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Over the past month, the University of California has seen some major changes - forecasting even more to come soon. Let's take a look at some of the more recent changes!
As of yesterday, the General Election Ballot in November for California Voters will now include ACA-5, an amendment to the state Constitution to repeal Proposition 290. After passing the state Assembly on June 10th & the state Congress on June 24th, voters will decide whether or not the UC and CSU admissions criteria can lawfully consider race, sex, ethnicity, gender, color, or national origin for preferential treatment.
Source: California Constitution, Article I, § 31
University of California community celebrates the end of a 3 year battle with the Trump Administration on June 18th, 2020, with the Supreme Court's decision resulting in legal protection for the ~650,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients residing in the states. Here is the June 18th letter from the UC Leadership to the community.
UC Admissions Changes over the next five Years
The University of California Board of Regents unanimously agreed on May 21st to suspend the standardized test requirements (ACT/SAT) for all freshmen applying for the University of California until the fall of 2024.
Main Outline of the Regent's Actions
Test-optional for fall 2021 and fall 2022: Campuses will have the option to use ACT/SAT test scores in selection consideration if applicants choose to submit them, and will develop appropriate policies and procedures to implement the Board’s decision.
Test-blind for fall 2023 and fall 2024: Campuses will not consider test scores for California public and independent high school applicants in admissions selection, a practice known as “test-blind” admissions. Test scores could still be considered for other purposes such as course placement, certain scholarships and eligibility for the statewide admissions guarantee.
New standardized test: Starting in summer 2020 and ending by January 2021, UC will undertake a process to identify or create a new test that aligns with the content UC expects students to have mastered to demonstrate college readiness for California freshmen.
Elimination of the ACT/SAT test requirement: By 2025, any use of the ACT/SAT would be eliminated for California students and a new UC-endorsed test to measure UC-readiness would be required. However, if by 2025 the new test is either unfeasible or not ready, consideration of the ACT/SAT for freshman admissions would still be eliminated for California students.
Elimination of writing test: The University will eliminate altogether the SAT Essay/ACT Writing Test as a requirement for UC undergraduate admissions, and these scores will not be used at all effective for fall 2021 admissions.
The official statement of the University of California is "suspension." What does this mean?7EDU interpreted that the reason why the official did not directly say "cancel" is to leave room for more possible alternatives in the future.
In the official statement, the University of California stated that the suspension of standardized test requirements will enable the University of California to create a new test system during this period; essentially, allowing current 7th - 11th grade students who plan to apply to University of California campuses to transition their application plans to fit whatever the new or modified test will require.
From the summer of 2020 to January 2021, the University of California will begin to create a new set of its own standardized tests or a modified version of an existing test (like the SBAC Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) so that applicants can demonstrate their competence by the University's own standards, as opposed to a national standardized test like the SAT or ACT.
(Source: UC Press Room)
The University of California said that if the self-made test system fails to meet the standards specified by the education department before the fall of 2025, they will ultimately cancel the standardized test requirements for California (only) students.
By then, California students will still not need to submit ACT/SAT test scores as admission requirements.