UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, ACADEMIC SENATE February 3

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, ACADEMIC SENATE

BERKELEY

• DAVIS • IRVINE • LOS ANGELES • MERCED • RIVERSIDE • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO

SANTA BARBARA • SANTA CRUZ

Kum-Kum Bhavnani Chair of the Assembly of the Academic Senate

Telephone: (510) 987-9303 Faculty Representative to the Regents

Email:kum-kum.bhavnani@ucop.edu University of California

1111 Franklin Street, 12th Floor

Oakland, California 94607-5200

February 3, 2020

CHAIRS OF SENATE DIVISIONS AND COMMITTEES:

Re: Systemwide Review of BOARS Recommendation to Eliminate the ACT/SAT Essay

Requirement

Dear Colleagues,

I am forwarding for systemwide Academic Senate review the attached proposal from the Board of

Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) to eliminate the SAT Essay/ACT Writing Test

requirement for undergraduate admission.

Please note that the BOARS recommendation is distinct from the Standardized Testing Task Force

(STTF) recommendations, but we are conducting a systemwide Senate review of both sets of

recommendations simultaneously, to enable a more comprehensive conversation about the use of

standardized testing at UC.

Please submit comments to the Academic Senate office at SenateReview@ucop.edu by March 23,

2020 to allow us to compile and summarize comments for the Academic Council’s April 1

meeting. As always, any committee that considers these matters outside its jurisdiction or charge

may decline to comment.

Sincerely,

Kum-Kum Bhavnani, Chair

Academic Council

Encl.

cc: Academic Council

Senate Directors

U N I V E R S I T Y O F C A L I F O R N I A

BERKELEY • DAVIS • IRVINE • LOS ANGELES • MERCED • RIVERSIDE • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO

SANTA BARBARA • SANTA CRUZ

BOARD OF ADMISSIONS AND RELATIONS WITH SCHOOLS (BOARS) Assembly of the Academic Senate

Eddie Comeaux, Chair 1111 Franklin Street, 12

Floor

[email protected] Oakland, CA 94607-5200

Phone: (510) 987-9466

Fax: (510) 763-0309

June 19, 2019

ROBERT MAY, CHAIR

ACADEMIC COUNCIL

RE: BOARS Recommendation to Eliminate the ACT/SAT Essay Requirement

Dear Robert,

While the UC has appointed a Task Force to examine the utility of standardized testing this year,

the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) has engaged in a more narrow

review of the requirement for all applicants to the UC system to submit scores from the SAT Essay

or ACT Writing Test. We recommend that the UC eliminate this requirement as soon as is feasible.

Three key considerations led to this recommendation.

1. Nationally, the ACT/SAT essay exams have been virtually eliminated from the college

admissions outside the UC. The UC campuses represent 9 of the 12 remaining institutions

that still require the ACT Writing Test or SAT Essay. The need to sit for this exam adds

time and cost-related burdens on California’s students, and, and such, adds to other access

barriers for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

2. ACT/SAT essay exams, at present, do not adhere to BOARS’ general principles for use of

admissions tests by UC. We received uniform feedback from Admissions Directors across

all nine campuses that scores from the ACT Writing Test and SAT Essay are not, and have

not, been used for admissions decisions. Although the College Board has produced data

showing that SAT essay scores may be associated with academic performance indicators,

a case has not been made that there is incremental utility of the essay over and above other

data available in the application.

Moreover, there remain concerns about scoring criteria

and validity of the tests (described below) that have dissuaded UC admissions officials

from giving any weight to these scores. Ultimately, the essay examination requirement is

serving no purpose in helping campuses make decisions about which students are best

prepared to excel in the UC system.

3. The UC strongly values the ability of students to write well. Well-developed skills in

written expression serve as a foundation for achievement in all areas of study, and the

evaluation of writing competence should remain a priority in UC admissions. However,

samples of writing produced within a time-limited, single sitting examination may not

BOARS requested data and analyses on SAT essay exams to determine incremental validity.

reflect critical writing skills involving composition, reflection, and revision. BOARS

recommends that the admissions review process attend to applicants’ demonstrated

strengths in written expression within other aspects of the application, such as performance

in writing intensive courses.

In summary, the elimination of the SAT Essay/ACT Writing Test requirement will reduce burden

on California students, mitigate concerns related to access among low-resourced applicants, and

better align application requirements with actual admissions practice across the UC system. We

note that applicants may still choose to take the SAT essay or ACT writing as these test scores

may be used to satisfy UC’s Entry-Level Writing Requirement (ELWR). We encourage all campus

admissions committees to reflect upon and articulate how they evaluate applicant’s writing ability

in comprehensive review and to clearly convey this to applicants.

Sincerely,

Eddie Comeaux

BOARS Chair

cc: Members of the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS)

Executive Director Baxter

With the elimination of the SAT essay/ACT writing test requirement, BOARS would be required to reconstruct the

Statewide Eligibility Index (similar to the 2013-14 BOARS adjusted Statewide Index). Note that the SAT Essay is

not used in the Statewide Eligibility Index. The ACT English Arts (ELA) score (a composite of the English and

Writing scores) is used in the Index.

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/admissions-index/instructions.html