With eye on K-12, community colleges to revamp

Inundated with unprepared students, California's community colleges next week will consider a slate of reforms to improve graduation and transfer rates -- and to help high schools improve their own graduates.

A panel that spent a year examining low success rates at the state's 112 community colleges will recommend Monday that the statewide Board of Governors take swift action to boost dismal figures in several key areas. In its report, the task force calls the 22 recommendations "a vision for our community colleges in the next decade."

Among the suggestions:

Design statewide tests to determine each entering student's competence in math and English. As it stands, each of the state's 72 college districts is responsible for coming up with its own tests, meaning students who take classes at more than one campus may need to take several exams on the same subject.

Require students to choose a major. Studies have shown that students who choose a major their first year have much higher graduation rates.

Require first-year students to start remedial work immediately. Fewer than half the students who need only a single remedial math course ever complete their community college work.

Work with other statewide systems to track students from elementary school through college to better guide them toward a degree. California's K-12 schools, colleges and universities all track their own students, but the state has no comprehensive database linking the systems.

The task force also recommended college leaders keep in touch with statewide K-12 leaders, who are preparing to implement national standards in English and math. The colleges should help elementary and high school educators prepare students for college, said Erik Skinner, executive vice chancellor for the community college system.

"As K-12 updates its standards, higher education needs to be at the table," he said. "It's a great opportunity for us to align these great systems of education."

Alignment among K-12 schools, community colleges, California State University and the University of California has been a problem for decades. In recent years, the colleges and universities have agonized over high school graduates unable to read, write or do basic math.

"California has the second-lowest high-school graduation requirements in the nation," said Michael Kirst, a Stanford University professor and president of the California State Board of Education. "It's a ticket to remediation if you follow the minimum requirements."

Community colleges likely will implement some of the task force's major recommendations next year, Skinner said. The quick turnaround is partly intended to provide K-12 leaders some guidelines as they design their own reforms, he said.

The colleges' input will be helpful, said Patrick Ainsworth, a statewide assistant superintendent for education.

"I actually am optimistic about this," he said. "We keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results."

Matt Krupnick covers higher education. Contact him at 510-208-6488. Follow him at Twitter.com/mattkrupnick.

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Source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_19675271?source=rss

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