Only 22 percent of high school juniors are prepared for English courses in the California State University system. Just 55 percent made the cut for CSU math courses, according to results of a new test.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, who announced the results of the Early Assessment Program on Wednesday, said the results are a "wake-up call" to students and teachers.

"Too often in the past, students entered their senior year without a realistic sense of their ability to succeed in college," O'Connell said.

Currently, 62 percent of incoming CSU students are taking remedial English or math, despite meeting eligibility requirements to attend the university, said David Spence, CSU executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer.

CSU officials want to get the number down to 10 percent by 2007. Remedial courses cost the CSU system about $30 million a year, Spence said.

CSU freshmen take placement tests for math and English courses upon arriving.

Roberta Achtenberg, a member of the CSU board of trustees and chairwoman of the educational policy committee, said the Early Assessment Program will help students and schools prepare better for CSU. That ultimately will lead to improved graduation rates and shortened time to earn a degree, she said.

More tests available

Eleventh-graders started taking the test during the last school year. This year, they could volunteer to take additional college-level tests on algebra, geometry, reading comprehension and writing.

Spence said the results will help students make their senior years of high school more productive.

CSU-bound students who performed well enough on the test are exempt from taking placement tests.

One glitch — the test results weren't released to students until late September, after test takers had signed up for senior-year courses. This year, the tests will be graded earlier, Spence said.

Spence said school officials expected 100,000 of the 385,000 juniors to take the voluntary test, but more than 153,000 signed up.

A breakdown of results by school, county or demographic group will not be available until next week.

Spence acknowledged that the poor test results might discourage students from attending a CSU school.

But he said it's worse to tell college freshmen that they aren't prepared for regular courses, even after they met CSU admissions requirements, such as a B grade-point average, four years of English, and courses in algebra and geometry.