Opposition to Mandatory “Early Start”:

Advocating for Educational Access and Equity

Opposition to Mandatory “Early Start”:

Advocating for Educational Access and Equity

Kimberly R. King,

Suzanne McEvoy, & Steve Teixeira

California State University, Los AngelesOctober 2010

Kimberly R. King,

Suzanne McEvoy, & Steve Teixeira

California State University, Los AngelesOctober 2010

AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements

UCLA Civil Rights Project California Faculty Association Academic Professionals of California

Special thanks to APC Mobilizing Cmte

Students of the CSU

UCLA Civil Rights Project California Faculty Association Academic Professionals of California

Special thanks to APC Mobilizing Cmte

Students of the CSU

“Remedial” coursework in college is designed to develop college-level skills in math and English

Many educators prefer the term “developmental education”

Incoming CSU students are determined to need remediation by scores on the English Placement Test (EPT) and the Entry Level Mathematics exam (ELM)

“a remedy intended to restore opportunity to those who otherwise may be relegated to meager wages, poor working conditions, and other consequences of socioeconomic marginalization.”- Bahr (2008), Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan

Solution to Budget Problems – Cut “undeserving” students

REALITY: “Remedial” Students Are Not to Blame

They are the majority (58% in 2009) of all CSU first-years who meet all eligibility requirements

At some CSUs, they are 75-93% of first years Their average H.S. GPAs are above 3.0, and they

are in top third of their high school class Government Priorities are to Blame - CA Public Ed

k-12 spending/student ~ 47th in Nation

Higher Remediation Need for: Students of color at all CSUs

but # of White remedial students is large

CSU campuses serving: more low-income students (i.e., Pell

recipients) more African American & Mexican

American students more “exceptional admits”

 Student Ethnicity % Needing

RemediationAfrican American 83.2% Mexican American 73.6%Asian American 59.9%European American 39.0%

All Freshmen 58.0%

HIGH REMEDIATION NEED

Dominguez Hills (91)

Los Angeles (89) San Bernardino

(75) Bakersfield (75) East Bay (75)

LOW REMEDIATION NEED San Luis Obispo (14) San Diego (42) Humboldt (44) Long Beach (54) Sonoma (53)

* 2007 is most recent year CSU presents the total percentage of students who need remediation

HIGH REMEDIATION NEED

Dominguez Hills Los Angeles

San Bernardino

Low Remediation Need

San Luis Obispo San Diego Humboldt

AF MEX ASIAN EURO

25% 43% 1% 3% 7 49 11.2 49 48 3.4 15

0.6 8 9.4 644 27 6.4 363 17 2.7 55

Feeder High Schools for High Remediation CSUs:

More poverty More African American + Latino students More English Language learners Fewer fully credentialed teachers Lower API rank (Academic Performance Index)

High-Needs k-12 schools face inadequate funding and greater challenges !

Students must gain proficiency in math & Eng within their first year

Can be disenrolled if they don’tStudents who leave to attend CC

have low rate of return to CSU

Established Mandatory Early Start Program (MESP) Students “not proficient” are required to

begin remediation prior to enrolling as freshmen at a CSU

If they don’t, they will not be permitted to enroll in the Fall▪ Exceptions for “extraordinary circumstances”

▪ Campuses will develop MESP plans “in consultation with faculty in English and mathematics.” Due to Exec Vice Chancellor by 11/19/2010

▪ Campuses will begin implementing plans on or before 2012, with full implementation on or before summer 2014.

Possible MESP options include: ▪ Community College Course▪ CSU State Supported or Extended Ed. Summer

Courses▪ Special Programs, such as Summer Bridge ▪ Online coursework

How can it hurt students?How can it hurt faculty?How can it hurt the university?

Unfair to Students “Mandatory” - Forces some students to

participate in extra requirement, though they are fully qualified for CSU admission ▪ Isn’t this a new Admissions Requirement???

Penalizes students who have already been cheated by education system

Civil Rights issue - has more impact on students of color and poorest students

Seems to be part of enrollment reduction for budget concerns, or to increase grad rates by pushing out higher needs students

Higher cost if extended education summer school

Loss of summer employment salary

Will likely eliminate faculty and perhaps staff jobs

Not based on sound pedagogy or research

CSU already has successful remediation programs – 80% remediate by the end of their first year

“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.”Anatole France (from The Red Lily, 1894)

Novelist and Nobel Prize Laureate

Passed Resolution at CFA Fall Assembly 2009 (from Peace & Justice)

Formed Access & Equity Group with CFA, APC, English Council Members

Panel Presentation at CFA Joint CAA & LC Meeting Testified at the past 5 BOT meetings Academic Senate Resolutions opposing ESP (Statewide, CSULA,

SLO, other?) Held Campus Meetings at several CSUs (LA, SM, LB, DH) Produced video, put on Youtube.com Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI4sYwB23Pk Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG0Ha52gwhI

Article in Faculty Magazine by Kim Geron & Elizabeth Hoffman Radio Interview on w/Pat Morrison on KPCC 5/23/2010 (Kimberly

King and Alison Jones from Chancellor’s Office) English Council Resolution passed in April 2010 UCLA Civil Rights Project Research “Remediation as a Civil Rights

Issue n the CSU” (King, McElvoy, & Teixeira, 2010) to be released publicly soon

Access & Equity Group formed – listserv has overy 230 members! Access & Equity Group produced Fact Sheet and Guidelines for

Campus Plans

Mandatory ESP Punishes our students for California’s

maintenance of race and class inequality in K-12 schools

Puts extreme burden on CSUs serving poorest and most ethnic minority students

Potentially eliminates faculty jobs and downgrades the quality of education

Tries to balance the budget & “increase grad rates” by decreasing access to the state’s poorest and brownest young people

Join Access & Equity Listserv Email Blanca Castaneda (CFA Staff) at

▪ bcastaneda@calfac.org Share and receive info on Listserv

Participate in monthly Access & Equity conference calls

Get Mandatory Early Start factsheet and guidelines out to as many faculty, staff, & students as possible

What is the status of your campus early start planning team; has it been set up; who is on it?

Can you or another CAA activist join this team?

Get A & E fact sheet and guidelines to planning teams and administrators

Can you organize an Access & Equity Group meeting of CFA activists and APC activists (and students if appropriate) to discuss the early start program and the implications for your campus? Who? (especially English, Math, and civil

rights/equity orientated faculty, APC staff, students)

Plan to get guidelines to teams and administrators, other faculty, staff, students

Get Informed about the entering freshmen on your campus - what’s the number and percentage needing remediation, and their ethnicity and gender?   This information is available online for systemwide and campuses at: 

http://www.asd.calstate.edu/remediation/09/index.shtml

Ask your institutional researcher if you can get the data on the disenrollment of freshmen from Fall 2009 who didn't successfully pass their remedial classes, by ethnicity and gender of the students?

- Why won’t the CSU release this data?