e-mail this page
Printer Friendly Version

Study shows drop in probability of freshmen
requiring remedial course work

A study by a Sacramento State economics professor suggests that some freshmen coming to the University today are more ready for the classroom than freshmen who entered the school five years ago.

Jessica Howell conducted the study of California's Early Assessment Program (EAP) with Michal Kurlaender, an assistant professor of education at UC Davis, and Eric Grodsky, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota.

The team found that since the EAP began in 2004, there has been a 6 percentage point drop in the probability of students needing remedial English classes and a 4 percentage point drop in the probability of needing remedial math classes among those who participate in the EAP.

The EAP is a five-year-old statewide program to assess college readiness among high school juniors. The State Board of Education, along with the California Department of Education and California State University began the program to provide a snapshot to high school juniors of their readiness for college English and mathematics.

“The EAP targets high school students in their junior year so that they have an opportunity to fix any deficiencies that are identified while they are still in high school,” says Howell. “Yes, for some the junior year is still too late, but the EAP does raise their awareness that a 'B' in high school does not necessarily mean success in college. There’s a big disconnect about that sometimes.”

About 60 percent of freshmen admitted to Sacramento State each year need remedial classes in English, math, or both despite having taken CSU-required courses and earning at least a 'B' grade point average in high school.

Howell says that type of decline across the 23-campus CSU system would mean that about 2,000 fewer students would be required to take remedial math and 3,000 fewer would have to take remedial English courses.

The conclusions of the study were presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Diego, April 17.