There’s been a significant shift in the math preparedness of incoming college students at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). According to a new report from the school’s Senate–Administration Working Group on Admissions (SAWG), more students are arriving at UCSD underprepared in math, likely due to changes in admissions policies, COVID-19 pandemic learning disruptions, and grade inflation.
“The decline has had lasting consequences,” the report states. “Students who experienced this [the pandemic] at any time – whether in their early years or closer to their senior year – often never fully recover by the time they graduate; and the deficit in teaching/learning will be felt for at least a few more years. For example, this year’s high school seniors (graduating 2026) began remote learning in spring of their 6th grade year, often one of the most critical in student development for math skills.”
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Rising numbers of students below middle school math level
The academic skills of freshmen students, especially in math but also in writing and language, have dropped noticeably, the faculty report states. Specifically, the number of students whose math skills are below middle school level has increased significantly, about 30 times higher than before. Now, roughly one in eight students is classified as having “very weak math skills.”
Students’ high school grades are no longer a reliable indicator of math skills, according to the report, because many students with very high grades still need basic math help. UCSD has developed several remedial courses to help students improve their skills.
One of those courses is Math 2, a remedial math course covering middle school-level material. The students who end up in Math 2 have significant gaps in their math skills; however, they showed up to UCSD with an average high school math GPA of 3.65.
“Alarmingly, the instructors running the 2023-2024 Math 2 courses observed a marked change in the skill gaps compared to prior years,” the report states. “While Math 2 was designed in 2016 to remediate missing high school math knowledge, now most students had knowledge gaps that went back much further, to middle and even elementary school.”
University explores solutions to support underprepared students
Underprepared students may struggle to succeed academically during their time in college. The university’s teaching resources, such as faculty time and tutoring, could be stretched thin as the administration considers changes to admissions and support services to help these students catch up.
The report suggests several ideas to improve how the university addresses students who are underprepared in math. They want to create a tool called a “math index” that uses past data about students’ math placement and information from their transcripts. This index would help predict which students are likely to need remedial math before they even arrive.
The report also recommends establishing feedback systems with high schools to share information and collaborate on improving student readiness. Incoming students should also be required to take a math placement test by June 1 so the university can place them in the right math course early, allowing better preparation and support.
