Spring 2026 saw a marked shift in student performance. We saw it in intro physics courses on the East coast too. I bet anyone who cared to look saw it.
Spring 2026 saw a marked shift in student performance. We saw it in intro physics courses on the East coast too. I bet anyone who cared to look saw it.
Yep, I'm starting to hear this more and more. Matches my local data. It's a very massive and visible shift in DFW rates.
I'm not denying that. I'm just wondering if anyone measured if there is a correlation effect being induced by CS major declaration requirements.
Barely over a decade ago, CS tended to be a large but not too large major by enrollment in most universities yet nowadays it is the most in-demand major in most universities. You can see this at Stanford [0], but most other programs as well.
[0] - https://stanforddaily.com/2020/04/25/stanford-in-the-2010s-t...
The failure rate tripled. So no, it’s not CS major declaration requirements.
> The failure rate tripled
And did the rate of students attempting to declare CS also triple?
> So no, it’s not CS major declaration requirements
Are intending CS majors in your university required to take that specific physics class before declaring the degree?
No.
No. CS majors take a different physics sequence at my institution.
The proximate cause is the wide release of somewhat effective AI tooling. When the tools weren't able to do or explain, students didn't use them. Now the tools are somewhat competent, so students do use them.
The students didn't substantially change from Fall 2025 to Spring 2026. You can have whavever gatekeeping hobby-horse you want, but it's not germane to this particular conversation.