TESTING: The California Department of Education, in cooperation with the California State University (CSU) and California Community Colleges, redirects its statewide testing policies to directly impact CSU’s Early Assessment Program (EAP).
By Martina Krakora, Staff Writer
The EAP is an “English language arts/literacy and mathematics [assessment which] signals students’ readiness for college-level coursework,” as described by the letter from the California Department of Education sent to superintendents, administrators, principals, counselors and teachers. The EAP was developed by the California State University system in order to give students a chance to bypass placement testing when signing up for classes at its campuses. Originally, the EAP was a set of ten to 15 questions completed at the end of the CST Math and CST English Language examinations. If a student received a passing score, then he or she would be notified, and it would be indicated on the student’s transcript when he or she applied to college.
Now that California has done away with the CST paper examinations and has implemented the new online Smarter Balance testing, the EAP will also be administered online. With this transfer to online testing, the Department of Education is placing a greater emphasis on the EAP and on helping students pass it. On the EAP website, exam prep and personalized guides are provided to help students prepare for the exam and college-level coursework in English and mathematics. After taking the EAP in April or May, a student will receive his or her EAP score along with his or her Smarter Balance Report sometime over the summer.
EAP scores are measured by Achievement Levels: Level 4 indicates that a student is ready for college coursework and is exempt from taking CSU English and Mathematics Placement tests; Level 3 indicates that a student is “conditionally ready” and should take one of the approved English and mathematics courses in order to be deemed college ready; Levels 2 and 1 demonstrate that a student is not yet ready for college-level or community college-level coursework. Should the student pass the exam, not only is he or she exempt from college placement tests, but he or she also saves money by not having to pay for prerequisite classes.
In previous years, Poly High School has administered the EAP along with traditional state tests, giving students the opportunity to bypass placement testing. In 2014, 24% of Poly juniors passed the English EAP, and 8% of them passed the Mathematics EAP. This year, Smarter Balance and EAP testing will begin April 21 and will continue until May 4 when the school will take a break from standardized tests to administer AP tests. It will then begin again on May 18. To help students prepare for the EAP, teachers are reviewing the standards addressed and making sure the students can understand and utilize the concepts tested on the exam. Students begin learning these concepts freshmen year and continue to learn and practice them up until the test given junior year. “Freshmen teachers inform sophomore teachers about student progress, so the sophomore teachers know what to emphasize in their curriculums the next year,”Assistant Principal Jodi Gonzales said. Teachers collaborate with each other in order to ensure that students have the greatest opportunity for success and are working to improve the EAP pass rate in both English and mathematics so more students may reap the benefits of passing the EAP.