THE CASE FOR IMPROVING MATH AND READING PRIOR TO COLLEGE ENTRANCE:
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MINDING THE CAMPUS -- REFORMING OUR UNIVERSITIES
|
December 4, 2009
College
Students
Who Can't
Do Math Or
Read Well
By
Every year
seems to
produce a
burst of
attention
to a
particular
crisis in
education.
In 2009,
the most
publicized
crisis is
likely the
staggering
number of
post-secondary
students
with
severe
debilities
in reading
and math.
Estimates
of those
needing
remedial
classes
before
taking
credit
courses
range from
30% of
entering
students
to 40% of
traditional
undergraduates.
According
to a 2008
report by
the CUNY
Council of
Math
Chairs,
90% of 200
City
University
of New
York
students
tested
couldn't
solve a
simple
algebra
problem in
their
first
class at a
four-year
college.
A 2004
U.S.
Department
of
Education
study
reports
that
42% of
freshmen
in public
two-year
institutions
need
remediation.
While
there are
many adult
(non-traditional)
students
in
remedial
classes,
those 21
or younger
make up
approximately
80% of
remedial
class
enrollment,
according
to a
2009
policy
brief
from the
Charles
Houston
Center for
the Study
of the
Black
Experience
in
Education.
More than
half of
all
college
students
will not
earn a
degree or
credential,
according
to a 2009
Gates
Foundation
report
drawing on
national
education
statistics.
For
community
college
and
low-income
students,
it notes,
the
numbers
are much
worse.
Only about
one-quarter
of the
African-American
students
who
enrolled
in a
community
college in
2004
graduated
within
three
years.
Immediate
enrollment
in credit
courses
that
accumulate
rapidly
towards
completion
of a
degree
program is
not
possible
for
under-qualified
young
adults who
need to
spend at
least
part-time
on
remedial
courses.
We have,
however, a
surprising
divergence
of opinion
on how to
confront
this
problem.
The
This would
be done by
altering
institutional
requirements
and
existing
courses.
The Gates
Foundation,
for
example,
wants to
do this
and faults
our
post-secondary
institutions
for not
having
"responded
to their
students'
increasingly
complex
and
diverse
needs."
One goal
of Gates'
Postsecondary
Success
Initiative
is to make
both
curriculum
and
instruction
at the
post-secondary
level
"more
effective
and
engaging"
by
integrating
technology
into
instruction,
redesigning
entire
courses,
and
"contextualizing"
these
courses
"to match
students'
field of
interest."
Details
are
lacking,
but this
seems to
mean that
academic
degree
programs
would be
versions
of
programs
now
offered in
vocational
technical
high
schools,
the kind
of schools
these
students
should
have had
the
opportunity-
What seems
to drive
the effort
to reduce
post-secondary
admission
requirements
and
expectations
in part is
the fear
that
raising
high
school
expectations
would
increase
the
dropout
rate. Yet,
is it
really the
case that
low-performing
high
school
students
would drop
out if
high
school
diploma
requirements
were
ratcheted
up?
That
doesn't
seem to be
the case
in
Moreover,
there are
ways to
motivate
high
school
students
to pay
more
attention
to their
academic
schoolwork.
A 2009
study
of a
program
providing
California
high
school
juniors
with
information
about
their
academic
readiness
for
college-level
work at
California
State
University
campuses
found that
participation
in that
Early
Assessment
Program
reduced
the
average
student's
probability
of needing
remediation
at
California
State
University
by 6.1
percentage
points in
English
and 4.1
percentage
points in
mathematics.
It finds
that
"Rather
than
discouraging
poorly
prepared
students
from
applying
to
On the
other
hand, it
is not
clear that
most
teachers
believe
that most
students
are
capable of
doing
authentic
college-level
work.
A survey
by Civic
Enterprises
in June
2009
found that
less than
one-third
of
teachers
believe
that
"schools
should
expect all
students
to meet
high
academic
standards
and to
graduate
with the
skills to
do
college-level
work, and
provide
extra
support to
struggling
students
to help
them meet
those
standards."
What would
help us to
address
this
troubling
situation
is
more
honesty
[less
high-school
grade
inflation]
in the
feedback
that
students
get in
their high
school
years on
the
quality of
their
academic
work. The
2008 data
on
freshman
remediation
in
New high
school
standards
are in the
works by a
coalition
of states
and
national
organizations,
and they
are
strongly
pushed by
the
federal
Department
of
Education
and
stimulus
bill
funds.
This
initiative
has
enormous
potential
to make
many more
American
high
school
students
competitive
with those
from other
countries.
But
there's a
big "if"--
If it
clearly
specifies
what
students
should
know in
mathematics
and in
English
that makes
them truly
ready for
college
admission
.
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