Foundational Skills Initiative

Ensuring that students enter the CSU adequately prepared for college-level work is a top priority of the CSU. The Early Assessment Program has been established to provide high school juniors with a snapshot of their academic readiness in reading, writing, and mathematics. To support advance preparation for college, a variety of online learning tools have been developed which encourage students to take advantage of their senior year of high school to prepare for the CSU.

Additionally, information literacy and study skills are the other two areas that need attention. Students need these types of support services to assist them in achieving their academic goals. Several systemwide academic technology projects have been implemented to help students develop critical foundation skills prior to arriving on a CSU campus.

Math & English Success
The Math and English Success websites provide an exemplary model for effectively reaching out to high school students and encouraging them to prepare for college.

ALEKS Intelligent Online Math Tutorials
Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces is an online intelligent tutor that helps students improve their foundational math skills so they are prepared for the CSU.

Expository Reading and Writing Online Community
This password protected website provides professional development support for high school English teachers who have attended a CSU Expository Reading and Writing workshop. An online forum encourages teachers across the State to share best practices related to the effective use of the course.

Information Communication and Technology Literacy (ICT Literacy)
ICT Literacy developed an assessment containing interactive and realistic simulations of information resources and applications such as the Web, article databases, and spreadsheets and word processing to track and evaluate how students actually go about solving problems with information technology. The assessment provides support for institutional ICT literacy initiatives, guides curricula innovations, informs articulation and progress standings, and assesses individual student proficiency.