Thinking and Linking by Joanne Jacobs
Under pressure to improve graduation rates, community colleges could close their doors to poorly prepared students. That would be easy, effective and wrong, argues the American Association of Community Colleges.
Even after fee increases, California’s community colleges are among the cheapest in the nation– only if students’ time has no value.
California will require only one year of science to graduate from high school if Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget is approved, reports the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.
It’s part of a move to give school districts more flexibility on how they use limited funds, says Brown’s budget director.
School leaders say schools will spend even more time on reading, writing and math if the state requires less science.
“To me, it’s absolutely astounding that the state of California, our leadership, would actually believe it would be appropriate not to have more science and actually have less science,” said longtime Santa Rosa School Board member Frank Pugh. “I hope the public really understands — they are dismantling, day-by-day, public education.”
Funding flexibility lets districts shift money to required programs or drop expensive classes, such as lab science, in favor of lower-cost classes, educators said. In recent years, that’s happened to adult education, maintenance, art supplies, career technical and libraries.
“I imagine that districts that are really struggling financially will probably pocket the money to help their finances,” Pugh said.
College-bound students need at least two years of lab science to apply to state universities. The change will affect students who aren’t on a college-prep track. Some might benefit from the flexibility to pursue career options, said Nancy Brownell, assistant superintendent of the Sonoma County Office of Education.
Others believe all students need two years of science. “It’s a way to become analytical,” science teacher Patty Dunlap told the Press-Democrat. ”They don’t realize they are going to have to analyze everything they do in life,” she said. “All of our kids deserve the opportunity to have a well-rounded education.”
Of course, school districts can require more science than the state minimum.
Update: California’s science standards received an A in Fordham’s State of the State Science Standards 2012. Most states received a D or F.
In particular, state standards struggled with vagueness and an overemphasis on “inquiry-based learning” instruction, while overwhelmingly failing to clearly convey the crucial connection between math and science. Although the treatment of evolution has improved since Fordham’s last assessment of state science standards in 2005, many states still miss the mark on teaching this vital topic.
The District of Columbia also earned an A, while Indiana, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Virginia got an A-. The F states, according to Fordham, were Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
Should colleges publish a report card for consumers? Career coach Marty Nemko is looking for feedback.
New students and those making progress toward a credential will get enrollment priority under a reform plan approved by the California community colleges board of governors.
Short-Circuited: The Challenges Facing the Online Learning Revolution in California offers Lance Izumi’s take on the resistance to virtual, blended and tech-infused schooling.
California’s three-part higher-education system is a disaster, writes Kevin Carey. While the national media focuses on Berkeley’s problems — larger classes, fewer janitors — non-elite students are being denied a chance to pursue education and job training.
The state’s community colleges are considering a series of reforms to improve graduation and transfer rates.
Asian Americans lose as California schools pursue Chinese students, reports Next Media Animation, which is based in Taiwan.
As community colleges cut classes, students are turning to for-profit schools, despite the much higher costs.
Cierra Nelson spent four years trying to complete prerequisites for a nursing program at a community college in southern California. Again and again, she was turned away from science classes she needed, such as anatomy and physiology. Finally, she borrowed more than $50,000 to attend a for-profit, Everest College.
Everest has no wait lists.
Also on Community College Spotlight: Mississippi colleges can’t hire enough instructors to meet the demand for nursing classes.
While men tend to take whatever work they can find, more women are choosing college over a bad job. Will the ex-Starbucks barista be able to pay back $200,000 in student loans with a masters in strategic communications?
California’s Dream Act promises undocumented students college aid but no path to citizenship.
Overwhelmed with remedial students, California’s second-tier state university system will require a 15-hour “Early Start” summer class for new students who aren’t prepared for college-level classes. California State University professors think it’s too little, too late, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
“I’m not at all optimistic that it’s going to help,” said Sally Murphy, a communications professor who directs general education at Cal State East Bay, where 73 percent of this year’s freshmen were not ready for college math. Nearly 60 percent were not prepared for college English.
“A 15-hour intervention is just not enough intervention when it comes to skills that should have been developed over 12 years,” Murphy said.
The CSU system admits freshmen whose grades and test scores place them in the top third of high school graduates. Yet, statewide, 64 percent in the 2010 entering class needed remedial work in math, English or both. Early Start is supposed to help more students complete remedial work in the first year. If they don’t, they won’t get a second year. The course may be taken online, at a CSU campus or at some community colleges.
The need for remediation is “a terrible indictment of the K-12 system,” said Jim Postma, a Chico State chemistry professor and chairman of the systemwide Academic Senate. ”If a factory was building cars and the lug nuts kept falling off the tires, you would do something pretty dramatic about it. We keep adding the lug nuts back to the tires rather than trying to figure out what the problem is.”
More CSU students are taking basic skills classes at community colleges, competing for space with community college students who hope to transfer to four-year universities. “We’re all trying to figure out how to handle these students who are woefully unprepared,” said Mark Wade Lieu, an Ohlone College instructor who directs remedial education for the state’s community colleges.
California will affix a “seal of biliteracy” to high school diplomas for graduates who show proficiency in English and another language, including American Sign Language. Just speaking another language won’t be enough to qualify, reports Learning the Language.
Among other requirements, students must demonstrate proficiency in one or more languages other than English in one of four ways: Passing an Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exam with a passing score of 3 or higher; completing a four-year high school course in the same foreign language with an overall grade point average of at least 3.0; passing a district’s foreign-language exam at a proficient level or higher; or passing a foreign government’s approved language exam.
I like honors diplomas for students who’ve excelled in a particular area. However, I wonder how they test proficiency in English.
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