Largest university system in US (UC) eliminates standardized testing requirement

The purpose of using standardized tests, like ACT and SAT, is to ensure that enrollment is colorblind.  It tells Administrators which students are ready for college, which will need help and which need more help before enrolling in college.

Now the University of California has decided that it prefers payoff’s, racism and friendships to enroll students—going back to the corrupt days of the UC system.

“The largest four-year university system in the United States has removed SAT and ACT scores from its application requirements, marking a significant shift in the national discussion to eliminate standardized testing from admissions decisions.

Removing the requirement will “level the playing field” for all students, acting Chancellor Steve Relyea argued after the California State University’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted Wednesday to scrap standardized testing. The move will diversify the school system’s student body by removing obstacles that often hinder some prospective students from applying, the board said.”

Actually this move makes it harder to prove corruption, racism or nepotism created an enrollment.  Another reason to stay away from a UC campuses.

Largest university system in US (UC) eliminates standardized testing requirement

by Cami Mondeaux, Washington Examiner,  3/24/22   

The largest four-year university system in the United States has removed SAT and ACT scores from its application requirements, marking a significant shift in the national discussion to eliminate standardized testing from admissions decisions.

Removing the requirement will “level the playing field” for all students, acting Chancellor Steve Relyea argued after the California State University’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted Wednesday to scrap standardized testing. The move will diversify the school system’s student body by removing obstacles that often hinder some prospective students from applying, the board said.

“In essence, we are eliminating our reliance on a high-stress, high-stakes test that has shown negligible benefit and providing our applicants with greater opportunities to demonstrate their drive, talents, and potential for college success,” Relyea said in a statement.

The California State University has utilized a “test-free” admissions system for the last two academic years “in response to the pandemic and other factors challenging students and families today.“

In lieu of standardized testing, the board of trustees said it would utilize a set of “multi-factored admission criteria” to admit prospective students, such as their high school GPA, extracurricular involvement, and household income.

In January, CSU’s Admission Advisory Council recommended the discontinuation of standardized testing in its applications after it found “SAT and ACT tests provide negligible additional value to the CSU admission process.”

But discussions of dropping the testing requirement began years ago, the university said. A temporary pause in the testing requirement was enacted in March 2020, followed by a spring 2021 review of the efficacy of making the pause permanent.

In 2019, College Board, the nonprofit organization behind the SATs, announced plans to introduce an ”adversity score” to address ”the disparities of wealth reflected in the SAT,” but the proposal was scrapped months later.

Roughly 1.5 million students in the class of 2021 took the SATs, and just under 1.3 million students took the ACTs last year. Both figures were considerable drops from pre-pandemic levels.