Cal Poly opposes the California State University mandated Early Start program, a math and English summer remediation program, because the CSU is attempting to fix something that is not broken, the mathematics and English department chairs said.
“To us, we don’t have a big problem with remediation and this mandate is trying to solve a problem that simply does not exist,” said Kathryn Rummell, English department chair and professor.
The mandate, an executive order from the Chancellor’s Office, requires California State Universities to set up summer remediation classes for students who score poorly on the English Placement Test and Entry Level Math Test, said Michael Uhlenkamp, director of media relations and new media for the Chancellor’s Office. The goal is to prepare students for the college classes they will take in the fall.
The English department handles remediation by using a stretch course, which combines a remedial and freshman course. This keeps students and instructors together for ENGL 102, basic writing, and ENGL 134, writing and rhetoric, Rummell said.
“Instead of having 10 weeks, they have 20, so we are slowing down and giving additional help to students who need it,” Rummell said. “They work with the same students and the same instructor, so they develop a sense of continuity.”
Rummell said a shorter summer course will have the opposite effect on students. In a stretch course, the students have 20 weeks to develop but if enrolled in a summer course, everything will have to be taught at a much faster pace. This, in turn, sets many students up for failure in the summer remedial course, Rummell said.
While the remediation course through the mathematics department is done online in the context of a course with in-class meetings, Don Rawlings, mathematics chair and professor, said the program has produced good results and is thus better than what can be offered through the Early Start program.
In 2008, 71 percent of students who took remedial math went on to earn a passing grade in the freshman math course, MATH 116, pre-calculus algebra.
“These are students that need some extra help and coaching,” Rawlings said. “Our system works because there is close attention being paid to the students in these courses.”
The mandate will also be hard on students who live far away from a CSU, Rawlings said. These students will be forced to take a remedial summer course online, putting them at a disadvantage.
“The only way we would be able to do it is to offer a course online, but these are students who need extra attention and it is very hard for them to learn online by themselves,” Rawlings said.
At this point, the CSU is unsure how most schools will implement the Early Start program, Uhlenkamp said. But all schools in the CSU system are going to have to develop a plan. Now, Uhlenkamp said most enrolling freshman aren’t ready for math and English at the college level.
“Right now, 60 percent of first-time freshmen enrolling in the CSU system do not show entry level proficiency,” Uhlenkamp said. “We need to improve student readiness in math and English before they start their freshman year.”
Since the program is mandatory, Cal Poly will have to implement it in some way despite its opposition. There is a possibility that Cuesta College will offer some course in Cal Poly’s stead, but it is not yet known if it will have in-person or online classes.
Both the mathematics and English department chairs said they will continue to conduct remediation the way they do now. Students whose test scores reflect that they need extra help will still be put into the stretch course for English and the online class for mathematics, Rummell and Rawlings said.
“No matter what, a student who needs remediation done in the summer, they will still do the remediation that we have in place here because it has proven to be successful,” Rummell said.
This article was written by Russell Peterson