Starting in summer 2012, all incoming freshmen will be required to demonstrate their proficiency in English and/or math prior to their first semester of full-time enrollment, as outlined in Executive Order 1048 from the CSU chancellor’s office.

In the June 2010 memorandum, Chancellor Charles Reed called for the creation of an Early Start program to assist those students who have failed to meet the English and math standards of the institution to which they have applied.

In the spring 2009 semester, nearly 370,000 high school juniors took the Early Assessment Program test to check their readiness for college-level math and English. Of those students who qualify as first time freshmen, 60 percent did not demonstrate their entry-level proficiency and were required to attend remedial classes.

For these students, they will need to enroll in a recognized CSU program before enrollment, and doing so will permit them to enroll in the university regardless of whether they have completed remediation.

If students have not enrolled in a recognized program prior to the first day of instruction, they will not be permitted to enroll to the campus of their admission.

This is not a new mandate by the chancellor’s office, said Amy Heckathorn, writing programs coordinator for the English department.

“In early 2000, the Chancellor requested that all the CSUs institute an Early Start program because the institutions, based on placement testing, had been placing about 40 to 50 percent of students in pre-first year math and writing courses,” Heckathorn said.

In the same mandate, the chancellor set a systemwide goal of reducing the number students being placed in pre-first year courses to 10 percent by 2007.For Sac State, the number of first-time freshmen in need of remediation has dropped by 7 percent since the fall 1999 semester.

For Sac State by itself, the percentage of freshmen needing remedial courses was 68 percent in the 2000-01 school year. In the 2009-10 school year that number is 61 percent. These numbers are from an analytic assessment conducted by the CSU system on all 23 campus.

Ravin Pam, mathematics coordinator for the Learning Skills Center in Lassen Hall, said he sees additional issues for the incoming students.

“The biggest challenge I see for our students coming into the Early Start program is trying to get them to come into the college during summer.The students that would be coming to this program are not from this area, so they would have to drive, on top of having to pay for the program as well,” Pan said. “We have seen in the past two summers, the numbers of students enrolled in the Early Start program have been very low. Last year we had just one class with 20 students enrolled.”

The outreach effort was made easier since Sac State had already been working closely with the area high schools to inform the students about the need for remediation, said Sheree Meyer, associate dean for undergraduate studies.

“We have been working with our high school partners to conduct early assessments of students in their junior year, which will allow them to see where they are in relation to the English Placement Test and the Entry-Level Mathematics assessment here at the college,” Meyer said. “This allows the students to recognize where they are at and make the necessary arrangements in their senior year so they will be prepared.”

The timeline for full implementation was outlined in the executive order and began in November 2010 with the mathematics council discussing lowering the entry-level mathematics assessment. Full implementation of the early start program is expected by summer 2014 when the final phase of the program will include English for all students who have not demonstrated proficiency.

An idea considered as a pathway to help the incoming freshmen is “directed self-placement.” Heckathorn feels this possibility has promise and has been written into the proposal that is being sent to the chancellor for evaluation.

“The English department has suggested directed self-placement because the current system of testing is flawed and there is no research suggesting the testing is valid,” Heckathorn said. “So what this does is it gives students the option to enroll in a one- or two-semester English remediation course, and when the students come to campus for orientation, they would meet with an adviser and discuss where their skills are in writing. They would then place themselves in either the one- or the two-semester remediation.”

She feels this takes care of two glaring problems within this whole process &- the first being proper placement of the students into a remediation course and the second being some students would benefit from more instruction.

Heckathorn pointed to Fresno State as one of three CSUs being allowed by the chancellor’s office to test pilot the Directed Self-Placement Program.

William Covino, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Fresno State, said the program at his campus shows promise.

“Our directed self-placement, into the “stretch,’ a two semester program in English has been very successful,” Covino said. “Although, there is not a parallel program here in math right now. Our Early Start plan is still in development, and will be released following review by the chancellor’s office.”

Although the Early Start program is meant to help the students get prepared for college level curriculum, Pan said he feels there will be more questions and then answers.

“I just worry about the diversity of the students as the budget crisis continues,” Pan said. “I worry that some of the students at the lower-end will decide to take a different route or no route at all and decide not to come to school because there is no financial support.”

Matt Harrington can be reached at [email protected]