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.

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.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell strongly supports the CSU partnership with K-12, saying: "Too often in the past, students entered their senior year without a realistic sense of their ability to succeed in college. But with this unprecedented collaboration between the California State University and the K-12 community, this test will serve as a wake-up call for many of our high school students, and steer them to do what it takes in their senior year to become academically prepared."

Results of the first-year test, he said, confirm the need to increase rigorous coursework in California's high schools, one of O'Connell's top priorities as state superintendent.

Education officials anticipate that English and math proficiency of CSU first-time freshmen will rise as a result of early intervention in high school. The CSU Board of Trustees policy is to reduce the need for remediation of incoming freshmen to 10 percent within the next three years. Currently more than half are in need of remediation.

In a nutshell, what this K-12 and CSU partnership means to students and parents is an "early signal." Some students who have received good grades believe that they had mastered the skills for college, but sadly, that is not always the case. With this "early intervention" program, we believe we can let students and their parents know precisely where students are in their preparation for college.

The EAP aligns our high school and college placement standards to determine both high school proficiency and college readiness. The National Commission on the High School Senior Year noted in its influential report, titled "Raising Our Sights: No High School Senior Left Behind," that "the standards and assessment landscape facing high school seniors is full of enough confusing twists, turns and cul-de-sacs to leave many students lost and stranded."

In the end, students pay the price when they have to spend time and money doing catch-up work in college. And the total cost is steep: An estimated one in three college students in the country ends up needing some form of remedial help.

Our K-12 and university communities now share in the benefit of a stronger and more formalized connection, with a uniform set of expectations for student achievement. High schools are better equipped to identify students' specific academic strengths and weaknesses. And our universities will receive better-prepared students who are able to focus on college-level rather than remedial education.

But the main benefactors of this partnership are students. They will be able to devote more energy to a test that has a direct link to their educational futures. If they do well, they will be able to use their scores for placement into regular college-level courses at a state university campus, with the expectation that they will still take English and math in the 12th grade. If they don't do well, they will still have their entire senior year to focus on the skills they need to develop.

The California State University is excited about this partnership, and we believe, along with our K-12 colleagues, that this effort holds much promise for future collaborations. In addition, this Early Assessment Program may serve as a model for other states around the country that are grappling with this issue. Most importantly, it would give students a better shot at succeeding in higher education.

For more information about the EAP, please visit ww.calstate.edu/eap.

What are the benefits of EAP?

* Students get an early wake-up call about their preparedness for college. Those who find that they are not proficient in mathematics or English have their entire senior year to hone those skills.

* Californians can be sure that required high school standards and tests are meaningful, have consequences and connect to readiness for college.

* Californians can be confident that high school standards and college-entrance standards are congruent, and that the state's resources are being used wisely.

* Students who do choose to improve their skills in the senior year can pass the CSU placement exams and thus bypass any remedial courses.

David S. Spence is executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer for the California State University Office of the Chancellor.