Last November, adults across the country were suddenly scrutinizing whether students could solve the question 7 + 2 = ___ + 6.
Only these weren’t elementary students. They were college freshmen in remedial math classes at UC San Diego. And 25% didn’t answer the question correctly.
That was just one of many shocking examples showing how elementary, middle, and high school systems failed to prepare students for not only college, but basic life, too. UCSD professors released the report to sound the alarm for their school and for the entire country. The need to reteach basic math at the college level was well past crisis levels.
Now the University of California professors are in the news once again, thanks to their efforts to reinstitute SAT or ACT test requirements for admissions to STEM programs.
So far more than 1,350 UC professors have signed the open letter, which points out that “obscuring preparation gaps harms both students individually and the University collectively” and that the creation of such deliberate blind spots “offers the appearance of access while undermining the chance of success.” The letter’s worth a quick read.
While NJ’s public university system might be significantly smaller than UC’s, we face a problem of similar size. Nearly half of NJ college students have to take remedial courses, often earning no credit. That delay and additional cost - and certainly, the demoralizing nature of having to repeat the same Algebra class from 10th grade - result in 57% of those students not completing their degree program.
While we applaud the UC professors, NJ should aspire for more if we want to really earn our #1 ranking:
All NJ public universities should return to requiring the SAT or ACT for all incoming students, not just STEM majors. Whether you are Yale looking for top students or a state school, it’s a disservice to students to tell them that they’re ready for college work when they’re not.
NJ should amend our diploma pathways to ensure that our cut scores required to graduate from high school align with actual college readiness. Our current graduation cut scores are significantly below what the SAT and ACT designers say indicates that a student is ready for 1st-year college work.
NJ must prioritize transparent and timely objective measures earlier in students’ academic careers. SATs and ACTs show where a student is in 11th or 12th grade. For too many of our kids, this is too late to intervene. Starting in 3rd grade, NJ students take a state assessment in math and reading every April. But these test results aren’t useful given that they are returned in October! NJ needs to get state test results into the hands of teachers and parents by June each year.
So kudos to the Golden State’s faculty. Garden State leaders, it's your move.
