8:00am | In March of 2010, the California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees began to address the recurring problem of entering students who had not met prerequisites or were ill-equipped to enter into college-level courses. This uneven playing field, of course, out the student at a disadvantage, complicating academic performance and degree progress.
The call for a more efficient program was sparked by the Early Assessment Program (EAP), a now nationally recognized model that examines the basic English and math proficiencies of high schoolers. When conducted on some 369,000 high schoolers in 2009, about 60 percent of first-time freshmen enrolling at the CSU each year do not show entry-level proficiency from the EAP, even though they have earned at least a B average in the required college preparatory curriculum. As a result, many students must attend remedial classes, which do not count for college credit and add cost and time to earning a degree.
The costs of remediating students was of major issue, since remedial courses were offered to the student while they were registered in degree work. To battle this retrogradation in higher education, the Board adopted an “Early Start” program, which was just launched this year.
Instead of combining remedial courses with normal courses during the student’s first year, the goal is to have the student take that courses beforehand during the summer. Individual campuses will notify students admitted for fall 2012 if they are required to attend the summer program based on entry skills testing. Students are not required to complete all skills building work during the summer; however, the summer program will be the first opportunity to begin refining those skills.
Students participating in Early Start may attend courses at the campus where they were admitted or any other CSU or at a community college. The standard fee to participate is $182 per unit, but the CSU will waive this fee for students who demonstrate need in their application for financial aid.
In addition to Early Start, CSU policy gives students a year to complete pre-collegiate work. Many campuses have developed “stretch” courses with supplemental faculty instruction that count toward a CSU degree and are designed to advance students’ English skills.