The number of high-school juniors in California who voluntarily participated in a statewide testing program that measures their readiness for college continued to increase this year. But the proportion of participants who demonstrated that they were academically prepared remained about the same as a year ago.

In the spring of 2006, 72 percent, or 134,000, of all high-school juniors who were eligible took the mathematics portion of the optional test, known as the Early Assessment Program. That was about 12.6 percent, or 15,000, more students than in 2005.

This year, 55 percent of the students who took the math test demonstrated that they were prepared for college-level work, down slightly from 56 percent in 2005 (The Chronicle, September 23, 2005).

On the English portion of the test, this year’s results are still incomplete. A total of 218,000 high-school juniors took the test, 17.4 percent, or 32,305, more students than in 2005.

However, only 158,000 of those tests have been scored so far because of confusion over test instructions and which students’ tests needed to be graded. Of those students whose English tests have been graded, 25 percent qualified as ready for college, slightly higher than the 24 percent who qualified last year. Test graders are now going through the additional 60,000 tests that need to be scored.

This was the third year of the Early Assessment Program, which California State University officials developed with public-school and state officials to try to give more students an indication of whether they were ready for college when there was still time for them to become better prepared during high school. In the testing program, students can choose to answer supplementary questions attached to the state’s standardized tests. The Cal State system has set a goal of reducing the proportion of first-time freshmen who need remedial help to 10 percent or less by next fall.

The full results of the 2006 Early Assessment Program can be found on Cal State’s Web site.