in the world — now we have students admitted to the UC system who can’t read, write or do math properly,” Hilton said in aWhile one will consider whether test scores should be an admissions requirement, the other will review the university system’s high school course requirements for admissions, known as A-G requirements, “to determine whether they adequately prepare applicants for success at UC. ” The A-G requirements are a combination of subjects that undergraduate applicants are required to take in high school, such as four years of English coursework, three years of math and two years of studying a second language, to name a few.
Palazoglu, the Academic Senate president, said a separate review of the university system’s A-G framework won’t be tied to the timeline for considering the test score requirements, and a new plan on the A-G framework from the Academic Senate will be available after the Academic Council’s meeting on July 22.
“The goal of this A-G policy review is to consider how UC defines and evaluates college readiness in a rapidly changing educational environment,” he said. Palazoglu working group dedicated to standardized tests will also weigh incorporating the Smarter Balanced test into UC’s admission process, the standardized tests given to juniors in public schools across the state each year, in addition to the SAT and ACT.
While a bevy of faculty members want admission policies to revert to pre-2020 norms, some advocates have remained in opposition to test-required or test-optional policies. Josh Haden, vice president of policy and advocacy for the Campaign for College Opportunity, a California-based nonprofit advocacy organization focused on increasing higher education enrollment, said the admissions process should remain test-free.
“There are a number of reasons why we moved away from standardized tests, and I think all of those boil down to issues of accuracy and issues of equity,” Haden said. “From our vantage point, there are enough red flags, just from student access and clarity of information, where I think it really, to us, indicates there’s an unproven solution that we’re moving to push through very quickly, without even thinking through the impact that this would have on current students today,” Haden said.
But the faculty does make a point that students — and schools — are facing real challenges when it comes to math preparation as students begin college, Haden said. Instead of reinstating test score requirements, a re-thinking of student readiness as they leave high school level should be the focus, he said.
“Instead of saying, ‘This is the way we’ve always taught math, we’re going to continue to teach math like this’ … what would it look like to redesign how math is taught? ” he said.
“In our assessment, that is the direction we should be moving and should be innovating, versus kind of a knee-jerk reaction ‘let’s bring back a test, see if that solves the problem. ’”The working group was set to begin meeting in October, tasked with making its recommendations in a final report to the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools committee by May 2027, according to afrom the Academic Senate.
BOARS would then send its final recommendations to the Academic Council by July 2027, which would carry out a “90-day systemwide review” in fall 2027, meaning that implementation of any policy change would not have occurred until at least the 2028-2029 academic year. Now, the Academic Senate’s review of undergraduate admissions policy will be delivered by June 2027, Palazoglu said.
This accelerates the original timeline and means a policy change could be in place by the start of the 2027-2028 school year.
“Recognizing the significance of this issue, the Academic Senate is revising its timeline while ensuring the forthcoming review is thorough, evidence-based and informed by faculty expertise,” Palazoglu said.
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