The leading candidate for California’s state superintendent of public instruction, Richard Barrera, opposes the reintroduction of standardized testing for students seeking admission to the University of California schools. This stance comes even as concerns arise about students lacking basic math skills.
Barrera, who has been on the San Diego Unified School Board since 2008 and currently acts as a senior policy adviser to State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, is in a race against Sonja Shaw, the president of the Chino Valley Unified school board, to take over Thurmond’s position.
He has gained the support of the influential California Teachers Association for his campaign.
During an interview with NBC LA’s Conan Nolan on October 4, Barrera firmly stated he does not favor reinstating the SAT as a requirement for UC admissions.
Nolan highlighted a mismatch between Barrera’s views and the concerns expressed by math professors at UC Berkeley and UCLA, who claim that some incoming students lack fundamental math skills.
“Absolutely not,” Barrera responded when asked if the SAT should be reinstated. “Math teachers at UCLA and Berkeley, part of your job is to teach our kids.”
Nolan further challenged Barrera on the practicality of teaching fractions at prestigious higher education institutions. Barrera defended his position, saying, “We have students coming from incredible backgrounds, first-generation students overcoming obstacles to be at these campuses. They are quick learners; they just need some support, not exclusion.”
Barrera’s remarks come as discussions intensify regarding whether high school grades truly reflect students’ college readiness.
The number of college applicants with GPAs at or above 4.0 has surged in the last decade, even as state assessments indicate that students are still reeling from a significant decline in reading and math skills post-pandemic.
This disparity has raised alarms about potential grade inflation, particularly as it’s reported that some California universities are encountering students who struggle with basic math concepts like fractions.
The University of California system eliminated the SAT and ACT from its admissions criteria in 2020 following longstanding critiques that these standardized tests disproportionately affect low-income and minority students.
Yet, some argue that the removal of these tests has resulted in a lack of objective measures for assessing students’ readiness, as high school GPAs continue to rise.
Education advocate Charles Cole noted that issues with grade inflation have been building for years and seem to have accelerated recently. Cole, who attended California public schools and graduated high school in 2001, recounted his own experience—earning good grades but then finding himself in remedial classes when he enrolled at a California State University, which was disheartening.
“Those classes were pretty easy for me and didn’t require much effort,” Cole remarked about his high school grades. “I appreciate those grades for helping me get into college, but I was really disappointed by the lack of preparation.”
California’s mandated testing results reveal a significant gap between high GPAs and true academic proficiency. According to the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments, about 57% of California 11th graders met or exceeded standards in English during the 2024-25 school year, while only 30.5% achieved the same in math.
While these numbers have improved from the lows seen during the pandemic years—54.8% in English and 27% in math in the 2021-22 school year—they still generally fall below pre-pandemic levels, as shown by data from the California Department of Education.
