In October 2009 Chancellor Charles B. Reed convened California State University executives to launch a Graduation Initiative involving the 23 CSU campuses with the aim of improving graduation rates and closing the achievement gap among students.

In January 2010, the Initiative was presented to the CSU Board of Trustees. The initiative is expected to raise six-year graduation rates by eight percentage points by 2016 (from the current 46 percent to 54 percent), and cut in half the gap in degree attainment by CSU's underrepresented students. The Initiative’s team members have visited 21 campuses to review plans, and will visit the remaining two campuses in April.
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In May 2010 the California State University Board of Trustees adopted an Early Start policy designed to help students become better prepared in mathematics and English when they enter the CSU as incoming freshmen so that they do not have to take remedial courses.

Tied to the Early Start program is the Early Assessment Program (EAP) in which 11th grade students take a test to determine if they are “CSU ready” in math and English.

If not, they have the senior year to get up to speed or the summer before their freshman year to reach college-level.
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Transfer students are a significant segment of the undergraduate population of the California State University.

The Student Transfer Agreement Reform Act (SB 1440) signed into law on September 29, 2010, enables the California Community Colleges and California State University to collaborate on the creation of Associate of Arts Degree (AA) program for transfer to a CSU campus.

A community college student who has earned the AA transfer degree will be granted priority admission to the CSU into a similar baccalaureate (BA) degree program with a guarantee of junior standing as long as the student meets all prescribed admission requirements.
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Welcome to the inaugural issue of News and Reflections, the quarterly online newsletter for the CSU Division of Academic Affairs. We will be featuring systemwide issues as well as spotlighting at least one campus academic program per issue. Student success is at the heart of our 23 campuses and the Chancellor’s Office. Faculty and staff work closely with students on advising, mentoring and conducting research to make sure they continually progress to graduation. The CSU is working hard to keep its promise to California to provide the state with an educated and accomplished workforce even in the face of unprecedented budget cuts. I want to thank all our campus colleagues for all you do to put students first. For the latest budget news, please go to CSU Budget Central

WHAT'S UP AT THE CSU CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE

The CSU Summit on Transformative Change in the Preparation of Teachers represented a milestone in teacher education nationally. It was hosted by the California State University in collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences. The summit focused on exemplary strategies for teacher preparation that clearly warrant dissemination and scaling up in California and nationally. Watch the video highlights and peruse the summary. Read More

SPOTLIGHTING: CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO

Cal State San Bernardino's 2011 Arabic Language Summer Intensive Program for college and high school students has received a nearly $100,000 grant as part of the STARTTALK program.

The university's Arabic Language Summer Intensive Program focuses on teaching college students and some high school students in the San Bernardino-Riverside areas to speak Arabic and explore Arabic cultures. Students receive individualized instruction by interacting with faculty, classmates and peer tutors (who are native-speaking college students). Read More