UC-Berkeley math prof says she has to teach fractions to calculus students because standards have fallen so far

Nypost · Aug 16, 2026 · 540 words · By Anthony Blair

Higher Education Quality Standardized Testing in Admissions Academic Standards

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What to know about Higher Education Quality

UC-Berkeley math prof says she has to teach fractions to calculus students because standards have fallen so far See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 14

Techniques found 2

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center50%

Right50%

2 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

UC-Berkeley math prof says she has to teach fractions to calculus students because standards have fallen so far See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Add The California Post on Google A well known University of California-Berkeley mathematics professor has slammed admissions standards at the top-flight university — where she says huge portions of her students are failing to keep up with college calculus…

Common ground

“Some students are five to eight years behind in mathematics.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Causal Oversimplification: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Higher Education Quality story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Zvezdelina Stankova founded the Berkeley Math Circle and a local math olympiad for high school kids?
How does this story connect Higher Education Quality with Standardized Testing in Admissions over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/08/16/us-news/uc-berkeley-math-prof-forced-to-teach-frac…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 90% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Causal Oversimplification 70% confidence

Assuming a single cause for a complex issue.

Why it matters: Recognizing causal oversimplification helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4

schedule Pending 4

verified Verified By Reference 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

verified Verified 1

info Single Source 1

verified

Claim 1: “Zvezdelina Stankova founded the Berkeley Math Circle and a local math olympiad for high school kids.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia and the UC Berkeley math department website confirm she founded the Berkeley Math Circle and co-founded the Bay Area Mathematical Olympiad.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Gabriel Drew Carroll (born December 24, 1982) is a professor of economics at the University of Toronto. He was born to tech industry worker parents in Oakland. He graduated from Harvard University wit…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Carroll

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An infinity cube is a kind of mechanical puzzle toy with mathematical principles. Its shape is similar to a 2×2x2 Rubik's Cube, but with a different mechanism. It can be opened and put back together f…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_cube

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Zvezdelina Entcheva Stankova (Bulgarian: Звезделина Енчева Станкова; born 15 September 1969) is a Bulgarian and American mathematician who is a teaching professor of mathematics at the University of C…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zvezdelina_Stankova

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 2: “Zvezdelina Stankova earned a PhD from Harvard.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web sources, including a detailed profile, confirm she holds a PhD from Harvard University.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Joseph Daniel Harris (born August 17, 1951) is the Higgins Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. He specializes in the field of algebraic geometry. After earning an AB from Harvard College h…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Harris_(mathematician)

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 3: “Berkley has one of the lowest acceptance rates of any public university in the country — admitting just 10.5% of applicants.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources report that UC Berkeley has one of the lowest acceptance rates for public universities, specifically citing 10.5%.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — University of California-Berkeley mathematics professor Zvezdelina Stankova. Credit: UC Berkeley.As The New York Post notes, UC-Berkeley has one of the lowest acceptance rates of any public university…
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/08/uc-berkeley-math-pr…

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web search NEUTRAL — UC Berkeley has one of the lowest acceptance rates among public universities in the United States, admitting about 10.5 percent of applicants. Stankova has noted that peer institutions that temporaril…
https://www.smobserved.com/story/2026/08/21/news/span-classb…

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web search NEUTRAL — While many graduate application deadlines at UC Berkeley are not until December, the summer and early fall are great times to start planning your application journey. Crafting a standout application r…
https://grad.berkeley.edu/

verified

Claim 4: “Zvezdelina Stankova is a mathematics professor at UC Berkeley.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia and the official UC Berkeley mathematics department website confirm Zvezdelina Stankova is a teaching professor of mathematics at UC Berkeley.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The following is a partial list of notable Mills College alumnae. It includes alumnae, professors, and others associated with Mills College.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mills_College_people

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+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 5: “A diagnostic exam administered to Calculus I students before 2020 showed 71% of students tested were “ready or nearly ready” to study calculus.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute the specific statistic regarding the 71% 'ready or nearly ready' diagnostic exam result.

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Claim 6: “By 2022-23, more than one-third of calculus students were described as having severe math deficits.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 7: “Zvezdelina Stankova was born in communist Bulgaria.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm she was born in Bulgaria (specifically Ruse) in 1969, and she explicitly mentions her childhood was during the Communist Era.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Enchev, Entchev (Bulgarian: Енчев) is a Bulgarian surname, its female form is Encheva or Entcheva. Emilia Entcheva Ivan Enchev-Vidyu Miroslav Enchev Velizar Enchev
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchev

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Stankov (Bulgarian: Станков) is a Bulgarian masculine surname, its feminine counterpart is Stankova. Notable people with the surname include:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stankov

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 8: “Standardized testing was phased out by UC Berkeley in 2020 after then-college president Janet Napolitano overruled a task force that had called for the entrance exams to be kept.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent news reports state that standardized testing was phased out in 2020 after Janet Napolitano overruled a task force that recommended keeping them.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Janet Ann Napolitano (; born November 29, 1957) is an American politician and lawyer. She is on the faculty at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, since 2015…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Napolitano

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist who served as the 78th United States secretary of the treasury from 2021 to 2025 and as chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 20…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Yellen

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of California (UC) is California's system of public research universities. Headquartered in Oakland, the system is composed of ten campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merc…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 9: “Janet Napolitano was Homeland Security Secretary for President Barack Obama.”

VERIFIED

Authoritative sources including the Miller Center and Council on Foreign Relations confirm Janet Napolitano served as Secretary of Homeland Security under President Obama.

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web search NEUTRAL — Janet Ann Napolitano is an American politician and lawyer. She is on the faculty at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, since 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Napolitano

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web search NEUTRAL — Janet Napolitano is President Barack Obama’s secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Napolitano has experience in federal law enforcement and dealing with immigration issues on the front lin…
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounders/janet-napolitano-homeland-…

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web search NEUTRAL — Janet Napolitano was born on November 29, 1957, in New York City. She moved with her family to New Mexico when she was a young girl.After working for a law firm, Napolitano started her public service …
https://millercenter.org/president/obama/essays/napolitano-2…

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Claim 10: “no new admissions policy set to take effect before fall 2028 [at UC].”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 11: “Between 2021 and 2023, just 44% of students tested as “ready or nearly ready” to study calculus.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 12: “Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Yale also suspended testing requirements during the pandemic, they have since reinstated them.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 13: “Just 0.14% of those tested between 2018 and 2020 tested below basic algebra.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute the specific statistic that 0.14% of students tested below basic algebra.

info

Claim 14: “A court ruling subsequently requiring UC to become test-blind through 2025.”

SINGLE SOURCE

While sources confirm the UC system is 'test-blind' and that the Board of Regents voted to eliminate SAT/ACT in 2020, none of the provided evidence mentions a specific court ruling requiring this policy to remain in place through 2025.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — A University of California, Berkeley teaching professor says some students arrive in calculus with gaps in mathematics extending to fractions and basic algebra, intensifying a debate over the UC syste…
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/uc-berkeley-math-deficiencies-test…

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web search NEUTRAL — More than six years after the University of California system’s Board of Regents moved to stop using standardized test scores in undergraduate admissions, The New York Times Editorial Board is urging …
https://www.amren.com/news/2026/07/new-york-times-calls-univ…

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web search NEUTRAL — University of California professors discussing test-blind admissions and student readiness in STEM education. When the University of California Board of Regents voted in 2020 to eliminate SAT and ACT.
https://www.sapneiltutoring.com/post/uc-test-blind-admission…

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.