Citing ‘severe’ math deficits, UC faculty demand a return to SAT tests for STEM

援引“严重”的数学能力缺陷，加州大学教职员工要求理工科专业恢复SAT考试要求

Hundreds of UC faculty are urging a return of SAT or ACT test requirements for STEM applicants, citing math deficits after six years of being test-free. A UC San Diego report of soaring math unpreparedness is fueling faculty warnings that reliable testing is needed for admissions. Critics call the SAT inequitable and say high school grades are a good predictor of college success. 数百名加州大学（UC）教职员工正敦促学校恢复对理工科（STEM）申请者的SAT或ACT考试要求，理由是在取消考试要求的六年里，学生出现了数学能力缺陷。加州大学圣地亚哥分校一份关于学生数学准备严重不足的报告，加剧了教职员工的担忧，他们认为招生过程中需要可靠的测试手段。批评者则称SAT考试不公平，并认为高中成绩是预测大学成功与否的良好指标。

More than 600 University of California faculty members, led by mathematicians at UC Berkeley, are calling on the system to reinstate standardized testing requirements for science, technology, engineering and mathematics applicants, saying that six years of test-free admissions has not reliably assessed readiness and professors are often teaching middle school math to incoming students. 在加州大学伯克利分校数学家的带领下，超过600名加州大学教职员工呼吁校方恢复对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）专业申请者的标准化考试要求。他们表示，六年的免试招生未能可靠地评估学生的准备情况，教授们往往不得不给新生补习初中数学。

Without standardized testing in admissions, professors said they don’t know whether incoming students can handle college-level math. The open letter, addressed to top UC leaders, asks for SAT or ACT exams to be required beginning in fall 2027 and for STEM faculty to be given formal oversight of readiness standards in their majors. 教授们表示，由于招生中缺乏标准化考试，他们无法判断新生是否具备学习大学水平数学的能力。这封致加州大学高层的公开信要求从2027年秋季开始强制要求SAT或ACT考试，并要求STEM专业的教职员工对各自专业的准备标准拥有正式的监督权。

“We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must reteach middle-school mathematics while simultaneously teaching the material students need for sciences, engineering, economics, and other quantitatively demanding fields,” they warned. “我们现在观察到的准备差距非常严重，以至于讲师们必须在教授科学、工程、经济学和其他对定量要求较高的领域所需知识的同时，还要重新教授初中数学，”他们警告道。

Over three years — from fall 2021 to fall 2023 — the letter said, at least 20% of Berkeley first-semester calculus students who took a diagnostic exam showed deficits. “Basic mathematical fluency is analogous to literacy; without it, success in university-level STEM becomes structurally unattainable for students,” faculty wrote. 信中指出，在三年间（从2021年秋季到2023年秋季），至少有20%参加诊断考试的伯克利分校第一学期微积分学生表现出数学能力缺陷。“基本的数学流利度类似于读写能力；没有它，学生在大学水平的STEM领域取得成功在结构上是无法实现的，”教职员工写道。

The letter lands days before the UC Academic Senate’s Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools is scheduled to discuss system-wide admissions changes, which could be the first step toward a possible return of standardized testing at the nation’s largest public research university system. 这封信发布在加州大学学术参议院招生与学校关系委员会讨论全系统招生改革的前几天。这可能是美国最大的公立研究型大学系统恢复标准化考试的第一步。

UC gained national attention in May 2020 when regents unanimously voted to suspend SAT and ACT testing requirements and eliminate them entirely by 2025. Board members cited concerns the tests were biased against students of color and those from lower-income families — including students who did not have access to prep courses. 2020年5月，加州大学董事会一致投票决定暂停SAT和ACT考试要求，并计划在2025年前彻底取消这些要求，此举引起了全国关注。董事会成员当时表示，这些考试对有色人种学生和来自低收入家庭的学生（包括无法参加预备课程的学生）存在偏见。

At the time, some hailed the vote as a bold and visionary move to expand access and equity. But the vote went against the UC Academic Senate’s own Standardized Testing Task Force, which said use of test scores could actually boost admission rates for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and school districts. The report also found that test scores are a better predictor of college performance than high school grades, but that UC weighed grades more heavily in admission decisions. 当时，一些人称赞这一投票是扩大入学机会和公平性的勇敢且富有远见的举措。但该投票违背了加州大学学术参议院下属标准化考试特别工作组的建议，该工作组曾表示，使用考试成绩实际上可以提高来自弱势背景和学区的学生的录取率。报告还发现，考试成绩比高中成绩更能预测大学表现，但加州大学在招生决策中更看重高中成绩。

In November, a UC San Diego Academic Senate work group report said it documented a roughly thirty-fold increase between 2020 and 2025 in incoming first-year students whose math skills tested below high school level. The report said 70% of those students fell below middle school levels. 去年11月，加州大学圣地亚哥分校学术参议院的一个工作组报告称，2020年至2025年间，数学能力测试低于高中水平的入学新生人数增加了约30倍。报告指出，其中70%的学生数学水平低于初中水平。