The Math Gatekeepers

In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of California Board of Regents unanimously called for eliminating SAT and ACT requirements for incoming high school seniors. Yet some six years on, an open letter published by more than 1,400 UC STEM faculty has ignited the debate over reinstating standardized testing requirements.

Some instructors say they are left to reteach elementary arithmetic and algebra to college freshmen in their advanced calculus or engineering classes. They point to a thirtyfold jump in students who test below high school level and are unprepared for the rigors of college math. Advocates for reinstating standardized testing requirements argue that all eight Ivy League schools have reinstated the SAT and ACT test score requirements since early 2024. So why shouldn’t the UC system follow suit?

To answer that question, one has to investigate which demographic has been systematically denied high-quality math education for generations. Standardized test scores and the false debate about Ivy League standards are not the problem. Just Equations, a policy institute focused on the role math plays in education equity, recently released its report “Calculated Barriers,” which states that Black students are simply not given the chance to develop their math skills from middle school up.

To understand the origins of this exclusion, we should rewind to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling. It was a monumental civil rights triumph in desegregating schools, yet there was a price paid by Black educators and their students. In the wake of integration, roughly 38,000 Black administrators and teachers across 17 states were put out of work. The superintendents and school boards of most districts were white; they saw fit to shut down several Black schools rather than effect an equitable merger of them. For the Black educators, this meant being demoted to positions such as as a janitor or cafeteria worker, or losing their employment altogether.

Prior to Brown, many Black students in segregated schools had advocates in the form of those teachers, who truly saw their brilliance and set high expectations. Once those voices were removed, the newly desegregated high schools all too often resorted to racist tracking. Where a student might have been put in Algebra I, they were more likely to be funneled into something like consumer or general math, courses that did not lead to college. In effect, Algebra I emerged as one of the very first math gatekeepers for Black students.

That historical tracking did not just disappear; it simply evolved into the systemic barriers we see today. Middle school Algebra I is a prerequisite for later advanced math. Yet, many schools simply do not offer it. For example, during the 2024–25 school year, 27% of New York State schools that serve seventh and eighth graders did not offer eighth-grade Algebra I. Unsurprisingly, the state’s Black and Hispanic students were much more likely to be enrolled in these under-resourced schools than their white and Asian peers.

The gap only widens as they age. Just 80% of schools with high enrollments of Black and Hispanic students offer Algebra II, compared to 85% of schools with low enrollment of these students. By the time students reach the top of the math pyramid, the disparity is even more staggering. Black students make up 15% of the nation’s public school population, but they account for only 6% of those enrolled in AP math classes.

This leads us back to the culture war at UC over the SAT and ACT. Professors in favor of the standardized tests want an objective way to assess math readiness. But how can a test be objective when the education leading up to it was fundamentally unequal?

Reinstating these exams wouldn’t fix the fact that some students arrive at college underprepared. Instead, it would simply punish Black and low-income students for attending schools that were historically underfunded. Bringing back the SAT/ACT would simply reinforce the deep inequality that already exists in our educational system and adversely affect the 4,500 to 5,000 black students accepted to the nine UC campuses.

Gen Z students should care about middle school algebra access and UC admissions policies because math is power. It is the field that drives our AI economy and fuels innovation. From telling time to managing our finances, it teaches us everyday problem-solving skills. Right now, Black adults make up 12% of the country’s overall working population, but just 9% of the nation’s STEM workforce.

Math should be a foundation for the future, not a relic that sorts students into winners and losers. True educational equity doesn’t mean building a harder test; it means ensuring every student gets the chance to learn the math on it.