Response to the Legislative Analyst's "Academic Preparation for Higher Education"
My Email Comments on the Document, which received no response
Subject:
Academic Preparation for Higher Ed.
Date:
Sat, 24 Mar 2001 07:56:08 -0800
From:
John Hartzog
To:
Buzz.Breedlove@lao.ca.gov
CC:
jennifer.kuhn@lao.ca.gov, Steve.Boilard@lao.ca.gov
Craig Breedlove:
I am writing to commend you and your staff for the
insightful analysis,
"Academic Preparation for Higher Education." I
only hope that the
Legislators will enact all of your
recommendations.
I also want to offer suggestions for addressing
some of the issues you
so clearly articulate, with the hope that if you
find them useful you'll
see they get a proper hearing.
I am a recently retired Professor of Religious
Studies and Director of
the Learning Resource Center at CSU Northridge who
spent over 25 years
developing programs to address the lack of
academic preparation of our
University students. Part of my responsibilities
as LRC Director
included designing and administering The Web Project, which
integrated the use of
Internet Teaching into a range of University
programs, including
Developmental Mathematics and Writing. While at
Northridge I also
trained and supported over 300 regional Community
College faculty in
Internet teaching, via our Web site: Virtual CSUN.
Here are my comments and suggestions:
- Early Assessment
The report makes painfully clear the negative
consequences of our
failure to tell High School students the truth
about their reading,
writing and math skills until after they graduate
and have been admitted
to the UC or CSU. You point to the Web-based
Diagnostic Writing Service
as a program that shows promise of giving students
early diagnosis of
their writing skills. I agree that it is a move in
the right direction
and does demonstrate the potential of the Internet
to provide early
assessment for students.
However, there are
serious limitations to this
program: redundant testing, scalability and
expense. Students take this
unofficial Online EPT to find out if they are
ready to take the official
EPT a year or so later. Why not simply administer
the real test in the
junior year? The other limitations are scalability
and cost. The DWS
seems an expensive means of serving a small
percentage of the students
who need it. I understand from your Budget
recommendation concerning the
funding of DWS that the program served
approximately 14,000 students
last year. What will be the cost of diagnosing a
100,000 students or
all high school juniors? I don't see how DWS is a
practical solution to
the magnitude of the problem.
There is a better alternative. Simply put the
reading portion of the EPT
on the Web in an interactive format and make it
public and accessible by
anyone in the world who wants an immediate
evaluation of her reading
skills. The reading test does not require
expensive faculty time for
evaluation. The only cost is the initial
programming of the test and
maintaining the website, which is a fraction of
the cost of the current
DWS program.
Your analysis reveals the shocking
fact that 78% of the
students fail the reading portion of the EPT,
which suggests to me that
it's even more important to give an early
diagnosis of reading skills
than writing. Of course, I understand that ETS
would not go for such a
deal because it is a business. But it would be
easy enough for State
reading experts to create a suitable reading test
that could be in the
public domain, free to all at the click of a
mouse.
In fact, there is already such a public domain
site for the Entry Level Mathematics Test: CSUN'S
ELM Resources. The
Developmental
Mathematics Program at CSU Northridge developed it
several years ago.
This site not only has a diagnostic exam, but also
links to self-study
materials. The site is public and free.
A comparable self-assessment Website for reading
can be developed easily
and inexpensively.
- Evaluation of CSU remedial programs
I absolutely commend your recommendation that the
systems of higher
education be required to evaluate the
effectiveness of their remedial
programs. It's shocking, to say the least, that
this hasn't been
systematically done from the inception of the
programs.
There is,
however, one exception that I know of to your
assertion that there has
been no evaluation done in the CSU. The
Developmental Mathematics
Program at Northridge has evaluated itself
routinely since the 70's. It
has done exactly what you suggest is the ultimate
assessment of
effectiveness--track the students' performance in
their subsequent
University-level mathematics classes. Dr. Elena
Marchisotto of the
Mathematics Department, who developed and
administers the program, has
comprehensive data, which I am sure she would be
happy to share with
you.
- One Precollegiate Funding Rate
This recommendation is the most important one
because it has the
potential of dramatically changing the behavior of
the CSU and the
Community Colleges. Although at Northridge I
spent many years
developing basic skills programs, I believe that
the best place for such
programs is in the Community Colleges for the
reasons you cite--cost to
the students and cost to the State to fund such
courses--but also for an
additional reason. The Community Colleges are
leading the Internet
Revolution in teaching in the State, the
significance of which I have
tried to explain in my Online essay: "California
Virtual College: The
Future is Now".
Of immediate
relevance to the issue of preparing students is
the fact that Colleges
throughout the State are currently teaching
completely online basic
mathematics and writing courses. I have compiled
two databases to show
what is currently available in Mathematics and
in Writing. The
potential of such courses for
meeting the needs of students anywhere in the
State is enormous.
To further demonstrate the power of Community
College Online teaching to
help solve key educational problems, I have
created a Website, Online
IGETC: The GE Transfer Fast Track, which provides a
Web-enabled database of over 500 completely Online
General Education
courses that are currently being taught in the
State. Type "igetc.org"
in any Web Browser in the world for instant
information about and easy
access to the Transfer Core.
Such program-specific Websites and Web-enabled
databases of Online
courses have enormous potential for helping the
State better prepare its
students for and facilitate their success in
Higher Education.
Thank you again for your outstanding report. I
would be pleased to
discuss how to implement my suggestions with
anyone interested in the
possibilities.
Dr. John Hartzog
Eagle Rock, CA
323.344.9303