Valley students not ready for college?
Modesto Bee 1/2/07
Isabel Moya, 20, of Ceres lost a year at Modesto Junior College taking remedial classes. Instead of two years, Moya won't transfer from MJC for at least three years.
"Not a lot of the (high school) English classes prepared me. I think that was very surprising," said Moya, a 2004 Ceres High School graduate who plans on pursuing a career in medicine.
The financial impact is startling — community colleges nationwide spend $1.4 billion a year on remedial classes, and the economy loses $2.3 billion in wages because remedial students are less likely to finish college, according to an August study by the Alliance for Excellent Education, a high school-focused think tank.
More than 40 percent of community college freshmen and 20 percent of freshmen at four-year universities enroll in at least one remedial course, according to the alliance.
MJC spends approximately $447,000 a semester on basic courses, including English as a Second Language classes.
California State University, Stanislaus, spent more than $400,000 on remedial classes in 2005-06. About 600 students out of almost 8,000 took remedial Eng-lish last year; almost 700 enrolled in remedial math.
A University of California at Merced official said the campus doesn't offer remediation because admissions are so competitive.
Students must pay to take the classes, but they don't get credit toward their degrees for remedial courses. Many students end up dropping out, missing out on thousands of dollars in wages over their lifetime.
Colleges and students lose in other ways — colleges spend money on remedial classes instead of college-level courses.
While college officials don't blame high school educators, they say it's obvious that both groups need to spend more time collaborating and working with parents and students.
Why is remediation needed?
"Weak curricula, vague standards and lack of alignment between high school content and the expectations of colleges and employers" add to the need for remediation, the alliance said.
Downey High School's Jim Autry has taught English for 37 years and said he's noticed a decline in English mastery over the decades.
"I think students coming out of high school are very prepared in terms of technology and even history and science," he said. "The biggest challenge I've seen over the last 30 years is we don't have readers anymore."
Even textbooks have become less text-rich and are filled with color and graphics, Autry said.
Many high school graduates are not exposed to subjects required for success in college because they aren't required in public schools, said Patrick Wall, director of basic skills at MJC.
High schoolers must take four years of English to graduate, but most only need two years of math, which means many stop at geometry before they get to intermediate algebra, the requirement for entry-level college math classes.
In the Northern San Joaquin Valley, only 27 percent of high school graduates are completing classes required for admission into California's public universities. The number is 35 percent for the state, according to the Campaign for College Opportunity.
That is why many California educators are pushing for more communication between colleges, elementary and high school districts. State Schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell is trying to set up a council for preschool through community college administrators.
The disconnect between high schools and colleges is "why some people do so bad," Moya said.
Several of Moya's friends who took Advanced Placement English in high school had to enroll in remedial classes at college, she said.
High school English focuses on literature while college English requires a lot of writing, Wall said.
Many entering college also lack organizational skills.
"In many cases, our students go into a bit of shock. Classes have assignments and homework every day that require study habits they don't have," Wall said.
College officials point out that proficiency standards can be tougher than admission requirements.
"Just because you're admitted doesn't mean you're placed in freshman math and composition," said Roger Pugh, head of enrollment management at Stanislaus State.
Autry agreed, saying many students admitted to CSUs don't belong there, but CSUs are aggressively pursuing them.
Campuses sometimes lower admission requirements to meet enrollment projections, Wall said. Universities that are harder and more desirable to get into — such as private schools and some UCs — don't have to lower their standards.
"We're not Cal Poly. We're not Long Beach. We're not San Diego, but we are a four-year university," Pugh said, referring to other CSU campuses.
It's hard to turn the tide for teens who grow up in poor families with few college graduate mentors — a common scene in the Central Valley. Teachers and administrators often cite those situations as major hurdles for educational attainment.
Students do not see college as a realistic goal.
Barrier or safety net?
While many educators refer to the lack of college preparation as a crisis, Jane Bruner offers a different take. She said the classes are a good transition into college life for many freshmen.
"Remediation classes can be good. They're a bridge to college-level work. Students get tutoring and other support services," said Bruner, acting dean of the College of Natural Sciences at Stanislaus State. "They may be here longer but it still gives them a better leg up. They do pretty well. It's better than taking classes over and over again trying to pass them."
College-level proficiency is defined in different ways.
MJC and California State University, Stanislaus, officials say an understanding of intermediate algebra, or algebra II, is considered college proficiency.
English remedial courses focuses on sentence structure, vocabulary usage, reading comprehension and essay organization.
Moya said her high school English classes taught writing formulas, but didn't concentrate on the content.
Remedial classes are important to retrain laid-off workers, re-educate older students and teach English to immigrants.
The classes often are smaller, with more instructor-student contact. Remedial English classes at Stanislaus State include weekly hours in the writing center.
Colleges offer a variety of support services, including counseling and tutorials that all students can use.
A student meets math and English proficiency by scoring at a certain level on the SAT, ACT or Early Assessment Program, a voluntary test students can take in their junior year of high school as part of standardized testing each spring.
Exemptions are given to students who successfully complete higher level classes or score high enough on tests. For CSU-bound students, a 550 on the SAT I verbal portion is needed to demonstrate English proficiency and a 550 on the SAT I math is required to prove math proficiency.
If students don't score high enough on any of the three tests, they're required to take the entry level math exam or English placement test. Scores on those tests determine which math and English classes students are placed into, according to Stanislaus State officials.
CSU students have one year to catch up to college-level proficiency, according to CSU policy.
Increasing their odds
College officials do not blame high schools for ill-prepared students, but the alliance says improving high schools is necessary.
"We try to do a good job of preparing students academically and encouraging them to pursue college," said Scott Kuykendall, director of secondary education at Modesto City Schools.
Modesto high schools each have a college counselor. The district also promotes the AVID program — Advancement Via Individual Determination — which prepares students who would be the first in their family to go to college.
Students also can prepare for college by challenging themselves academically in high school.
"Students and parents need to push themselves to take the most rigorous course work that they can reasonably succeed in," Kuykendall said. "Exposure to material on the rigorous level is the biggest factor when it comes to being prepared for college."
Moya suggests high schoolers talk to college students and college counselors to see how prepared they are for college work.
The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium is trying to get all high schools and colleges in the valley to sign pledges to promote a college-going culture among students. The pledge urges high schools to encourage students to take the Early Assessment Program test, which measures the students' college readiness.
Officials said the proficiency challenge is a breakdown in the education community as well as within families.
While parents and family members can do more to encourage and inspire youth to go to college, educators at the elementary, high school and college levels need to do a better job of talking to each other.
"It's not (public schools). It's parents, it's society, it's the
whole thing," Stanislaus State's Pugh said. "Everyone needs
to push toward the same goal together."