Preliminary Outcomes for California State University Students in Early Start Mathematics: An Examination of Early Start in Seven Campuses under Executive Order 1110

Offering "Early Start" programs in the summer before students start their first year of college is one of the strategies that the California State University (CSU) system has used to support incoming students who may not be ready for college-level work in mathematics or written communication. In 2017, the CSU system began implementing a major new policy, known as Executive Order 1110 (EO 1110), which called for changes to Early Start as part of a wider set of changes aimed at improving how the system serves students who may need extra support for success in college. As a result of EO 1110, Early Start offerings on several campuses, though not all, have been changed significantly from prior years to provide additional supports for students. This report, part of a series of studies on the implementation of EO 1110, looks at the impact of the updated Early Start offerings in preparing students for college-level mathematics. The report describes some initial positive outcomes that were found for students who enrolled in summer 2019 Early Start mathematics courses that were offered in response to the policy. [For the previous report in this series, "Student Progress before and after California State University's Executive Order 1110," see ED613407.]