Connect with us

Bay Area

Barrier to Entry No More: UC Ends Use of SAT, ACT in Admissions, Scholarships

In a historic settlement, the UC Regents agreed they would eliminate the SAT and the ACT from admissions and scholarship decisions through 2025.

Published

on

Felicia Buitenwerf/Unsplash

COMMENTARY 

You don’t have to ask Stockton teenager Rain Romeo about standardized testing.  We all know tests like the SAT/ACT are discriminatory in nature, failing to reflect a student’s real ability, and advantaging wealthier students who can afford extra tutoring to game the exam. 

 “I’m not just a score,” Romeo, a 17- year old Filipino American student told me this week on the phone. She was one of the students who had been asked to testify to the UC regents about the fairness and efficacy of standardized tests. 

Last Friday, the major barrier to Romeo’s hopes and dreams was removed. In a historic settlement, the UC Regents agreed they would eliminate the SAT and the ACT from admissions and scholarship decisions through 2025.

UC had already figured that standardized tests were unfair last year, but let COVID-19 be the excuse to put a temporary halt on the tests only through 2022. The settlement now bans the test for another three years. 

The suit should allow for a greater diversity of students of all backgrounds, but especially Black, Latinx, and Asian groups from less wealthy communities.

“I’m thrilled and so happy to hear the news,” Romeo told me. The tests had put enormous pressure on her life, creating anxiety and self-doubt. 

“Coming from a low-income household and a community that is constantly overlooked, I have always felt like I wouldn’t attain success,” she said. “I always based my perceptions and my entire life thought process on these scores. I believed if my score wasn’t good enough, then I wasn’t good enough.” 

Romeo immigrated to the U.S. with her family from the Philippines as a child in 2004. She has been active as a youth advocate with the Little Manila Rising group in Stockton. And she feels connected to her community, interested in building it up, not looking forward to leaving it behind.  It’s a kind of ambition and drive that doesn’t show up in a standardized test. 

“There’s more to me than what is seen on that piece of paper, and the number that score represents,” Romeo said.  “I don’t want [admissions officers] to make an assumption or observation of me that they think is true based on a number.”

Romeo said she wanted colleges to see her for who she is and what her true potential represents. In Stockton, Romeo has overcome a lot. She’s a star student (weighted GPA around 4.3) in a neglected, low-income neighborhood, and would be the first in her family to go to college. In school, she studies debate, Honors English, Honors Physics, and is in student government, as well as a community volunteer with Little Manila Rising. 

She also isn’t ambitious for a corporate life that would force her to leave her home. Instead, Romeo is ambitious for her community. Perhaps that is a quality colleges should find worth nurturing, as Romeo prepares to apply to UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Davis, where admissions will consider her uniqueness rather than her relative value to a made-up standard.

That makes the settlement good news for all young people who are overlooked and filtered out by that thing that has long been an admissions officer’s crutch–the SAT. 

Students like Rain now have a chance to stand out and be seen, not by a number, but for who they are. 

Emil Guillermo is a veteran Bay Area journalist and commentator. He vlogs at www.amok.com,   FaceBook @emilguillermo.media

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 9 – 15, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 9 – 15, 2025

Published

on

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Continue Reading

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 2- 8, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 2 – 8, 2025

Published

on

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Continue Reading

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of June 25 – July 1, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 25 – July 1, 2025

Published

on

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Continue Reading

Subscribe to receive news and updates from the Oakland Post

* indicates required

CHECK OUT THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE OAKLAND POST

ADVERTISEMENT

WORK FROM HOME

Home-based business with potential monthly income of $10K+ per month. A proven training system and website provided to maximize business effectiveness. Perfect job to earn side and primary income. Contact Lynne for more details: Lynne4npusa@gmail.com 800-334-0540

Facebook

Activism6 days ago

Oakland Post: Week of July 9 – 15, 2025

#NNPA BlackPress1 week ago

Black Americans Still Face Deep Retirement Gaps Despite Higher Incomes

#NNPA BlackPress1 week ago

Scorching Heat Sparks Bipartisan Climate Alarm

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

Michael Jackson Estate Files Court Petition Alleging $213 Million Extortion Plot by Frank Cascio

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

WATCH: Glynn Turman receives a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame July 10

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

POWER IN ACTION: Delta Sigma Theta Hosts 57th National Convention

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

Measles Cases Hit 33-Year Record as CORI Deploys Outbreak Response Tools

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

PRESS ROOM: Intuit Expands IDEAS Program Nationally: Applications Now Open for the Company’s Award-Winning Business Accelerator

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

Target Looks for Love in All the Wrong Places as Black Leaders Reject Corporate Spin

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

A ‘New Direction’: West Coast Black News Publisher, Dr. John Warren, Elected Board Chair of NNPA

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

Facing Pressure From Black Voters, Democrats Detail Fight Against 47th President’s Agenda

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

OBSERVER Awarded Grant to Expand to Stockton

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

Medicaid Enrollees Targeted for Forced Farm Work Under Trump Immigration Crackdown

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

L.A. Dodgers Owner’s Ties to Private Prisons and Surveillance Spark Backlash from Latino Fans

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

Early Childhood Educators at Head Starts and Other Programs Say They’re Facing Even More Challenges

Trending

Copyright ©2021 Post News Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.