Starting this summer, the Cal State University system will require incoming freshmen who test into remedial math or English to take a 15-hour early start course before the fall 2012 semester.
The early start course will be required for students who do not meet the Entry Level Math (ELM) or English Placement Test (EPT) proficiency requirements. The program will be available to students at every CSU campus, at some community colleges and online.
According to the CSU website, the purpose of the early start program is to “better prepare students in math and English, before the fall semester of freshman year.”
The CSU also hopes the program will ultimately improve students’ chances of completing a college degree.
The early start program could help approximately 20 to 30 percent of students who test into the lower-level remedial math, Mathematics Prebaccalaureate 1 (MAP B1), move up a course to Mathematics Prebaccalaureate 7 (MAP B7) for the fall semester, according to Larry Brownson, ELM coordinator for Cal State Long Beach.
MAP B7 is the last remedial math course students take before they go on to college level math courses.
However, Brownson is not sure if the program will have as much success bumping students who test into MAP B7 into a college level math course.
“It’s a much more dangerous move,” Brownson said.
Brownson said he is wary of the program, pointing out that CSULB offers about seven diverse classes to meet the general education requirement for math.
“They could end up in a very easy class, like MATH 103 — Math Ideas, where 90 percent or more pass,” he said. “Or they could end up in a much harder class like trigonometry where only around 55 percent pass … and that’s cause for alarm.”
Incoming freshmen will take five days of three-hour classes for the program between June 18 and Aug. 3.
According to Lynn Mahoney, associate vice president for undergraduate studies at CSULB, participating students will cover the costs of the program.
Early start will be $182 per unit, plus $2 in fees for 2012.
California residents who apply for financial aid and have an “Estimated Family Contribution” of less than $5,000 will be eligible for a fee waiver.
The policy, which gives incoming students one year to finish their remedial classes, has not changed, according to Erik Fallis, a CSU spokesperson.
Fallis said the program does not mean that all students will be able to finish their remedial classes during the summer, but it will help the students get a head start on their remedial classes and help them be prepared for their first year in college.
Some students will be able to complete their remediation with the program, but this will more likely be for students taking remedial math than those taking remedial English, Fallis said.
If anything, Brownson said that the early start program would help the CSU know what level students are really at in math and English.
“This is going to give us a much more accurate view of the students’ incoming skills rather than just a list of scores,” Brownson said.
Fallis said that it is hard to say if the program will reduce the amount of remedial classes during the year, but in the long run, it could.
Erin Spandorf contributed to this report.
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