News
November 22, 2004
Contacts: Lorna Sutton, Director of Communications, SBCTC, 360-704-4310
State Board for Community & Technical Colleges, Main Office, 360-704-4400
Strategies for reducing the number of recent high school graduates
taking remedial courses to be featured at two-year college board meeting
OLYMPIA – Strategies for reducing the number of recent high school graduates needing remedial courses at the state’s colleges and universities will be highlighted at the meeting of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges Dec. 1-2 at South Seattle Community College.
Board members will hear a status report on the Transition Mathematics Project and review and approve a report on remedial education in Washington’s colleges and universities.
“We’re committed to helping students be successful in college, and that includes ensuring that they are as well prepared as possible when they come to us,” said Earl Hale, executive director of the State Board, which oversees the state’s 34 public two-year colleges.
“About 80 percent of the community and technical college students taking remedial classes are adults who have been out of high school for several years, and we expect those students to continue needing pre-college courses,” he said. “But it will be more efficient for both students and the state if the other 20 percent — the recent high school graduates — are ready to begin college-level courses immediately.”
The Transition Mathematics Project, funded by a $300,000 appropriation from the Legislature and a $430,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is aimed at increasing the number of high school graduates who are ready to succeed in college-level math.
The State Board is working on this project with the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Office, the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Council of Presidents, which represents the presidents of the state’s public universities.
Much of the work to date has focused on developing “college readiness standards” to answer the question: What do students need to know to be able to achieve success in college-level math?
Math will also receive attention in the remedial education report because the majority of recent high school graduates taking pre-college courses are enrolled in math. However, as the report will show, some students also have to improve their reading or writing skills.
This report, required under a bill passed by the 2004 Legislature, identifies some of the primary reasons students need to take remedial courses, approaches for communicating the skills high school graduates should have to succeed at college-level work, and strategies designed to reduce the need for remediation among recent high school graduates.
Also on the State Board’s agenda is a report on a study examining the feasibility of locating some services of the Employment Security Department and Department of Social and Health Services on community and technical college campuses. The co-location study, proposed and funded by the Legislature, explored ways of using state resources more effectively and enhancing the delivery of services — particularly employment-related services — to working-age adults.
Led by State Board staff, the study included a review of different approaches to the co-location of services using North Seattle Community College as the model, as spelled out in the legislation. Recommendations for future action will be proposed by the study advisory committee, which includes representatives from the college, the agencies, the Legislature, legislative staff and the State Board.
The board will hear a report from members of the advisory committee at the study session on Wednesday, Dec. 1, and take action Thursday, Dec. 2, to approve the report.
The board will meet in a study session Dec. 1 from 1:30 to 5 p.m. and in regular session Dec. 2 from 8:15 to 11:30 a.m. at South Seattle Community College, 6000 16th Ave. SW. The meetings will be in Room A of the Jerry Brockey Student Center. The board will also have a dinner meeting Wednesday evening with members of the Seattle Community College District Board of Trustees. All sessions are open to the public.
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The meeting agenda and background materials are posted on the State Board Web site at: http://www.sbctc.ctc.edu/general/a_board/
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