California Community Colleges
Early Assessment Program Implementation Projects
2010-2011
Antelope Valley College
The EAP pilot program at Antelope Valley College is designed to respond to critical
educational needs in student preparation. Antelope Valley College works with the Antelope
Valley Union High School District to address the high number of students who are unprepared
for college-level course work and supports success through providing preparation workshops,
articulation agreements, and professional development opportunities. Three low performance
high schools have been selected for this grant program. Antelope Valley High School, Littlerock
High School, and Eastside High School. Students who take the EAP at these schools and place
below college ready are offered an incentive to participate in Pre-Math Assessment Workshops
(PAWS) and enroll in an Antelope Valley College Human Development Course, HD 198O
Orientation to College.
PAWS Pre-Math Assessment Workshops
Pre-Math Assessment workshops (PAWS) are designed as math refreshers to prepare
students to do well on the Math Assessment Test and paves the way for a great start at
Antelope Valley College (AVC). Workshops feature: Face-to-face sessions; Review of
Arithmetic, Pre-Algebra, Algebra, and Geometry; and Individualized computerized
tutorials. Workshops are held at the high schools and are also offered three times per
day at Antelope Valley College.
HD 198O ORIENTATION TO COLLEGE 0.5 units, 9 total hours
An introduction to various policies and procedures related to registration, enrollment,
major selection, career planning, assessment results interpretation and utilization,
probation, academic renewal and dismissal. Students will also learn the importance of
prerequisites, corequisites, and advisories and how these relate to their assessment
results and eligibility to enroll in courses. NOTE: No grade will be given for this class;
student will receive “pass” or “no pass” only. (CSU, AVC)
This course will be offered on two consecutive Saturdays at Antelope Valley College.
Bus transportation will be provided from each of the three high schools for partisans.
Lunch will also be provided.
High School teachers participating in the program as mentors are paid a consultant
stipend from the grant. These teachers will work with college faculty and assist in the
development of the Reading and English Workshops to be designed from what the High
School data show. They will also be trained to conduct PAWS workshops by AVC Math
Faculty.
East Los Angeles College (ELAC)
The ELAC EAP pilot project assists in establishing the EAP at East Los Angeles College’s
South Gate Center campus in conjunction with the South Gate area high schools. The
project targets five high schools within Los Angeles Unified School District, District 6.
At least 30 students from each high school will enroll in either concurrent enrollment
courses, workshops, and/or Summer Bridge program. The project will maintain data for
at least 150 students. The ELAC South Gate Educational Center will host the program
activities.
Through the ELAC EAP pilot project, information about EAP will be disseminated to
high school faculty, students, and parents. ELAC with CSULA will host a welcome
luncheon with the five high schools’ administrators, which includes principals, testing
coordinators, and college counselors. The high school faculty will be introduced to the
new EAP program at ELAC. The high schools will also identify a liaison for the
community college EAP recruiter. In the spring, before CST/EAP testing, the colleges
will meet with the testing coordinators to ensure that students are aware of the
opportunity to release their scores to the CCC and CSU and that by doing this they will
be able to receive more specific guidance in their college endeavors.
Students will have the opportunity to learn and discuss college readiness. Both colleges
will present to 9th-10th grade students about college readiness and the EAP. There will
also be separate meeting with 11th grade and 12th grade students, which will introduce
them to the on-campus EAP recruiter, as well as discuss EAP results and the purposed
activities for them to become college-ready.
Presentations about EAP and college readiness will also be provided to parents through
parent information nights on the high schools’ campuses to parents of 9th and 10th
grade students. The presentation will discuss A-G requirements, EAP test, and general
college information pertaining to both the community colleges and the universities.
ELAC will collaborate with CSULA to host a parent night on either college campus for
the parents of 11th grade students. The colleges will also host two senior parent nights,
one in the fall and the other in spring. The presentation will be on either college campus
and will discuss EAP results, concurrent enrollment, Summer Bridge, and general
college information. Transportation will be provided to parents from the high school to
the campus and all materials and presentations will be presented in a bilingual format
(English and Spanish).
