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 ...
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!
Classic liberal educational mentality. When you can’t educate kids up to standard - just change the standards. Downwards.
...”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.”...
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?
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 $$$ !
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.
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!
>> ...”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.
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.)
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.”
Because you're shoehorning students into college when they have no business being there.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Create a HS entrance exam with IQ=97 required, and all these "college" stories would go away - forever.
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**!
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