Students will be required to pass higher math and English
courses for associate’s degree
Students entering Gavilan College in 2009 will face tougher
standards to earn an associate’s degree than those currently
attending the college. The California Community Colleges Board of
Governors recently approved higher levels of math and English as a
requirement.
Students will be required to pass higher math and English courses for associate’s degree
Students entering Gavilan College in 2009 will face tougher standards to earn an associate’s degree than those currently attending the college.
The California Community Colleges Board of Governors recently approved higher levels of math and English as a requirement.The new changes will affect all community colleges statewide, though some colleges have already adopted higher standards. Gavilan College has two years to implement the change.
“It was a decision made by the state academic senate,” said Jesus Olivas, an academic counselor at Gavilan and the articulation officer. “They had been debating the issue for the last ten years.”
To graduate with an associate’s degree current students need to take the equivalent of 12th grade high school English or algebra I. The changes will require students to take college-level English as well as an intermediate algebra. Students planning to transfer to a four-year school already exceed the requirements for an associate’s and will still need to complete higher levels of math and English.
The reason for the new standards is simple.
“I don’t want to make anyone the scapegoat – everyone is responsible for preparing the students,” Olivas said. “But we have experienced in the past 10 years that students are not being prepared coming to college in basic English and math.”
He added that some employers have complained that students don’t have enough English or math skills after completing the two-year degree.
“The goal has always been to see students leave from a community college with a little more advanced math and English skills,” Olivas said.
The academic senate did leave some wiggle room for individual colleges to decide how to meet the new requirements. The curriculum committee at Gavilan, of which Olivas is a member, will meet to discuss class options. The school can offer just intermediate algebra and basic English or they can create new classes that would also meet the requirements.
“We could have business algebra that teaches the same concepts, but would not necessarily be the same as intermediate algebra,” Olivas said. “They could take a class that has the same rigor as [English 1A] that will ask you to write a 2,500-word essay, but maybe it would be a course in journalism.”
Courses focused on an area of study may appeal to students just wanting an associate’s degree, Olivas said because “sometimes kids don’t want to transfer. They just want a course they would like to take that will meet the requirements.”
Creating new classes, however, is not an easy task, as curriculum must be developed and approved by the curriculum committee. The courses also need to be transferable or meet prerequisite requirements for four-year colleges.
For now, it is unclear how the changes will affect students at the local community college.
“We may have less people graduating with the associate’s degree,” Olivas said. “Who knows, but it will put pressure on us to motivate them to do better.”
The key may be the kind of support the college can offer along with the degree requirements.
“If we increase the requirements, we should also increase the support,” Olivas said. “We should provide tutoring and extra mentoring to the students.”
Adrienne Akinsete, the vice president of instruction, declined to comment and referred questions to college spokeswoman Jan Bernstein Chargin who did not return calls by deadline.
Melissa Flores can be reached at [email protected].
