Test-blind admissions is a 'failed experiment,' say UC's non-STEM professors

University of California applicants should be required to submit SAT/ACT scores in verbal reasoning as well as math, say humanities, social sciences, arts, business, law and education professors in an open letter, report Cam Lippincott and Litong Deng in The Daily Cal.

More than 1,400 STEM faculty signed a petition to reinstate the SAT/ACT math requirement for undergraduate admissions, they write. Their colleagues argue that test-blind admissions hurts all disciplines.

“Without foundational literacy, students face difficulties across university disciplines,” the letter states. “Eliminating the metrics that diagnose these preparation gaps imposed significant barriers for underprepared students and their instructors alike.”

The letter challenges the claim that standardized testing is inequitable, Lippincott and Deng write. Standardized testing can "identify talented students" from minority and lower-income families and from "under-resourced schools," the professors write.

UC's Academic Senate and Board of Regents should give up the "failed experiment," they conclude.

Some professors are assigning less reading, reports Ingrid Lu in The Daily Cal.

 “We are now reaching a crisis point where if the number (of pages) goes down further, it’s unclear to me whether my discipline of history can really be taught,” said Carlos Noreña, teaches ancient history. In 2005, he'd assign 100 pages per week. That's down to 35 pages.

When Mark Brilliant first taught History of California and the American West course 22 years ago, he required seven books. Now he assigns excerpts. It's a lot less reading, with no decline in complaints, he told Lu.

Columbia University will reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement for undergraduate admissions, the university announced today, reports Cayla Bamberger in the New York Daily News. "Last month, Yale University dropped its own test-flexible policy, making Columbia the final holdout" in the Ivy League.

"Through a multi-year faculty review, it was determined that test scores, among other factors, were a useful indicator of potential student success," Columbia officials wrote Friday.