The ELAC EAP pilot project’s goal is to identify students in need of academic support
and those interested in attending college. ELAC will provide concurrent enrollment for
students who received a conditionally ready score and those students who placed in the
lower level math and English course at ELAC. The EAP recruiter will insure that
students are placed in appropriate classes, Summer Bridge, and/ or in the EAP
workshops if they are in 11th grade. EAP workshops in both English and math will
provide students an opportunity to review basic English and math skills, as well as
review EAP curriculum, such as the ERWC. Students will be able to enroll at ELAC
through the EAP recruiter and take the assessment test on their campus.
Rio Hondo College (RHC)
The RHC EAP pilot project establishes an initiative aptly named the Rio Hondo College
Assessment Skills Building program (ASB). Building on the momentum of the established
partnership with the El Monte district, the ASB program will take a three tiered
approach to the challenge of under-achievement on the EAP. The ASB program will
address the issues of preparedness, awareness of the connection between assessment
and postsecondary educational success and the necessity to involve family in the entire
process.
Preparedness
The ASB program goal is to enhance the after school tutoring programs by offering a
specific component for students interested in taking the EAP. The tutoring will focus on
essay construction and time management for the English portion of the test and skills
building in mathematics for that portion of the test. In addition, the preparation will
draw from a specially designed EAP resource clearinghouse through the Rio Hondo
College web site. This clearinghouse will feature online tutorials, focused explanations,
sample test and other useful links for the students and the tutors.
In addition, the Rio Hondo College ASB program will offer a series of workshops
conducted by RHC faculty that will simulate test taking environments and offer
feedback on the approach students take to assessment. The workshops will include
skills building and test taking techniques.
Awareness
Information from the EMUHSD shows that only 66% (1703) of eleventh graders (total:
2579) took the EAP portion of the CST exam. The Rio Hondo College ASB program will
spearhead a campaign to educate students about the importance of taking the EAP. This
campaign will expand the RHC outreach efforts to include additional information on
EAP through targeted marketing which may include but not be limited to the following:
informative brochures, the design of the EAP webpage clearinghouse from the RHC
website, creation of Public Services Announcements on local radio stations and a
targeted mailing effort directly to students. In addition, the Rio Hondo College Outreach
Team will initiate the “EAP Challenge,” a competition between the five high schools to
increase the number of students taking the EAP portion and offering an incentive to the
school that gets closet to 100% participation. Also, an incentive will be offered to the
high school that increases the number of students who are college ready in English and
mathematics.
Family Involvement
There is a wealth of scholarship that demonstrates the connection between family
involvement and the attainment of postsecondary education. Rio Hondo College and
the EMUHSD recognize the importance of family involvement for students and have
instituted efforts to draw upon their social capital (i.e. College Knowledge Family
Planning Nights and 11th Grade Parent Night). Additional funds would allow the
partners to increase the amount of information available to families about the
importance of the EAP, publish that information in languages other than English
(Spanish, Cantonese and Vietnamese) and offer presentations/workshops for parents in
their native languages. The ASB program will provide direct marketing to parents
stressing the importance of this testing and the partner’s desire to get them involved in
this part of the college preparation process.
Shasta College
The two key components of the Shasta EAP project are as follows: The first is to build
on existing resources to maximize the effectiveness of the EAP in the four counties that
make up the northern most region of California (Shasta, Tehama, Trinity and Siskiyous).
The second is to create new initiatives to strengthen the impact that EAP can have on
students and schools in the north state and throughout California.
Several programs in Shasta County provide student level activities to promote college
awareness for students that meet eligibility requirements (low income, first
generation). These programs include Shasta College’s Upward Bound, Talent Search and
GEAR UP and UC Davis’s Talent Search Programs. In addition, the UC Davis program
receives supplemental funds from the McConnell Foundation (family foundation) to
provide limited services for students that do not meet eligibility requirements. Despite
these existing efforts, there is still significant need in the north state to make sure that
students graduate high school prepared to enter and succeed in college. In 2009, EAP
data revealed that only 6-16% of north state students were college-ready in math and
only 22% scored college-ready for English.
The first two activities of Shasta College’s EAP pilot project will meet this need by
increasing awareness of how EAP can be used as a tool to enhance college going efforts
in the region.
