Board of Trustees
by Mark Martinez
Board of Trustees
Put yourself for a moment into the shoes of a young student who recently
graduated with honors from a Colorado high school with a 3.25 GPA and
applied to Metro. Your CCHE Index score (based upon high school GPA and
ACT composite score) meets the statutory standard for admission to Metro.
You and your parents are excited that you have just received a letter
from Metro congratulating you on your recent acceptance as an incoming
freshman. You are ready to undertake your college education and further
your preparation to enter the working world as a successful college graduate.
So much for the perception—now let’s talk about the reality.
This student failed the Reading, English and Algebra assessment tests
with scores of 28, 32 and 36, respectively. The minimum scores to avoid
mandatory remediation courses are 80, 95 and 85, respectively. What a
surprise this must have been to a high school honor student.
Even more surprising was the message saying he had to complete one or
more semesters of remedial classes at Community College of Denver before
he could enroll in freshman level classes at Metro. Imagine the disappointment
this student must have felt. The unfortunate fact is that this is by no
means an isolated case of a student who has been failed by a K-12 educational
system wrought with problems.
This is but a single example of a problem that is growing much worse.
It presents a huge challenge to the higher education system on a national
level. Closer to home, it presents a huge challenge to Metro. How does
Metro fulfill its important mission of delivering a quality college education
when the level of instruction in the classroom must be adjusted downward
to accommodate an ever-increasing number of students who are unprepared
for higher education?
Such a situation short-changes a caring faculty and it surely short-changes
our student base.
Metro had a headcount of 24,419 students enrolled for the Fall 2003.
Of those students, 8,299, or 34 percent, of our students have had to take
Math remediation classes; 4,092, or 16.8 percent, have had to take English
remediation classes; and 5,130, or 21 percent, have had to take Reading
remediation classes. Metro uses eight identifing factors to determine
whether or not a student should take an accuplacer test in Math, English
or Reading. During 2003-04, there were 3,526 students who had to be tested
in Math; 2,017 in English and 1,594 in Reading.
Many observers will say the administrators in Colorado’s K-12 system
recognize the problem and are taking steps to deal with it.
The trends, however, are very frightening.
Look at just one indicative measure relevant to Metro. Over the last
three school years, the number of Metro students enrolled in special education
programs for remediation at Community College of Denver increased from
1,377 to the current level of 4,323. That represents a 214 percent increase.
It also represents one in five students.
This frightening trend must be reversed. Those with influence over K-12
must take ownership of this problem and fix it. K-12 is delivering an
unacceptable number of students to higher education environments who are
completely unprepared to be successful. This is a failure. K-12 is failing
the students and their families; it is failing our institutions of higher
education; it is failing the labor market; it is failing our communities
and society.
I am sorry if I offend some people, but I refuse to pull punches on this
issue. I acknowledge that some of those who are responsible for K-12 have
begun to recognize and address the issue.
Unfortunately, there is still too much finger pointing and self-interested
behavior occurring in that arena resulting in needed change not occurring
or occurring too slowly. How many more of our kids will slip through the
cracks in the meantime?
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