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Speaking of the Senate by Sid Kolpas, Academic Senate President |
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Student Requirements to Increase—How Will GCC Respond? In a few short years, all California community college students will need to pass higher levels of mathematics and English in order to graduate. Here at GCC, students already must take Math 101 (or equivalent), but we have yet to reconfigure the English component. How did this change happen? At their September 11, 2006 meeting in Sacramento, the Board of Governors of the California community colleges voted unanimously in favor of the Academic Senate’s academic and professional recommendation to change the Title 5 regulations on minimum competencies in mathematics and English that are required to receive an associate degree. The new mathematics minimum requirement will be a course with the level and rigor of Intermediate Algebra (Math 101 on our campus); Math 101 or its equivalent is already the associate degree requirement at Glendale College. The new English minimum will be a course with the level and rigor of Freshman Composition (English 101 on our campus); currently, the associate degree requirement at Glendale College is English 120, a course lower than Freshman English. Following discussions with the chief executive officers and the community college system office, the change will begin to affect students who enter a California community college in fall 2009. The resolution adopted by the Board includes a 75-day waiting period before the regulations become effective.
So what should we do in the meantime? We still have the authority to take the new requirements and commensurate catalog changes to our board of trustees at any time; we don’t have to wait until 2009. It is always within our purview to exceed state minimum graduation requirements. However, on or before 2009, our catalog must list the new requirements and the courses that satisfy them. If we permit the use of a test to satisfy these new mathematics and English competency requirements, we must ensure that the test is at the level of the new requirements. The Academic Senate has consistently said that these new mathematics and English requirements should not become a greater barrier to student success. Therefore, a variety of important activities must happen well before fall 2009, even though they are not part of the regulation mandate. A critical activity is the creation of alternative, equivalent courses to Math 101 and English 101. That would fall under the purview of our mathematics and English divisions. Their discussions should begin now.
Alternative, equivalent courses The Academic Senate strongly encourages the creation of alternative, equivalent courses to satisfy the new Title 5 requirements. Existing examples within the California community colleges include business or journalism/media writing courses as alternatives to Freshman English; these might be taught outside the English Division. If these equivalent courses are taught outside the English Division, does the faculty teaching them meet minimum qualifications? On our campus, alternatives to Math 101 include Math 119 and Math 120 (a slower, two-semester lecture equivalent to Math 101), and Math 219 and Math 220 (a self-paced, open-entry, open-exit equivalent to Math 101). Math courses targeted to particular vocational programs that are equivalent to Math 101 already exist at other campuses, and might be contemplated on our own campus; these too must be taught outside the Mathematics Division. If these equivalent courses are taught outside the Mathematics Division, does the faculty teaching them meet minimum qualifications? At Glendale College, any alternative math and English courses to Math 101 and English 101 must be approved through our Curriculum and Instruction process, and must have the same level and rigor as Intermediate Algebra and Freshman Composition. Moreover, alternative courses equivalent to Math 101 must have Elementary Algebra as a prerequisite. Why the change? At the risk of oversimplifying, it was felt that since an associate degree represents college level work, the mathematics and English requirements ought to be at the college level. English 101 is College Freshman English. Interestingly, Math 101, Intermediate Algebra, is not considered college level. It is, in fact, the equivalent of Algebra 2 in high school, and is the highest-level course among our developmental mathematics courses.
Discussion is vital The Academic Senate strongly encourages a college-wide examination and discussion of support mechanisms to ensure student success not only in the new requirements but also in the basic skills courses that are vital preparation for those new requirements. We do receive basic skills funds from the state, which must be optimally used to strengthen basic skills in mathematics and English. Support services would include labs such as our Writing Lab and the Math Science Center. Dialogue with our feeder high schools through the high school collaborative, and the strengthening of basic skills that result, is also essential.
Could this change be overturned? The Department of Finance may review the Title 5 change to determine what the costs associated with implementing the new regulation would be. Colleges like GCC that do not have Freshman English or the equivalent as their AA and AS degree requirements would have to offer new sections of that course; that is, all students at GCC who want an AA or AS degree would now have to take one more English course, since our graduation requirement is currently English 120, which is below Freshman English. Adding new sections of English 101 or equivalent is a cost that colleges like ours would incur because of the Title 5 change, a change for which there would be no reimbursement from the state. The same would be true for colleges not yet at the Intermediate Algebra level for an associate degree requirement. Therefore, the Title V change might be viewed as an unfunded mandate. The question remains as to how many of these sections a college would have to add. If it is not many, the Department of Finance may not see it as an onerous burden and would not overturn the change to Title 5. On October 14, 2006, I had a chance to meet with the State Academic Senate President, Ian Walton. Ian said that he sincerely doubts that the Title 5 changes would be overturned. In fact, he urges mathematics and English divisions across the state to start working on alternative courses now. & |
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