Leading the News
University Of California President Recommends Multiyear Suspension Of SAT, ACT Requirements
The Los Angeles (CA) Times (5/11, Watanabe) reports University of California President Janet Napolitano on Monday recommended a “complex and unusual five-year plan” that would make the SAT and ACT tests “optional for two years and eliminate testing requirements for California students in Years 3 and 4.” Starting in Year 5, “UC would move toward a standardized assessment developed specifically for the 10-campus system.” According to the Times, “Napolitano’s decision could tip the scales against the tests among Board of Regents members, who are scheduled to vote on the controversial issue next week.”
The AP (5/11, News) reports if UC is unable to develop a new test for fall 2025 applicants, “Napolitano recommends eliminating its standardized testing requirement for admissions altogether.” If the test is available, “it would be made available to students from out-of-state schools. International students could submit either the new test or scores from the SAT and ACT.”
The Washington Post (5/11, Anderson) reports many public and private colleges in recent weeks “have joined a movement to halt or end testing requirements. Some were spurred by the education crisis created by the novel coronavirus pandemic. Others said test scores were not as useful as grades and transcripts in rating applicants.”
EdSource (5/11) reports current high school juniors applying to UC schools for fall 2021 entrance “already are excused from taking those exams” due to that requirement “was suspended last month after high school classes switched statewide to online due to the coronavirus emergency and testing dates were canceled.”
Also providing coverage are the San Francisco (CA) Chronicle (5/11, Bauman) and Business Insider (5/11, Davis).
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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITIES - FALL 2020 Instruction
By Nina Agrawal Staff Writer (LA Times)
May 12, 2020
12:01 PM
The 23-campus California State University system plans to all but cancel in-person classes in the fall and instead will offer instruction primarily online, Chancellor Timothy White announced Tuesday.
The vast majority of classes across the Cal State system will be taught online, White said, with some limited exceptions that allow for in-person activity. The decision comes as schools throughout the country grapple with how long to keep campuses closed amid the coronavirus crisis.
“Our university when open without restrictions and fully in person… is a place where over 500,000 people come together in close and vibrant proximity,” White said at a meeting of Cal State’s Board of Trustees. “That approach sadly just isn’t in the cards now.”
White’s announcement came the same day that infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House coronavirus task force, told a Senate panel it would be “a bridge too far” to think treatments or vaccines could be available in time to facilitate students’ reentry into schools this fall.
It also follows an earlier move by Cal State Fullerton, which in late April became one of the first universities in the nation to announce it was planning for remote instruction this fall.