SUNY redesigns math, English to cut failure rate: Tutoring is mandatory

Twenty-five percent of first-year students fail math at State University of New York campuses; 22 percent fail English. To help poorly prepared students, SUNY is redesigning gateway classes, reports Kathleen Moore in the Times-Union.

Photo: Greg Anderson Photography/Flickr

SUNY's University of Albany, where the average GPA of admitted students is 3.7, is paying students who did well in the Writing and Critical Inquiry class to sit through it again to model "normalized college behavior" to freshman, said JoAnne Malatesta, dean for undergraduate education. The peer mentor encourages students to use the instructor's office hours and the tutoring center.

For the last two years, Albany has paid undergraduates to run 90-minute "supplemental instruction" sessions for all of the introductory math and science classes, Moore writes. First-year students are assigned a session and expected to attend. Students who actually went to the extra classes had “significant gains,” Malatesta said.

Starting this fall, some students will be required to participate in weekly, hourlong, one-on-one tutoring in writing. The tutors also are undergraduates. I assume that's the only way to make the tutoring affordable.

Community colleges are adapting too. Hudson Valley Community College redesigned its entry-level English class last fall. "Enhanced English Comprehension 1 is capped at no more than 15 students per section," Moore writes. "Teachers oversee the students while they write for two hours a week, in addition to two hours of class time. The students must also meet one-on-one with the instructor every few weeks."

Supervising students' writing makes the difference, said Tony Podlaski, the department chair. “Are they developing an effective thesis statement? We can offer feedback right on the spot.” And they can't use AI.

More than 20 years ago, HVCC created Math 150 to teach “all the math they should have had in high school,” said Linda Lim, who chairs the math and computer science department. “If a student is going on to any of the STEM fields, if they’re a little weak in the algebra, we encourage them to take it,” she said.

After the pandemic school disruptions, would-be STEM students arrived knowing even less math, she said. There isn't much for instructors to build on. So the community college is limiting the number of students in each class section, and adding another hour per week of class time.

Specialists will come into each Math 150 class to teach "note-taking, effective study techniques and time management." If it works, says Lim, "we’ll look at doing that with other courses as well.”

To their credit, both University of Albany and HVCC are trying to provide more instruction, rather than just lowering expectations. But shouldn't most of this happen in high school -- not college?