Cal State Is for College Work

California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed rightly aims to raise the expectations for his students by insisting they be proficient in English and math by the summer after their first year on campus. Otherwise, it’s back to community college to finish remedial work. Reed is right; the state college system should be reserved for college-level work.

The CSU policy sets a realistic deadline, unlike a harsher policy proposed by New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani to phase out remediation altogether at the four-year colleges of the City University of New York system. That stance has raised concerns that the higher threshold would punish thousands of students, particularly minorities, for the failures of the public schools.

CSU is in need of higher academic standards. Even though its freshmen have graduated in the top one-third of their high school classes with at least a B average, about half still needed remedial work last year in English, math or both. This is an indictment of local high schools and the grade inflation of recent years.

Reed is also working to help the high schools. A $10-million outreach program, funded by the Legislature, will allow some 120 CSU faculty members to work with 800 secondary math and English teachers, focusing on instructors at the 200 high schools that send the largest numbers of remedial students to Cal State campuses. High school students will also get tutorial help from Cal State students serving as mentors and role models.

Improving California’s elementary and high schools also requires improving teacher preparation at CSU, which trains 60% of the state’s teachers. The chancellor, keenly aware of that connection, is adding needed rigor to CSU education programs.

Cal State is not the college of last resort, and the system is right to demand more from students.