The University of California system has announced that it will formally review whether it should once again require standardized test scores for undergraduate admissions.gettyThe University of California will consider reinstating a requirement that undergraduate applicants submit scores on standardized admissions tests like the ACT or SAT.In a June 11 letter, UC Academic Senate Chair Ahmet Palazoglu announced that the Academic Senate’s Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) had started a faculty-led process to conduct a comprehensive review of the university’s admissions policies, including the use of standardized tests in the first-year admissions process as well the 15 courses that high school graduates are currently required to complete, known as the A-G subject requirements. In his letter, Palazoglu acknowledged that it “has become clear that academic preparedness for college is a growing challenge.” He added “while recent faculty concerns have drawn renewed attention to these issues, BOARS’ work is designed to address these challenges in a changing educational landscape.” Both the letter and the policies under review are available on the BOARS website.The move was not entirely unexpected, coming in response to increasing concerns expressed by University of California faculty and others about the consequences of UC’s decision in 2020 to drop standardized test scores as part of its undergraduate admissions process. Last November, a report by a UC San Diego Academic Senate workgroup found that UC San Diego had seen “a steep decline in the academic preparation of its entering first-year students — particularly in mathematics, but also in writing and language skills.” According to that report, between 2020 and 2025, the number of entering students with math skills below high school level increased nearly thirtyfold, with 70% of those students falling below middle school levels.The report identified several factors contributing to that academic deterioration, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the elimination of standardized testing, grade inflation, and the admission of more students from under-resourced high schools. MORE FOR YOUThen, earlier this month, more than 1,400 UC professors, many in math and STEM disciplines, signed an open letter calling on UC to reinstate a SAT/ACT mathematics requirement for applicants to STEM majors beginning with the 2027 admissions cycle.In their letter, which received national media attention, the professors blamed the problem of inadequate preparation in part on the university’s elimination of the SAT/ACT requirement, a decision they decried as “a temporary measure that has now become a permanent vulnerability.” And they insisted that the decline observed in students’ academic readiness was forecast by UC’s own report on standardized testing, “which warned that removing these tests would eliminate a vital predictor of college success and obscure the impact of severe high-school grade inflation. Unfortunately, the outcomes cautioned against in that report have now materialized in the data across our campuses.”The Review ProcessBOARS has developed a roadmap to identify how UC can “improve admissions policies, where appropriate, while advancing two goals: maintaining access to a UC education for the most promising students in California and beyond, and ensuring that incoming students are prepared to succeed in college-level coursework and UC undergraduate degree programs.”The process will rely on two faculty-led workgroups. One will consider the use of standardized tests in first-year admissions, including the ACT, SAT, or Smarter Balanced Assessment ELA/Math scores. The other will review the university’s high-school course requirements to determine whether they adequately prepare applicants for academic success at UC.The majority of the testing workgroup will be composed of UC faculty (including at least five members with content expertise in lower-division English/composition, mathematics, and related disciplines). It will also have representatives from the California State Board of Education, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and other staff with expertise in admissions and enrollment management.The group is charged with submitting a final written report containing its findings and recommendations by May 15, 2027. Any recommendations would then work their way through the University’s shared governance process, which would include a review by the Academic Senate before being presented to UC leaders.University of California President James B. Milliken expressed his support for the process, issuing a statement that “the Board of Regents and University leadership take very seriously the critical issue of college preparedness.” He added, “there are few things more important on our agenda. The faculty review will focus on both preparation and admissions, including whether standardized testing should be required. It’s important that UC gets this right.” Any changes to undergraduate admissions requirements or policies would require final approval by the UC Board of Regents. If a test requirement were to be officially restored, the earliest it would be implemented would be for first-year applications submitted in Fall 2028 by students seeking to enroll in Fall 2029.A Decision With National Significance As the nation’s premier public university system, the University of California’s decision will be watched closely. According to FairTest, a leading opponent of standardized admission tests, more than 2,000 colleges and universities still operate with test-optional or test-free admissions policies. However, that figure masks a trend; a growing number of prestigious universities — both private and public — have resumed an admission testing requirement in the past few years. In the Ivy League, for example, all of the institutions with the exception of Columbia University, will once again require some form of standardized testing by the time of the 2027-28 admissions cycle. (Update: Columbia announced last Friday that it will once again require standardized test scores for undergraduate applicants, beginning in August 2027 for the 2027-28 admissions cycle.)Several other leading universities have re-established their testing requirements. Included in that list are MIT, Stanford, CalTech, Purdue, Georgia Tech, the University of Texas, and The Ohio State University. The debate about standardized testing rages on, both nationwide and within the UC system. Test opponents continuing to argue that the tests are biased against low-income students and those from minority backgrounds and that other measures such as high school GPA are better predictors of college success. Test proponents, on the other hand, contend that test scores provide a common measure of college readiness that’s obscured by problems of grade inflation and that they help identify “diamonds in the rough,” those students with strong abilities that might otherwise be overlooked.The University of California is now drawn back into that debate, and its ultimate decision will be highly consequential. The popular saying — “as California goes, so goes the nation” — is as true about higher education as it is about social movements in general. Should UC elect to once again require the ACT, SAT or some other admission test, the national momentum is very likely to take a major swing toward a resumption of standardized testing. .