A wake-up call from CSU: remedial college courses may not be necessary for those students who prepare for college while still in high school through CSU's Early Assessment Program

Leadership, March-April, 2005 by David S. Spence

If there is one thing that is truer than ever, it is that partnerships between K-12 and higher education are the only way that both the California State University and the public schools will get better. Isolation, turf wars, finger-pointing and ivory tower musings will not help either segment improve student learning, which is certainly what both the K-12 schools and the CSU campuses are striving for daily.

The California State University has had outreach programs targeted to the state's public schools for decades. While those programs were beneficial for the faculty and students of the CSU and K12, we could not reach all schools because of limited resources. Therefore, we began to review our programs with the aim of getting more students prepared for college while they were still in high school so that they would not have to take remedial classes once they enrolled at a CSU campus.

The result is the Early Assessment Program. It is a collaborative effort among three state entities: California State University, California Department of Education and California State Board of Education. The goal of this unprecedented partnership is to ensure that college-bound high school graduates have the English and mathematics skills expected by the CSU's 23 campuses.

Polishing skills before college

Like most public comprehensive universities, CSU admits students first --and only then tests them to see if they have the reading, writing and mathematics skills needed for placement in college-level study. If they do not, the students are placed in remedial courses for one or two semesters--thus making the pursuit of a baccalaureate degree more expensive for both the student and the state.

The EAP allows students, their teachers, their parents and the CSU to know exactly how well prepared the 11th graders are for university-level work. Furthermore, it gives high school students a chance to polish their skills before enrolling in college.

The EAP has three components: early testing, the opportunity for additional preparation in the 12th grade and professional development activities for high school English and mathematics teachers.

Rather than add a new test for students, the EAP is an augmented California Standards Test in 11th grade English and mathematics. This test is a part of California's public school testing and accountability system and is required of all students.

CSU and K-12 faculty made sure that CSU's college placement standards were fully aligned with California's high school standards in the augmented tests and only covered content required in the high schools. The faculty added a writing sample to the English CST as well as a few more items, but they kept the testing time to a minimum. Special scores are computed composed of a subset of relevant CST items plus the CSU augmented items. Specified levels of these scores indicate meeting CSU standards.

Results from pilot testing

We pilot-tested the program in spring 2003 at 100 high schools, made some revisions, and then offered it on a voluntary basis to all high school juniors in spring 2004. We received an overwhelming response--more than 150,000 students took the extended test in English and 115,000 in mathematics.

Among those tested in English, 33,720 students, or 22 percent, were classified as ready to take English courses at the college level and are exempt from taking the CSU English Placement Test after admission. In mathematics, 63,504 students, or 55 percent of those tested, scored high enough to take college-level mathematics.

The results of the EAP give a timely, early signal to students about their own readiness for college-level mathematics and English. By taking the new test, students know prior to entering the 12th grade whether they need more preparation for college.

Students were notified whether they had either met the CSU expectations (and thus would be exempt from any additional CSU placement tests when they are admitted) or whether they needed additional preparation to be successful in college-level work. Those who need extra work have their entire senior year to prepare for college. They can pinpoint individual strengths and weaknesses by using the CSU Diagnostic Writing Service or the Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project.

Students who need better skills in expository reading and writing can take a specially designed 12th grade course, developed jointly by teachers from high schools and the university. Modules from this course began in fall 2004, and the release of the full course statewide to all high schools will occur by spring 2005.

Students who need to upgrade their mathematics skills will have access to courses and to other individualized, online interactive programs during their senior year. The CSU has developed a place for students to seek help with math at Math Success tutorial.

Teacher development

A final component of the EAP is teacher development. CSU teacher-education faculty are sponsoring reading institutes and are developing materials through which high school teachers can improve their skills in helping students to read and write effectively. More than 50 professional development and awareness sessions were offered in 2004 involving more than 1,500 high school English teachers across California. Additional professional teacher development activities are being developed for mathematics teachers to be offered in spring 2005.