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Long Beach City College tries an alt to placement tests [as 85% reading and 73% math need remedial)
Los Angeles Times ^ | June 25, 2012 | Carla Rivera

Posted on 06/25/2012 5:34:03 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

Edward Yacuta felt rushed and nervous when he took a test to determine whether he was ready for college-level English classes at Long Beach City College.

The 18-year-old did poorly on the exam, even though he was getting good grades in an Advanced Placement English class at Long Beach's Robert A. Millikan High School.

Most community colleges would assign students like Yacuta to a remedial class, but he will avoid that fate at Long Beach. The two-year school is trying out a new system this fall that will place students who graduated from the city's high schools in courses based on their grades rather than their scores on the standardized placement tests.

Long Beach is in the forefront of a movement in community colleges nationwide to reassess the use of placement tests for incoming students.

The issue is especially acute in California, where about 85% of students entering a two-year college are assigned to remedial English classes and 73% to remedial math, mostly based on placement tests. Only about one-third of those students go on to earn an associate degree or transfer to a four-year college, according to California's community college system.

Remedial classes — sometimes referred to as developmental or basic education — typically don't offer credit that counts toward graduation. Many students must take multiple levels of remedial courses to catch up. And some research indicates that remedial courses don't adequately prepare students for more advanced courses.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: arth; communitycollege; education; highereducation; longbeach; math; reading; teachersunion
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Dumb.
1 posted on 06/25/2012 5:34:15 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

It just means that businesses, not trusting the academic credentials of “college” applicants, will need to set up their own placement tests. Watch the homeschoolers and Asians blow everyone away on those tests!


2 posted on 06/25/2012 5:38:15 AM PDT by mdmathis6 (Kiss the Son!)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Classic liberal educational mentality. When you can’t educate kids up to standard - just change the standards. Downwards.


3 posted on 06/25/2012 5:38:40 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: mdmathis6; circlecity

...”The system is expected to especially benefit black and Latino students, who are disproportionately assigned to remedial classes, said Long Beach City College President Eloy Oakley.”...


4 posted on 06/25/2012 5:42:03 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Can someone please explain to me how placing 1st year college students into math classes that they are not prepared to take is good for the student and placing students into remedial math to bring them up to speed is bad?


5 posted on 06/25/2012 5:42:41 AM PDT by fatboy (This protestant will have no part in the ecumenical movement)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Did poorly on exam, yet he was in AP English.
Then there’s the matter of colleges providing remedial English and math classes. If you need them, why are they letting you attend college? Must have something to do with the $$$ !


6 posted on 06/25/2012 5:44:43 AM PDT by Lady Lucky (God-issued, not govt-issued.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Soon we will have college graduates who cannot “operate” a hamburger flipper. Oh well, there is always the community organizer “profession” which may well lead to bigger things.


7 posted on 06/25/2012 5:46:57 AM PDT by bytesmith
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
The issue is especially acute in California, where about 85% of students entering a two-year college are assigned to remedial English classes and 73% to remedial math, mostly based on placement tests. Only about one-third of those students go on to earn an associate degree or transfer to a four-year college, according to California's community college system.

Research by Scott-Clayton and others indicates that the placement tests are a poor predictor of how students will perform in college classes and that high school grade point averages can be a better barometer.

More phony lib theory. Students who do poorly on the tests are assigned to remedial classes and only 1/3 of those have even a small measure of academic success. It sounds like the tests are doing exactly what they are supposed to--weeding out those who are not ready to be mainstreamed in higher education. Therefore--get rid of the tests!

8 posted on 06/25/2012 5:47:04 AM PDT by TruthShallSetYouFree (Bill Clinton & Cory Booker committed the ultimate democrat gaffe. They accidentally told the truth.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

>> ...”The system is expected to especially benefit black and Latino students, who are disproportionately assigned to remedial classes, said Long Beach City College President Eloy Oakley.”...

Ah, the affirmative action dumbing-down of America proceeds apace...

Isn’t this is a wonderful blueprint for how a nation ought to compete in a global economy.


9 posted on 06/25/2012 5:48:11 AM PDT by Nervous Tick (Trust in God, but row away from the rocks!)
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To: fatboy

Because college would have to be re-named prep school, at least logically.

But today, everyone gets an A.

I’m not a big believer in formal education. We were better off as a country when most children dropped out after 8th grade. But I do believe in truth. (Which is why I value education, not schooling.)


