BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2497
AUTHOR: Solorio
AMENDED: May 25, 2012
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 27, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : CSU Early Start Program.
SUMMARY
This bill, beginning January 1, 2014, and every two years
thereafter, requires the Legislative Analyst's Office, in
consultation with the California State University, to
submit a report detailing the impact of the CSU Early Start
Program on student mathematics and English proficiency
BACKGROUND
Current law establishes California State University, under
the administration of the CSU Board of Trustees and
expresses legislative intent with respect to the
determination of standards and criteria for admission to
CSU.
(Education Code § 66600, 66205)
ANALYSIS
This bill beginning January 1, 2014, and every two years
thereafter:
1) Requires the Legislative Analyst's Office, in
consultation with the CSU to submit a report to the
Legislature detailing the impact of the CSU Early Star
Program on student mathematics and English
proficiency.
2) Requires the report to include, but not be limited to:
a) Information on the program's
impact on remediation rates.
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b) Information on the program's
impact on the length of time students spend in
remediation.
c) Demographic information on
participants, including race, ethnicity,
household income levels, geographic origins and
other pertinent data.
d) The number of enrollees statewide
and by campus and the number who earned credit
from the program.
e) The number of enrollees that
became proficient, did not remediate
successfully, and that were disenrolled,
statewide and by campus, one year after
participating in the program.
3) Sunsets these provisions on January 1, 2018.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, there is
concern from CSU remedial instructors that the CSU
Early Start Program, established under Executive Order
1048 in 2010, creates another hurdle for the most
economically disadvantaged students. The author
indicates that there is not enough evidence available
demonstrating that a mandatory summer program will
solve the issue of high remediation rates. This bill
would provide greater oversight by the Legislature of
the progress of the new requirement on CSU students
who need remediation.
2) Remediation . According to the CSU, more than 60
percent of the nearly 40,000 first-time freshmen
admitted to the CSU require remedial education in
English, mathematics or both. These 25,000 freshmen
all have taken the required college preparatory
curriculum and earned at least a B grade point average
in high school. The cost in time and money to these
students and to the state is substantial. Moreover,
these students are confused by seemingly having done
the right things in high school only to find out after
admission to the CSU that they need further
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preparation.
3) CSU Early Start . Executive Order 1048, issued in
2010, created the Early Start Program, a program for
CSU admitted freshmen who have not demonstrated
college ready proficiency in Mathematics and/or
English. Based upon the Executive Order, beginning in
Fall 2012, entering freshmen who are not proficient in
math or "at risk" in English will need to start the
remediation process before their first term.
CSU campuses are required to implement the Early Start
Program no later than summer 2012, with full
implementation taking place no later than summer 2014.
By fall of 2014, students will need to have started
their work on becoming ready for college-level
English.
Students will be given a menu of options to determine
the best approach for them to start their remedial
instruction, including such things as senior year high
school courses, courses offered in the summer at any
one of their local California Community College (CCC)
or CSU campuses and online courses. Financial aid
will be offered to eligible students (those with a
family contribution of less than $5,000 per year) in
order to cover the cost of their enrollment in the
program.
4) Why Early Start ? Current CSU policy, as reflected in
Executive Order 665, was adopted in the late 1990's
and requires all entering freshmen to complete their
remedial work in the first year of CSU enrollment.
Early Start is intended to facilitate students'
beginning this work prior to the first term for which
they have been admitted to a CSU campus, so they are
better prepared to succeed in their college courses.
According to information provided by CSU, prior to the
Early Start program, prior to Early Start 1) students
who tested in the lowest quartile of the CSU placement
exams were required to do all of their remediation at
the same time that they were taking college-level
courses, and 2) many students were not completing
remediation by the end of the spring term but were
enrolling or re-enrolling in remedial courses in the
summer at great expense to themselves and to CSU.
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5) Reporting on the impact on low-income students . This
bill requires that the LAO report include demographic
information on the "household income levels" of Early
Start participants in an effort to understand the
impact of the program on lower socioeconomic students.
This information is currently not collected and
reported for all CSU students. However, the CSU does
collect and maintain information on students'
eligibility for financial aid.
Staff recommends the bill be amended on Page 3, line 1
to delete "household income levels" and insert
"eligibility for financial aid."
SUPPORT
None received on this version.
OPPOSITION
None received on this version.