Our nation's colleges and universities are experiencing an influx of freshman college students who need mathematics remediation. The California State University system has attempted to address their increased remediation rates by creating the Early Assessment Program (EAP), in which high school junior students can voluntarily answer an additional fifteen questions on their California standards test (CST) and learn their level of college readiness prior to their senior year.

The goal of this study was to create an EAP preparation program that would inform and prepare high school juniors for the EAP. In working toward this goal, this study determined ways to increase student mastery of the mathematics skills necessary for earning an exemption on the EAP and students' knowledge of the EAP's benefits, as an EAP exemption guarantees placement in degree-level mathematics courses upon enrollment at any of the twenty-three CSU campuses. The means for accomplishing this study's goal was through action research in which four algebra II teachers met seven times during a five month period. During the course of the action research team meetings, the team discovered strategies and practices and made curricular and pacing guide changes in an attempt to prepare students for the EAP. As the action research team met with a CSU mathematics professor and teacher education advisor, they learned about complex level II problems assessed on the EAP and instructional strategies that engage students in critical thinking and analytical skills, skills necessary for college-level mathematics.

While the creation of an EAP preparation program did not occur, the action research process yielded five key findings. What became clear as the action research team met was the tremendous disconnect between three distinct levels of education—high schools involving mathematics teachers and administrators, the CSU system involving mathematics professors and teacher education departments, and the California Department of Education's (CDE) State Board of Education (SBE) involving policymakers who create and approve state standards, state assessments, and state textbook adoptions. A key finding indicated that secondary math teachers play an instrumental role in preparing students for college-level math by not only focusing on specific content deemed important by the universities, but by also increasing the complexity and rigor of the math content being taught.