10 posted on 06/25/2012 5:49:33 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas (Viva Christo Rey!)
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To: fatboy

It covers up the fact that public schools aren’t teaching core subject matter or critical thinking skills.

AND according to the article it saves students tuition money and time getting a degree.

Apparently it doesn’t matter what they know when they get out.

They say remedial classes discourage students, leading them to say, “Forget it.”


11 posted on 06/25/2012 5:49:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: fatboy
Can someone please explain to me how placing 1st year college students into math classes that they are not prepared to take is good for the student and placing students into remedial math to bring them up to speed is bad?

Because you're shoehorning students into college when they have no business being there.

12 posted on 06/25/2012 5:50:41 AM PDT by Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Sorry, but DUMB is actually a compliment here. This “college” has just adopted a program that “feels good” but will destroy the value of that paper called a “College Degree.”
It isn’t bad enough that colleges rip off the financial futures of their students by pushing them through courses that have absolutely NO value in the real world. Now they are removing that last indication to the prospective employer that the “degree” is worth the paper it is printed on.
Additionally, this community “College” is abetting in a massive coverup, hiding the fact that the local HIGH SCHOOLS are an abject failure.


13 posted on 06/25/2012 5:54:53 AM PDT by CaptainAmiigaf ( NY Times: We print the news as it fits our views.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
... The new approach came after the college found that 60% of students it placed in remedial English classes had earned an A or B in their high school English course....

Doesn't make that A or B worth very much. Typical public school mentality...can't hurt the little darling's feeling by giving them the grades they REALLY deserve.

Also, they kept saying how the students could get out quicker. Never mentioned if they learned anything.

14 posted on 06/25/2012 6:04:28 AM PDT by moovova (Muslims will never know the pleasure of eating BBQ babyback ribs...too bad.)
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To: mdmathis6
It just means that businesses, not trusting the academic credentials of “college” applicants, will need to set up their own placement tests.

I don't know about that. I really don't know if they would pass judicial review. All I can say is that it was company written tests that started this college stampede in the first place. The Supreme Court ruled that tests administered by Duke Power Company were racially discriminatory, so companies flocked to the college degree as a subsitute.

15 posted on 06/25/2012 6:12:11 AM PDT by OldPossum ( "it's" is the contraction of either "it is" or "it has"; "its" is the possessive pronoun)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Dumb.

Double Dumb. My oldest started a JC at 15 and tested out of all the remedial courses. Needless to say she was home schooled.

Remedial college courses show the real state of public (K-12) education.

16 posted on 06/25/2012 6:16:34 AM PDT by D Rider
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To: Lady Lucky
You better beleive it has something to do with the money. Community Colleges are, in part, successful because of the failure of public schools. Here in Illinois, classes for those not ready for college are called 'developmental' and every department has an array of them. These developmental classes cost the same as all other courses, but they don't count on the transcripts. It is amazing the number of students enrolled in developmental courses for the second or third time. Armed with my tin foil hat and a good dose of John Taylor Gatto, one might think this situation the end-result of a long game-plan by those early leaders of mandated public education.

Please forgive the following blog pimp:

Those doggone kids

17 posted on 06/25/2012 6:18:38 AM PDT by AD from SpringBay (We deserve the government we allow.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Too many kids going to high school is the problem.

Create a HS entrance exam with IQ=97 required, and all these "college" stories would go away - forever.

18 posted on 06/25/2012 6:20:31 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Anna Wintour makes Teresa Heinz Kerry look like Dolly Parton.)
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To: OldPossum; mdmathis6
Employers could use SAT and ACT scores.

They are widely accepted by colleges as being very a reliable predictor of success in college. So?....why wouldn't they predict success on the job? To my knowledge SAT and ACT tests have never been challenged as being racially biased.

Most of the work done in the U.S. doesn't need a college degree. For example, why does the event planner at the Marriott Hotel need a degree? They simply need to be sufficiently literate, numerate, intelligent, and ambitious. SAT and ACT scores are likely very good measures of these qualities.

For nearly all the work done in the U.S. most of what an employee learns is **on the job**!

19 posted on 06/25/2012 6:22:19 AM PDT by wintertime
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To: AD from SpringBay

“Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist.”


20 posted on 06/25/2012 6:25:44 AM PDT by Menehune56 ("Let them hate so long as they fear" (Oderint Dum Metuant), Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC))
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