CSU Chief Seeks to Aid Schools
California state universities bear some of the blame for public school students who arrive at college ill-prepared, said the system’s chancellor.
“Universities have got to help improve the public schools. We have not done a very good job of that in the past 20 years,” CSU Chancellor Charles Reed told Associated Press in an interview Saturday. Reed was scheduled to speak later at the American Council on Education’s annual meeting.
Reed, 60, said CSU officials have pledged to reduce the number of incoming freshmen who need remedial math and English classes.
In 2000, about 45% of the 33,822 freshmen entering the CSU system needed remedial math. That number was down 3% from the previous year. Nearly 45.6% needed remedial English courses.
Reed said the improvement in math may have been caused by the system spending more than $200 million a year on programs to help K-12 students and teachers.
Those programs include mentoring for new central-city teachers and online training for emergency and alternative-certified teachers.
Reed said university faculty and administrators need to be more concerned and more vocal about teaching quality and funding levels at public schools.
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