After a decade of notable work – but little success – in lowering the numbers of students who arrive on campus not ready for college work, the California State University system is turning up the pressure on students, its own campuses and indirectly on high schools to do better.

Starting in 2012, academically unprepared freshmen must  take remediation courses in math or English before they arrive on campus. That could take the form of an online course, an intensive summer bridge session at a CSU campus or a CSU-designed English writing course during students’ senior year in high school. CSU trustees voted last week to let the 23 campuses create their own “Early Start” strategies.

A decade ago, CSU set the goal of cutting the proportion of students needing remediation to 10 percent. But 60 percent of students continue to need extra help in either math, English or both, even though they have the grades – a B average in required courses – to be admitted.

Non-credit remediation courses are costly – about $30 million per year systemwide – and are an inefficient use of resources. They tie up seats and stretch students’ time in college. CSU campuses will continue to offer remediation courses for freshmen who don’t pass a placement exam, but trustees hope that, in time, the system will save money, and more students will graduate on time.

Credit the CSU; it hasn’t been for want of trying. Its Early Assessment Progam, a test that lets high school juniors know if they are college-ready, has become a national model.

EAP is a voluntary exam that students can take with their standardized state test. It includes an essay and 15 extra questions. Last year, a whopping 83 percent of 370,000 students who took the English language arts portion were deemed not ready for college-level work; 43 percent of 169,000 took the math weren’t skilled enough, too – at least as juniors.

CSU grades the exams at its own expense and has created extensive online courses, diagnostics and guides. It also has designed an expository reading and writing course, concentrating on persuasive writing, and has trained 4,500 high school teachers to teach it. It can be integrated into a senior or junior year English course or taught as a semester- or year-long course.

The problem is that only about one-quarter of the state’s 1,000 comprehensive high schools use it, and only 15 percent intensively. There are indications, but no hard data yet, to show that it cuts down on the need for remediation.

One obstacle is that prospective seniors don’t get EAP results until August, when most have their schedules. Some districts are much better than others in anticipating who could benefit from the course.

More CSU campuses will probably offer summer courses for incoming freshmen, taught by community college instructors. Students taking it will qualify for supplemental Pell Grant money.

The long-term solution is to better align middle and high school curriculums with college expectations. The Obama administration’s proposed requirement that high-school students graduate career- or college-ready presents an opportunity to revise the state’s standards. The California Diploma Project, which will bring together the state Department of Education and  higher ed institutions, is the vehicle to do this.

Its work couldn’t begin soon enough.

By John Fensterwald on March 23rd, 2010