Report: More than 20,000 CSU freshmen lack math, English skills

Mercury News ^ | 3/13/07 | Lisa Krieger

[NormsRevenge]

More than 20,000 high school graduates annually enter the California State University system needing remedial work in English or math, according to the Annual Report on College Readiness presented today to the CSU Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach.

The number of unprepared students entering CSU remained constant this academic year, not budging from previous levels.

In fall 2006, 37 percent of entering freshmen were not proficient in mathematics, reflecting a decline of 1 percent from 2005. The report found that 45 percent were not proficient in English, the same level as the previous year.

CSU officials say there is no realistic likelihood of achieving the CSU Board of Trustees goal of 90 percent readiness in both subjects by fall 2007. Rather, they are still aiming for the 2004 goal of preparedness of 74 percent in math and 78 percent in English.

To better prepare high school students for college, the university system is collaborating with the state's high schools to ensure that college freshmen can move through the university faster, with a higher percentage earning college degrees.

[CarrotAndStick]

May-interest-you ping.

[Michael.SF.]

California has an extensive JC system, if they are not ready for a four year college, let them go there.

[NotchJohnson]

No idea abot CA demographics and families but as a general rule the more broken up the family (kid lives with senile Grandman) the worse the said kid does in school.

[popdonnelly]

Time to throw the NEA out of the public schools.

[YoungAmerican84]

"California has an extensive JC system, if they are not ready for a four year college, let them go there."

That's what I was thinking.

Also, those who attend junior colleges and transfer tend to fare better than those who attend four-year institutions the whole time.

Reason for this is JC students tend to be there for one reason- to get their degree. Four-year kids aren't nearly as focused.

[NonValueAdded]

How much money has the state already invested in those freshmen before they even start? $100,000, $120,000? How much of that came from the Federal teat? And if they were deficient, why were they admitted?

[goodnesswins]

Oh, yeah...this proves California needs to spend those add'l billions (another thread) on improving its system....NOT.

[HardStarboard]

>>>Time to throw the NEA out of the public schools.<<<

There was an article in the June 1993 Forbes that detailed how corrupt and close to a Democrat PAC the NEA had become.

I still have it around here....somewhere. It convinced me you are right....in 1993!! It's onlu gotten worse.

[greccogirl]

Sadly, "broken up" families are beginning to be the norm and not unusual.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Poor language skills are shaped more by those enamored by pop culture and not by inability of teachers to teach standard English. Schooling is a waste of time until one is ready to speak to be understood. Many kids will insert $hit, phuck, and the like for half their daily word use. They think they can detect 500 nuanced meanings for each of these words.

[Richard Kimball]

I did JC before going to a four year school, and there are a lot of reasons to do it. Nobody cares where you spent your first two years, it's where you graduate. Second, it costs about a quarter what a four year school costs, and the student can generally live at home. Third, it creates an excellent bridge to a four year college. Most freshmen are not mature enough to deal with the temptations of a four year school. I watched a lot of freshmen come in, and there was a huge tendency to party hard in the first semester, and be on scholastic probation the second semester.

Most of the students I work with are plenty intelligent, but they've never learned how to study. I spend probably the first three weeks of class teaching them how to study. By the second half of the class, I can give them an assignment that includes memorizing a full page chart and expect an average of 93 or so.

They can also handle a 300 question test. They're motivated and they want challenges. There's nothing more rewarding than watching a class go from hating to study and do tests to having over half of them voluntarily show up for an optional 2 hour study session. Great feeling, almost as great as walking into a fire station and knowing I've trained over half the people there.

[Washi]

I'll be that they can quote the hell out of "Earth in the Balance" and "An Inconvenient Truth" though. And I'm sure that liberal smatterings of the phrases "military-industrial-complex" and "opressive Bush regime" are enough to score them a degree.

[hedgetrimmer]

Would these be all the illegal aliens California allows to attend its schools?

[eleni121]

Get rid of the teachers' unions that protect the incompetents that teach.

[VanShuyten]

At our county community college, outside DC, about 25% of the students have to take remedial math and English. It's not that these students aren't ready for college. It's that they really weren't ready to graduate from high school. The 60% of the students who do graduate have 7th grade math and 9th grade reading skills. Having these guys go to a JC doesn't solve any problem, but it is cheaper to patch them up at our CC than a more expensive 4-year school.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Well there's a shocking development, considering that a majority of these neglected souls couldn't identify the Pacific Ocean on a globe.

[Chewbacca]

LOL

[GSlob]

"Time to throw the NEA out of the public schools."
Time to throw low-achievers out of universities. How was it put? "Do not cast pearls unto swine"?