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Top Takeaways
- The University of California will explore whether to add a standardized exam as an admission requirement, with some faculty complaining that too many students are unprepared for college-level math.
- In addition to possibly reinstating the SAT and ACT, UC is considering a second option: using Smarter Balanced exams, the annual math and English tests given to 11th graders in California public schools.
- Proponents say the Smarter Balanced tests are better because they are aligned with state curriculum, but critics say the exams are not designed to be a high-stakes admission test.
As the University of California weighs whether to reinstate the SAT in admissions, another option is also on the table: using California’s existing standardized test administered to high school juniors.
The committee charged with exploring the pros and cons of bringing back the SAT and ACT will also investigate the possibility of using Smarter Balanced exams, the annual tests given to 11th graders in California public schools to measure proficiency in math and English, as an admissions tool.
UC’s Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS), the Academic Senate committee that oversees undergraduate admissions matters, is formally considering both options amid some faculty’s concerns that more students have entered UC unprepared for college-level math since the system stopped requiring the SAT and ACT in 2020.
Proponents of using Smarter Balanced scores argue the test is more equitable than the SAT and ACT, which critics say are biased toward affluent students.
Unlike the SAT and ACT, supporters say, the Smarter Balanced assessments are aligned with California’s public school curriculum, and measure whether students are meeting state standards in math and English. Some research also suggests that using Smarter Balanced scores in admissions could result in a more racially and socioeconomically diverse applicant pool.
“I would hope that they would at least consider it,” said Michael Kirst, the former president of California’s State Board of Education who has long advocated for using Smarter Balanced scores in UC admissions. “Why would you not look at a really strong 11th grade test that they had to take in mathematics?”
Support, however, is not universal. Some math faculty say they prefer the SAT and ACT because they test students on more advanced math topics than the Smarter Balanced exam. There is also concern that the Smarter Balanced assessment is not designed to be a high-stakes exam and that repurposing it for admissions could be problematic. And it’s not clear what it would mean for applicants from private schools and from other states.
All of that is likely to be weighed by BOARS, which is convening a faculty work group to explore the issue. The group will meet monthly beginning in October and submit a final recommendation by May 2027. The committee will consist mostly of faculty and include additional UC staff as well as a representative from the California State Board of Education.
“We want to make sure that before a major decision is made, especially around standardized testing, that we get it right,” said David Volz, chair of BOARS and a professor of environmental toxicology at UC Riverside.
‘I don’t see any reason to look at it again’
The idea to use Smarter Balanced scores as an admissions tool was introduced in 2017, when Kirst and then-State Superintendent of Instruction Tom Torlakson urged former UC President Janet Napolitano to consider integrating the exams into admissions.
After UC’s Board of Regents voted in 2020 to suspend the use of the SAT and ACT in admissions, the system’s Academic Senate created a committee to explore whether the Smarter Balanced test could be a replacement.
The committee ultimately recommended against it. A 2021 committee report concluded that the Smarter Balanced test was not designed to be a high-stakes exam and that repurposing it as one would likely lead to the same inequitable practices associated with the SAT, such as expensive third-party test preparation courses.
Mary Gauvain, a now-retired professor of psychology, co-chaired that committee. She said in an interview that she was “completely surprised” to learn that UC is reconsidering the use of Smarter Balanced scores in admissions.
“I think our findings still stand. I don’t see any reason to look at it again,” she said.
Some UC faculty were also caught off guard, including Zvezda Stankova, a UC Berkeley math professor. Stankova was among the five Berkeley professors who crafted an open letter calling on UC to reinstate the SAT and ACT as an admissions requirement for students in science, technology, engineering and math programs. That letter now has more than 2,300 signatures.
Stankova said she prefers the SAT and ACT because the exams include more Algebra II concepts than the 11th grade Smarter Balanced exam.
“I’m not saying it’s a bad test, but it does not have the sophistication of the SAT,” she said.
Volz, the BOARS chair, said he is aware of the 2021 recommendation. But he added that “the general sentiment” among the members of BOARS is that “a lot has changed” since that report was published, including the proliferation of artificial intelligence and its impact on student learning.
“We weren’t sure if we could assume that those (conclusions) were still valid,” he said.
‘Why throw away this valuable information?’
Supporters of using Smarter Balanced scores have a straightforward argument: If the goal is to ensure that students enter college prepared, the Smarter Balanced exam already evaluates that. The 11th grade exam is designed to measure the college readiness of students based on their mastery of the state’s Common Core standards.
“We pay for these tests as taxpayers. Every student already takes them,” said Michal Kurlaender, a professor of education policy at UC Davis. “Why throw away this valuable information? Especially when the problem that these petitions are articulating is a preparation problem.”
Kurlaender in 2019 co-authored a study evaluating Smarter Balanced scores, grade point averages and SAT scores as predictors of college success.
Among other findings, the report found that UC would have a more racially and socioeconomically diverse applicant pool if, in addition to student grades, it considered Smarter Balanced scores instead of SAT scores.
Kurlaender said the issue needs to be further studied to determine how the Smarter Balanced scores could best be utilized. She said, for example, that one option could be to use the scores strictly as a tool to determine if a student is eligible for admission to UC.
Eddie Comeaux, a professor of education at UC Riverside, was chair of BOARS when UC stopped requiring the SAT and ACT in admissions. Comeaux said he is against bringing back the SAT and ACT but understands the desire for another data point in admissions.
The Smarter Balanced exam, he said, “is worthy of investigation.” If it is incorporated into admissions, he said he hopes it’s done in a way where the stakes are minimized.
Currently, the exam is only offered once to 11th graders in the spring. Comeaux said he’d like to see students have the opportunity to take the test multiple times, like they can with the SAT and ACT. He said he would also prefer that UC make it optional for students to submit scores, rather than requiring them.
‘If we can arrive at something that’s equitable, I think there could be an opportunity for it,” he said.
