Forging partnerships to bridge the gap

In an ideal world, students would not need remedial education. They would receive the necessary training during their K-12 years and would come to the California State University equipped with the skills required for college-levell work.

Needless to say, we are not living in an ideal world. In fact, at the beginning of the last school year, 54 percent of CSU freshmen needed remedial help in mathematics and 47 percent needed help in English.

These figures point to a real disconnect between what is happening in our K-12 schools and what is expected in our universities. By law, the top third of California's high school graduates are eligible for admittance to a CSU campus as long as they complete the 15 required high school courses and earn at least a B average or meet minimum scores on an admissions test. Although our entering freshmen have satisfied these requirements, the majority of them can't pass our basic college proficiency tests.

The California State University has resolved to address this dilemma with a compassionate firmness. We are determined to be sensitive to our students, many of whom failed to receive adequate training from the K-12 education system. At the same time, we have pledged to maintain high standards for the sake of our students and their future employers, who must have confidence in the value of a CSU degree.

In 1996, the CSU Trustees set a goal of reducing the percentage of students needing remedial math and English to 10 percent by 2007-with the idea of shifting remediation to community colleges, which can do the job better at a lower cost to students.

We have decided that we can carry out this goal most effectively by making K-12 outreach our primary focus. Our first step in this effort is to ensure that CSU entry standards are adequately conveyed to K-12 teachers. We have found that it simply is not enough to report data to schools on what percentage of their students pass CSU placement tests. Instead, we must bring university math and English faculty together with their K-12 counterparts to compare standards.

Moreover, we realize that, even with clearer expectations, many students will need assistance to meet those standards. Toward this end, we are expanding our learning assistance program, in which CSU students and faculty work directly With high school students.

Finally, we have decided to focus our energies on about 220 California high schools that send CSU the highest numbers of students who need remedial education.

We already have seen glimmers of progress toward our goal. The percentage of students who need remediation has leveled off, and students' on-time completion rate for remedial courses has improved significantly. Although we still have a long way to go before our school and university standards are in alignment, we believe that continued partnerships with our K-12 and community college partners will help us bridge the gap. By working together with compassion and firmness, we can build a stronger educational system for the students of tomorrow.

CHARLEs B. REED is chancellor of the California State University system.

Copyright American Council on Education Fall 1999
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