English, math scores down for Kern students
Bakersfield Californian 3/14/07
Results show 54 percent of first-time freshmen were ready to do college-level math; 49 percent of the county's students are proficient in English. The scores are from the math and English placement tests students take.
In 2005, 69 percent of Kern's students were proficient in math and 59 percent were proficient in English.
It's not clear what prompted the decline.
Kern's 2006 placement exam results lag behind statewide numbers, according to the CSU; 63 percent of freshmen were proficient in math and 55 percent were proficient in English.
Students who do not pass the placement exams take remedial classes in college, said Edwin H. Sasaki, special assistant to the provost for academic planning at Cal State Bakersfield.
They must earn a C grade or higher in remedial courses to advance; the classes don't count toward baccalaureate degrees.
It's not uncommon for students to take these classes more than once. But Cal State Bakersfield faculty are skilled at working with remedial students and helping them achieve college proficiency, Sasaki said.
He thinks Kern's results are linked to Cal State Bakersfield's outreach efforts.
Specifically, more high school students are taking college placement exams while still in high school.
"Historically, the students taking those exams were those students in college prep courses," Sasaki said. "They had always known that they were going to go to college. Now, with our outreach efforts, we are getting students who traditionally would not have considered college ... A large number of these students are probably not as well-prepared in mathematics and English, especially in this community because many of them are English-language learners."
But the president of the Kern High Faculty Association said the test result percentages may not be accurate.
"Kids now can take college placement exams in high school," said Mitch Olson. "The numbers that are being reported do not account for those students who pass those exams in high school. The numbers look worse than what they really are."
Sasaki said the county's high schools are using special modules to teach writing to help all students learn to read critically -- nonfiction material -- and then write about what they have read. The English placement exam used by the CSU tests students' critical reading skills.
Unlike English, there's no standard math curriculum that's taught in the high schools, Sasaki said.
"Each high school, with their faculty, develops the math curriculum that they believe is appropriate, and so there's great diversity in the topics that get covered ... and those curricula are not necessarily linked" to the math placement exam, he said.
At West High School, some ninth-graders are taking a composition class in addition to their regular English class.
"We've seen an improvement in students' writing on our own assessments as well as student performance on the (high school exit exam) census," said Principal Dean McGee.
On the math side, West teachers are using a similar intervention strategy to identify those students who need extra help.