In spring 2010, the Shasta College Academic Senate approved the acceptance of EAP
scores as an alternative approach to community college placement. Students deemed
ready on 11th grade English EAP assessments will be placed into transfer level English.
Those demonstrating readiness for math will place into transfer level Statistics or
Algebra depending on their chosen major.
Activity 1: Create marketing materials that highlight the potential of the EAP program;
specifically, the importance of taking the EAP test in 11th grade and the benefits of using
the EAP results for placement and intervention.
Activity 2: Disseminate marketing materials and EAP interventions to existing
programs that are already charged with the task of ensuring that students graduate
high school prepared to succeed in postsecondary education.
Activity 3: Work with Shasta College Matriculation Committee to develop an evaluation
methodology and plan to inform student placement and determine if the EAP scores are
a valid alternative to traditional Shasta College placement policies for math and English.
Activity 4: Create an intersegmental alignment committee whom will look at the EAP
scores (and additional data) from the perspective of articulation and alignment. The
goal of the committee will be to identify academic strengths and barriers to success;
specifically as students transition from one segment to the next.
Activity 5: The Shasta College Matriculation Committee and the intersegmental
alignment committee will work together to develop two academic intervention
strategies for students whose tests indicate conditional readiness and/or a lack of
readiness for college courses. One intervention will be in English, the other math; each
will be offered to students throughout the region in the summer of 2011.
Activity 6: Host convening of stakeholders to share progress on marketing, alignment
and academic interventions. Group will also strategize on efforts to disseminate
progress to other regions throughout California.
Sierra College
The Sierra College EAP project‘s goal is to develop and pilot a local academic
intervention to assist students who receive Conditional Ready scores in Math on the
EAP. Conditional Ready scores require that students complete a “math experience”
during their senior year of high school in order to enroll in a college-level math course
at Sierra College or CSUS without retesting in either Accuplacer or the ELM.
Emphasis is being placed on this population for several reasons:
 It represents a high number of students (39% among the college’s MOU high
schools);
 There is insufficient research data on the types of math experiences students are
electing to complete and their related success and retention rates;
 The CSU Chancellor’s Office has issued an “Early Start” edict mandating that by
fall 2012, new students who require remediation must begin before the start of
their fall term or lose their acceptance to CSU;
 Despite large numbers of students opting to complete the EAP, high school
students have not demonstrated the necessary motivation to self-select an
appropriate math course during their senior year
 Most high schools in our district do not have curriculum developed to offer
remedial instruction for high school seniors
 Sierra College math faculty have agreed to admit students who pass the math EAP
into college level math classes but are requesting that further research be
conducted before agreement is reached on those students with Conditional Ready
scores.
Activities:
Coordination: Plan and coordinate sessions between Sierra College, CSUS, K-12 and
Placer and Sacramento Counties to: develop the appropriate curriculum and secure
authorization from the CSU Chancellor’s Office as an approved course to meet the “math
experience” requirement; purchase instructional materials and supplies; conduct preand post-test measurements and collect results; establish the appropriate course
schedules at each of the four high school locations; select and train the high school
teaching faculty; coordinate with research staff on follow-up activities; participate in
and provide feedback to the regional EAP Advisory Council.
Outreach: Identify, recruit and register eligible students for the classes; assist students
with the application processes for Sierra College and CSU, including financial aid and
other related applications; coordinate with Sierra College and CSU to ensure successful
matriculation; ensure students who pass the course receive the appropriate testing
exemptions and course placements; participate in and provide feedback to the regional
EAP Advisory Council
Teachers: Participate in the training for the new math curriculum; provide the
appropriate level of instruction for the established duration of the course; ensure all
student participants complete the pre- and post tests; refer students to other resources
as appropriate and necessary to ensure their success; provide feedback to the K-12
project coordinator
Research: Conduct research to determine the overall success/failure rates of
participating students by course section/high school; conduct research to follow-up on
their matriculation status at Sierra College or CSUS, including course enrollments,
retention and success measures; evaluate the articulation of and relationship between
Accuplacer’s math tests and the ELM; participate in and provide feedback to the
regional EAP Advisory Council