Education Policy, Business and Technology

High Expectations Demand High Support

Education Next: The state of California, a long-time leader in college access, has turned its attention to improving college persistence and degree completion. In particular, recent changes to remediation policies in the California State University (CSU) system, the largest four-year system in both California and the U.S., mark an important shift in how the state approaches the problem of low academic preparation among many incoming students. For decades, CSU required that students who did not meet college-readiness thresholds based on K–12 exams and coursework be assessed with homegrown exams in English and mathematics. Students who failed these tests were placed in remedial, non–credit-bearing courses. This practice ended in August 2017, when CSU Chancellor Timothy White signed Executive Order 1110, effective for the entering Fall 2018 freshmen cohort.

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