UC STEM Faculty press Regents to restore SAT/ACT math requirement, Citing “crisis” in student preparation
Overview:
UC STEM faculty are urging the Regents to reinstate the SAT/ACT math requirement for STEM applicants in 2027, citing a growing preparation gap since the 2020 test cut reflected in the drop in 2024 NAEP scores.
A coalition of the University of California’s mathematics faculty, joined by colleagues from other STEM institutions, has issued an open letter to the UC Board of Regents calling for the reinstatement of the SAT or ACT math requirement for students applying to STEM majors, a direct challenge to the university’s admissions policy adopted after abandoning standardized testing in 2020.
The letter, addressed to the Regents, the UC President’s Office, the leadership of the Academic Senate, and “the people of California,” frames the request as an urgent effort to protect the university’s mission. Faculty argue that UC has long been a “powerful engine of social mobility” for the state and that this role is now “under threat.”
What is the faculty asking for
Intermediate requirement specified: require SAT or ACT math scores for applicants in STEM-intensive majors, effective for the 2027 admissions cycle. A couple of schools are calling for STEM faculty to be assigned to oversee the readiness standards and admissions processes that affect their programs.
In total, the faculty made four requests. They want the university to reinstate the assessment requirement; using scores as a general measure of basic readiness that serves as a “counterweight” to inconsistent high school grades; establish STEM faculty oversight of admissions policies affecting STEM programs; and to mandate institutional accountability by testing admissions criteria against actual student outcomes and revising them if they fail to predict readiness.
The signatories are careful to define tests as lower than ceiling. Rather than measuring advanced ability, they write, the tests provide a “common external check” that students have the basic mathematical fluency required for university-level courses. They also argued that the results of the test could reveal potential high-potential students in under-resourced schools whose talent might be overlooked because they could not access advanced courses.
The proof is this book
The faculty points to what they describe as a sharp expansion in preparation levels within the same classes over the past five years. They cited a report from the UC San Diego Senate–Administration Workgroup on Admissions, which found that the number of students whose math skills fell below the high school level had increased nearly thirtyfold in five years. According to the publication, 70 percent of those students test below middle school standards — about one in twelve members of the entering cohort.
They say the pattern is being seen elsewhere. At UC Berkeley, the book says, 20 to 30 percent of first-semester math students who participated in a diagnostic test showed significant preparation deficits for three consecutive years.
The faculty tied the trend to the 2020 elimination of the SAT and ACT, which they called a “temporary measure that is now in permanent jeopardy.” They note that the Academic Senate’s 2020 Standardized Testing Task Force warned that eliminating the tests would eliminate a key predictor of college success and mask the effects of high school grade inflation. The book also says that current metrics — especially GPA and essays — have become less reliable amid grade inflation and the rise of AI-assisted application essays, and that UC’s top peer institutions have resumed using the tests.
The signatories put the matter as one of equality instead of opposition. “The SAT/ACT math requirement is not a barrier to equity,” they wrote, “rather, it is a necessity for it,” arguing that failure to measure preparation gaps simply moves those gaps into the classroom, where they are harder to overcome.
National site
The letter comes on the heels of new national data showing uneven movements in math achievement. In 2024, the National Center for Education Statistics administered the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly referred to as the “National Report Card,” to students at all grades.
The results point to a growing spread between strong and weak students — the same divide described by UC faculty. Among twelfth graders, the math average dropped 3 points compared to 2019 and was 3 points below the 2005 level. Scores dropped in all but the highest percentiles measured. The share of twelfth graders scoring below NAEP Basic increased to 45 percent, from 40 percent in 2019, while the share scoring NAEP Proficient or higher decreased to 22 percent from 24 percent.
The pattern was similar in the middle grades. For eighth-graders, the average math score was unchanged from 2022, but the statistics closed the gap: students who did well in the 75th and 90th percentiles achieved success, while students who scored low in the 10th and 25th percentiles lost. Even in the fourth grade, where the overall average reached 2 points, it showed a concentrated gain among students who passed the average and above, the students who passed well did not show much change.
Taken together, the tests show high-achieving levels holding steady or improving while low-achieving students fall far behind — the kind of widening gap that UC faculty say is now coming to their lecture halls.
Next
The letter does not commit the Regents to any action; is a call from the faculty, and any change in the system’s admissions policy will be processed through the UC administrative process. But by setting targets for the 2027 cycle and calling for a formal faculty oversight role, the signatories put a concrete proposal on the table and reopened one of the most contentious debates in California higher education.
