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6h ago

UC STEM Faculty Call for SAT/ACT Math Requirement to Address Sharp Drop in Skills

They cite campus diagnostics showing many incoming students lack high-school math and say that gap is straining instruction and risking STEM completion.

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An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Students walk under Sather Gate at the University of California, Berkeley, Image 2 shows Students writing a test or exam
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Overview

  • This week more than 500–600 University of California STEM professors published an open letter urging the system to require SAT or ACT math scores for STEM applicants starting with the 2027 cycle.
  • A November 2025 UC San Diego workgroup report found a roughly thirty-fold rise from 2020 to 2025 in first-year students whose math skills tested below high-school level, and it said about 70 percent of that group fell below middle-school math.
  • Berkeley diagnostic data cited by the faculty showed at least 20 percent of first-semester calculus students from fall 2021 to fall 2023 had notable preparation deficits, which professors say forces them to reteach basic arithmetic and middle-school algebra.
  • UC leaders have not endorsed the faculty demand; the system says it will strengthen instruction and supports and BOARS is drafting a policy roadmap, but no formal change to admissions has been made.
  • The debate revives earlier evidence and legal history: UC moved away from required testing after a 2020 Regents vote and a court injunction, peer elite schools have restored tests, and any UC change would need BOARS work plus Academic Senate and Regents approval.