Cracking down on unprepared students, the California State University system kicked out about 2,000 students--more than 6% of last year's freshman class--for failing to master basic English and math skills within their first year of classes.
Of those, 185 were at Cal State Fullerton, 7.7% of last year's freshmen on that campus.
In an annual report on remedial education released Tuesday, university officials also said they have stepped up efforts to help high school juniors and seniors improve their skills before college.
As a result, officials said, the 22-campus state university system seems to be making some progress in its effort to ease out of the remedial education business.
The overall percentage of university students who show up needing at least one remedial math class dropped to 45%, a second year of improvement, the report concluded. Yet the fraction of entering students deficient in English composition skills remained steady at 46%.
"It looks like our interventions are beginning to work," said Charles B. Reed, chancellor of the university system. "But we cannot let up. This is going to be a long, sustained uphill battle."
Figures showed that the proportion of Cal State Fullerton freshmen entering in 2000 who needed to enroll in remedial math was 41%, while the showing for remedial English was 49%.
The math percentages at CSUF have been falling steadily, from 54% for the freshmen entering in 1998. The number of freshmen forced to take remedial English, meanwhile, is little changed from 51% in 1998.
The new figures were released to the board of trustees, which has directed the university to reduce remedial education to no more than 10% of freshmen by 2007.
Cal State officials are encouraged by the two-year trend in math proficiency, suggesting that its multi-pronged effort is beginning to pay off.
One of those prongs was to get tough on Cal State students who arrive on campus without the skills needed to do university-level work.
Although campus enforcement varies widely, the university notified 2,009 students systemwide last summer that they cannot re-enroll as sophomores. They were instructed to go to a community college to prepare them to pass Cal State's placement tests in math and English.
That was a higher percentage than the 5%--or 1,440 freshmen--who were expelled the year before.
All this pressure is aimed at persuading students to learn these skills before entering college.
