University of California faculty letter warned that eliminating standardized tests masked severe academic deficiencies in STEM students

Joshua Q. Nelson By Joshua Q. Nelson Fox News
Published June 12, 2026 8:27am EDT

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The University of California (UC) announced Thursday that it is launching a comprehensive review of its standardized testing policy. The pivot follows a massive revolt by faculty members who warn they are being forced to re-teach middle school mathematics to incoming university students.

"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," University of California President James B. Milliken said in a statement. "There are few things more important on our agenda."

Milliken noted that the faculty-led Academic Senate review will focus on both preparation and admissions, including whether standardized testing should be reinstated as a requirement. The UC Board of Regents and Milliken are expected to receive an initial update on the findings in July.

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University of California, Berkeley campus

The University of California announced Thursday that it is launching a comprehensive review of its standardized testing policy, following a massive revolt by faculty members who warn they are being forced to re-teach middle school math to incoming students. (iStock)

The sudden policy review comes just weeks after more than 1,400 faculty members across UC campuses signed an open letter demanding the reinstatement of SAT/ACT mathematics requirements, specifically for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors. The petition has garnered massive institutional backing, including signatures from seven of UC’s nine mathematics department chairs.

According to the faculty, eliminating standardized testing requirements has stripped admissions officers of an objective benchmark, masking severe academic deficiencies in incoming classes.

"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.

More than 1,400 faculty members across California campuses signed a letter requesting UC regents and leadership to reinstate the academic standards for the 2027 admissions cycle, revealing that eliminating standardized testing requirements has forced professors to help students with "middle school" math. (getty)

The faculty's concerns are backed by stark internal numbers. A report by UC San Diego’s Senate–Administration Working Group on Admissions (SAWG) exposed a near-thirtyfold explosion in underprepared students, revealing 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.

Even more alarming, 70% of those underprepared students actually fell below middle school proficiency, accounting for roughly 1 in 12 members of the entire entering cohort. Professors also warned that high school transcripts have become "nearly meaningless" due to rampant grade inflation, while application essays have been severely compromised by the pervasive use of generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Karajean Hyde, co-director of the UC Irvine Math Project and a lecturer of education, previously told Fox News Digital that objective benchmarks are desperately needed to restore academic baselines.

"I'd say we need some objective measures to go along with the whole picture," Hyde said. "A student's not just a single number or a single letter, but standardized testing can play an important role in ensuring one level of measuring where that bar is so that the bar doesn't move."

Though faculty members acknowledged UC's history of helping under-resourced students succeed, they pointed out that the university system has finite resources. Pushing underprepared students into demanding STEM fields without baseline checks, they argued, could ultimately backfire and hurt the very students the policy aimed to help.

"The SAT/ACT mathematics requirement is not an obstacle to equity; rather, it is a prerequisite for it," the faculty letter asserted. "Failing to measure preparation gaps does not remove barriers; it moves them into the classroom, where they become harder to overcome."

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College students taking test in classroom stock image

The UC Board of Regents retains the final authority to officially alter or reinstate admissions policies. (iStock via Getty)

The UC system completely suspended the use of standardized testing for undergraduate admissions in May 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, later moving to a permanent, strict "test-blind" policy following a legal settlement.

A spokesperson for the UC Office of the President and the Board of Regents told Fox News Digital that the UC Board of Regents retains the final authority to officially alter or reinstate admissions policies. If the Academic Senate recommends a rollback, the fall 2028 admissions cycle is the earliest a testing requirement would take effect.

The UC system's re-evaluation aligns with a broader national trend. A growing number of elite institutions — including MIT, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown and the University of Texas at Austin — have reversed their pandemic-era test-optional policies after concluding that standardized tests remain the most reliable indicator of college readiness, particularly for lower-income students who may lack access to padded extracurricular resumes.

Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

Joshua focuses on cultural trends, education, and public policy. He extensively covered reparations developments across the U.S., the Department of Education, and immigration issues.

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