UC's Test-Free Experiment Isn't Going Well (opinion)

"Saul Geiser recently argued in Inside Higher Ed that the SAT is a "poor fit" for public universities and that high school GPA is a stronger, fairer predictor of college success. That argument might have been defensible a decade ago-before widespread grade inflation, before transcripts became inflated signals increasingly unmoored from demonstrated competency and before the University of California ran a failed experiment eliminating standardized tests."

"Since the UC system eliminated SAT and ACT requirements in 2020, UCSD reports a nearly 30-fold increase in students arriving without high school-level math skills: According to the report, one in eight students are testing below the high school level and one in 12 are not even meeting middle school math standards. The university has had to redesign its remedial courses to reteach fractions and elementary arithmetic."

"The UCSD working group report identifies several forces behind the collapse in readiness: The elimination of standardized testing Grade inflation COVID learning disruption Changes in UCSD's enrollment composition, including a "surge" of students admitted from underresourced high schools and an increase in the proportion of California resident students The latter three forces collided at precisely the moment UC removed its only cross-school comparison tool-standardized tests."

Since the UC system eliminated SAT and ACT requirements in 2020, UCSD reports a nearly 30-fold increase in students arriving without high school-level math skills. One in eight students are testing below the high school level and one in 12 are not meeting middle school math standards. The university has redesigned remedial courses to reteach fractions and elementary arithmetic. Contributing forces include elimination of standardized testing, grade inflation, COVID learning disruption, and enrollment changes such as a surge of students from underresourced high schools and a higher share of California resident students. The convergence of these factors removed an objective cross-school comparison tool and correlated with a collapse in readiness that undermines equitable academic access.

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