Too
Many California Students Not Ready for College
By Pamela Burdman &
Marshall S. Smith
CA
California's vibrant
economy is in jeopardy because we aren't producing
enough educated workers to meet the state's future
needs, according to a recent study by the Public
Policy Institute of California. The authors see
only one solution: improving college attendance
and graduation rates of Californians.
High-profile attempts by top universities to serve
more low-income and minority students are important,
but they won't solve this problem. Only a limited
number of students can attend these schools. Substantially
increasing graduation rates will require lifting
achievement levels for students who are not admitted
to public universities.
If approved by lawmakers, a $33 million investment
tucked inside the state budget represents a rare
attempt to work toward that goal. The funds would
ensure continuation of an audacious initiative
that is shining a spotlight on a problem that
has historically seemed intractable: the large
number of students who don't succeed in college
because they don't complete remedial English or
math.
This effort represents the best chance in years
to reverse that trend. It is being coordinated
by instructors at the state's community colleges,
and no one is better positioned to tackle the
problem. But the plan will not work without the
serious engagement of colleges and sustained state
support.
About two-thirds of Californians who attend college
go to one of the state's 109 community colleges.
According to community college system estimates,
more than 70 percent of students enter unprepared
for college math or English. For every 10 who
take a remedial class, approximately six complete
it. Far fewer ultimately pass freshman math and
English -- the gateway to a degree or transfer.
Though this problem originates with public schools,
which badly need improvement, community colleges
for years to come will be the make-or-break point
for hundreds of thousands of such students every
year -- students who are not served by the state's
universities. Whether those students ultimately
reach their educational potential -- becoming
able to contribute fully to their families, their
communities and the state economy -- will depend
largely on the strength of the colleges.
That leaves the state's most poorly funded education
system contending with one of the state's greatest
problems. To their credit, the California Community
Colleges Board of Governors, together with college
administrators and faculty leaders, is rising
to the occasion. Under the proposed $33 million
initiative, each college would examine how its
approaches to serving under-prepared students
stack up against the best research available,
using a critical examination of students' progress
to develop and implement campus action plans.
In our own projects with community colleges, we
have seen the difference this type of inquiry
can make:
-- At Cabrillo College, an instructor conducted
hundreds of interviews to assess the needs of
under-prepared students and developed a new semester-long
curriculum to help them "learn how to learn"
and accelerate through remedial coursework.
-- After conducting an analysis, Chaffey College
in Rancho Cucamonga confronted the harsh reality
of low completion rates. Administrators, faculty
and counselors working together to understand
the problem, reorganized classes and established
campus-wide success centers to assist students.
-- At Pasadena City College, a group of mathematics
faculty, discouraged by how many students failed
or disappeared from their remedial classes, entirely
reworked the pre-algebra curriculum and offered
it as an intensive summer program.
Though the solutions differ, all yielded notably
higher success rates for students. The common
denominator is that each was developed and refined
based on information about student learning. Now,
in an unprecedented collaboration, system leaders
will distribute the $33 million to colleges that
engage in this type of inquiry to drive improvement.
It will not be easy. But, as California Community
Colleges System Chancellor Mark Drummond has recognized,
the state has no choice. Whoever replaces him
must sustain the focus. All colleges need to embrace
this approach, to increase attainment, especially
for low-income and minority students, while maintaining
their open-access policies.
But colleges don't operate in a vacuum. The state
must do its part, continuing the investment in
future years and reversing the colleges' poor
funding, with new dollars flowing into effective
approaches to improve student outcomes. Much is
at stake. California's colleges may survive with
or without more investment in student success.
California's vibrant economy will not.
(Pamela Burdman is a program officer and Marshall
Smith is program director in the Education program
of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.)
– New America Media
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