Freshmen lacking in early skills

Although there were 15 sections of English 1A courses offered at the beginning of this semester, most students who came to the college this fall were not prepared to immediately enroll in them, college employees say.

The work in the course is considered college level, but according to the results of college's assessment test, the average student who comes to campus is not ready for the 1A workload.

Contra Costa College President McKinley Williams said, after looking at the results of the assessment tests over the years, the average reading level of incoming students is between ninth and 10th grade.

"The majority of students I see are placing into (English) 92, 139 and 142B," counselor Norma Valdez-Jimenez said. "I don't see a lot directly placing into 1A. Here, many are entering academic skills classes."

There are no prerequisites for taking English 142B, allowing all students to take the class, whether they are prepared or not.

According to the college's 2005-06 Fact Book, only one public high school in West County is performing above the county's average. With the exception of the one, Middle College High School, the rest of the college's feeder schools are below average, with Richmond and John F. Kennedy high schools at the bottom.

"The majority of students who come to Contra Costa College don't have the reading and comprehension skills required to be as successful as they would like to be in English courses," English professor Barbara McClain said.

English professor Jeffrey Michels said, "High schoolers come from the high schools, elementary and middle schools in West County without having become readers."

The majority of juniors in the West Contra Costa Unified School District tested into the basic and below percentages on the 2008 California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) tests. More than 70 percent of the juniors tested in 2008 received scores of basic, below basic and far below basic, according to the state's report of WCCUSD. Basic and far below basic had the highest percentage of students' scores, 26 and 25 percent respectively.

"There are a lot of students who don't simply have the tools they need," Dr. Michels said.

John Gregorian, English department co-chairman, said the STAR tests are low for the state and California is not high in terms of educational standards across the country.

Reading skills are mainly taught in elementary schools, but some feel the instruction to become critical readers is lacking.

Michels said children become readers in third grade, but if third and fourth grade instruction was "not terrific" and high school English was inadequate, the students coming to colleges have problems.

"It's a statewide issue," he said. "It's particularly prominent at Contra Costa College. It's particularly prominent in minority communities."

McClain said the problem stems from the teaching of how to read and, more specifically, read critically.

"Many of them are discouraged from becoming readers," she said. "They are told not to write in their books and annotate and get into the work. That's really no way to be successful."

This issue, however, is not exclusive to CCC or community colleges in general. Four-year universities are also dealing with the challenges of underprepared students.

Alison Wariner, coordinator of comprehension at Cal State-East Bay, said more than half of the college's students are not ready for college English courses.

"It's about 55 percent (place) in remedial (English classes)," Dr. Wariner said. "These percentages are pretty typical."

Matriculation Services Coordinator Kenyetta Tribble said according to the COMPASS assessment test, students on average test into English 142B.

She said although the assessment test is not the only way students and counselors decide which class a student should enroll, as multiple measures - prior academic records - are used, the test scores are fairly accurate of a student's ability.

An issue at CCC that prevents some students from coming into the college-level English course, 1A, with necessary skills and abilities is in the self-selection process for certain courses.

The college assessment test provides a gauge for which level and course students should register, however, students do not always take the advice and will register for classes too advanced for their skill level.

"A lot of students decide on 142B, but don't have reading comprehension and learning skills," McClain said.

According to the professors, there are a number of reasons why students choose to rush into 142B, instead of a level at which they are more prepared. Major incentives are time and money.

"Many of them (students) are hoping to be here two years," Michels said.

McClain said it can be an issue of time and effort.

"We're often charged to bring a student from precollege to college (142B to 1A) in one academic year," McClain said.

"My students don't do reading that's assigned, because they don't understand it," she said. "When they get frustrated, they decide not to bother."

Some professors who notice students struggling during their classes early in a semester will recommend students to speak with a counselor and think about taking a class one or more levels below the class they are currently in.

"When I see a clear evaluation of that," Gregorian said, "I encourage the student to continue with English, with my class if they'd like to.

"I feel responsible to advise them in cases it's pretty clear they're not ready for the course," he said. "They might have to consider other options - have more success in a course one level below."