Early Assessment Program
Testing and Results
Recognizing the need to coordinate and streamline school testing, the CSU worked with
the public schools, the State Board of Education (SBE) and the California Department
of Education (CDE) to connect its college entry readiness standards in English and
mathematics to existing high school tests. Beginning in 2001, under the guidance of
SB 233, CSU faculty have succeeded in identifying the test items required to assess
CSU readiness from existing school tests—namely, the 11th grade California Standards
Tests (CSTs) in English and mathematics.
A pilot administration in Spring 2003 indicated that the California Standards Tests
in Grade 11 English Language Arts, Algebra II and Summative High School Mathematics—augmented
with 15 multiple—choice items each and an essay—are useful for providing end-of-year
juniors with early signals on their readiness for college in English and mathematics.