CSU Unveils Program to Cut Remedial Class Needs

Fifteen San Fernando Valley high schools--including well-regarded schools such as Granada Hills, El Camino Real and Notre Dame--have been targeted for help in reducing the remedial learning needs of their graduates who move on to Cal State University campuses.

Statewide, CSU officials identified 223 public and private high schools for preparation programs designed to reduce the number of freshmen courses in basic English and math.

With about $10 million from the state Legislature for high school outreach efforts, CSU officials said they plan to implement tutoring and mentoring programs this fall.

Chancellor Charles Reed said the CSU system must achieve a 10% remedial rate by 2007. To do this, he said, the high school programs will mainly focus on writing, algebra and geometry.

“All these students are in the top one-third of their graduating class; all have B averages. Does that tell you something?” Reed said last week. “It cannot be business as usual.”

Earlier this year, CSU reported that 55% of all incoming freshmen in the fall of 1998 needed remedial math classes, while 47% took remedial English after scoring poorly on placement tests.

Under CSU’s remediation policy, students who do not demonstrate proficiency or significant progress in English and math before their sophomore year may be required to leave.

Based on university diagnostic tests administered to incoming freshmen, inclusion on the list does not mean a school is low performing, but rather that it sends a high number of students to CSU schools, Cal State officials said. The list also is not a ranking, they said, but a starting point for targeting high schools.

Culled from successful reform efforts at various CSU schools, the programs include having CSU faculty work with high school math and English teachers, devising better curricula, training CSU students to tutor and mentor younger students, and increasing the number of summer remedial classes.

Reed and other CSU officials praised Cal State Northridge for clearly communicating the remediation policy to students, and for sending students to local high schools to tutor potential CSU enrollees.

“[CSUN] is one of our models,” Reed said.

Administrators at Granada Hills High School said they have had success with CSUN volunteer tutors and welcome any additional help the university will offer. Assistant Principal Jim Gwin said CSUN tutors “provide motivation, and they’re often role models for our students.”