Sad Commentary Re; Educational System

[pineda]

It's back to basics for many in college

Most freshmen at community institutions need remedial classes to get up to speed

By JASON SPENCER, Houston Chronicle

Nearly two-thirds of 2004's graduating high school seniors now enrolled in Houston-area community colleges are taking remedial classes because they weren't prepared for college.

Sixteen local school districts sent 6,552 newly graduated students to the Houston Community College System and the North Harris Montgomery College District this fall. Sixty-four percent of them, or 4,217, are taking high school-level courses, according to the colleges.

"It's sinful to allow a student to show up at a community college and tell them they'll have to spend the year learning what they should have learned in high school," said Gene Bottoms, senior vice president of the Southern Regional Education Board, a coalition of states working to improve education. "It's a problem everywhere."

Some students in area community colleges need up to 1 1/2 years of remedial math just to catch up.

Although the problem is generally worse among school districts with high poverty levels, such as Houston and Aldine, some of those with wealthier populations, including Spring Branch and Katy, face the same predicament.

And it's not just community college students who are struggling. Even those attending four-year universities lack many of the basic skills necessary to tackle college-level work as freshmen.

A report released this spring by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board found that half of the state's 2001 high school graduates needed remedial help in college.

Among Harris County's largest school districts, the percentage of 2001 graduates required to take high school-level courses in college ranged from 62 percent in Houston Independent School District to roughly a quarter of Katy ISD graduates. About one third of all college-bound students from Spring Branch ISD and Cy-Fair ISD needed extra help.

"We recognize the need to do a better job of preparing students for college and we are working hard to do that," said Terry Abbott, spokesman for HISD.

Jose Lopez had a decision to make entering his senior year at HISD's Lee High School: enroll in an Algebra II math class, or take an easier elective course.

"I took welding," Lopez, 19, said recently in the student lounge of the Houston Community College campus on the West Loop.

Lopez's three years of high school math

[pineda]

One sidenote:

Whoever these kids' counselors were in high school ought to be strung up by their toes for allowing them to take the easy courses, which did them a huge disservice when it came time to being able to understand a college-level lecture course.

[dbigtex56]

Let's put the blame squarely where it belongs: parents.

Teachers get pressure from all sides to reward poor performance with good grades. Administrators and parents expect - nay, demand - that a large percentage of students should pass a course, even if they have not learned the material being presented. This results in a domino effect; how can someone compose a grammatically correct sentence if he doesn't know a verb from a noun? How do you teach algebra to someone who lacks simple math skills?

Without the fundamentals, higher education is impossible. It's up to the parents to know their children well enough so that an accurate evaluation of their progress can be made. Teachers must be allowed to hand out failing grades without fear of reprisals. If the child is not learning, the parents must make priorities clear - no TV, no video games, no hanging out at the mall until they have earned at least a passing grade in all subjects.

When I was a child, I'd ask my parents "what does this word mean?" And they'd say "Let's look it up", and we'd get out the dictionary. Eventually, I learned that the answer would be "go look it up", and it is a habit which has served me well. I wonder if the parents of those children who require remedial education take as active a role in their childrens development. Somehow, I doubt it.

[pineda]

When the kids are taking the courses recommended by their counselors, and getting good grades, good enough to graduate with a high school diploma, and still being told that it's just not good enough to make it in college, then there seems to be a clear disconnect between what is acceptable for graduation from a high school and what is expected at the college-level.

When the kids are not even taking the courses that they will need to enter into college, and just doing enough to get a high school diploma, then the question of whether the counselors have really done their jobs comes into play. Parents and students meet with counselors at the high school to determine the students best course of action to graduate and go on to bigger and better things, but many times I have seen parents very upset and students even more so, because just before graduation they're told that apparently it wasn't good enough or even just enough coursework to graduate and walk the stage with their peers. I know couselors are overworked, which is why there is a booming business now in off-site private counselors helping to determine the best course of action.

When the kids are taking courses at the HCC just to jump up their GPA standing at graduation time, the Texas 10% rule is most likely at fault. This rule, as it was recently explained to me, allows those students who have graduated in the top 10% of their high school class automatic acceptance at Texas colleges only, such as A&M, UT, etc. This merely lets them skip the step of applying for admission and writing entrance exams with the payment of fees. Students who do not graduate within the top 10% still have the ability to be accepted based upon a high GPA and good ACT/SAT scores. This rule only applies to Texas universities.

Students taking A.P. courses or the newer and more globally recognized program known as IB are doing themselves a huge favor now because when they arrive at college, they will be adequately prepared for college-level workloads. More and more schools are offering these programs and if your school does not have one, you need to find out why. Just being able to pass the TAKS doesn't cut it when it comes to college. The high school courses need to be tougher, period.

As a parent of a high-schooler enrolled in the IB diploma program at Klein Oak High School, I have a very close relationship with my child's principal, counselors and teachers. Since I cannot be present in the classroom with my child, I depend rather heavily on the advice of the high school counselors. I hope they're not overlooking anything, but I will check out private advisors as my child gets closer to graduation. Maybe the parents you so freely deride depended a bit too blindly upon that advice and thought the counselors were making the right recommendations. Perhaps I'm just a bit too cynical to do that, but I would not be so quick to condemn all the parents of the students listed in that report. Those students graduated from high school. The parents most likely thought they were doing a good parenting job, just getting them that far.

[westender]

I think graduation require exams like TAAS are part of the problem. These kids spend more time preparing for these tests instead of taking actual classes. The message this gives to students is pass the test and you're good enough, but that is not the way the world works. so much for no child left behind..

[The Great Hizzy!]

These are all great points. The Standardized tests that were being taken in Louisiana some years ago were being taught to kids IN PLACE of the normal curriculum for as long as two months before the actual tests. The kids get the test down pat but they aren't performing at the level they should be going into the next grade because they've missed those two months worth of curriculum that they would've had otherwise.

Nevertheless, performance also needs to be stressed at home, and parents need to be prepared and thankful that teachers give them an honest accounting of how their children are doing in school. For that teacher to do otherwise would be not only a dereliction of duty but a complete disservice to both parent and student.

Reality TV shows get more priority from parents and students nowadays than does 9th grade Algebra.

[pineda]

Thanks to the Secretary of Education Rod Paige, (you remember him as the HISD Superintendent), and the now infamous "No Child Left Behind" platform, teachers will spend approximately the entire school year teaching to the new and improved TAKS test. Only in May do they actually get a chance to teach what they think is appropriate subject matter for whatever grade level they are teaching. To hold Texas, and in particular Houston schools, up as a "shining example" for the rest of the nation to be following is ludicrous, IMHO. And one more thing, the only way that parents can be held completely culpable for the failure of their child's education is if that parent home-schooled that kid, with no help from organized education. So, quit bashing the parents already; spread the "love" around!

[pineda]

Actually, in reference to the reality shows, CSI beat all of them cold!

[dbigtex56]

pinda, I share your frustration with our educational system. If I came across as accusatory on any sort of personal level, I apologize.

Your point about the failure of counselors to ensure that high school graduates have taken courses required to enter college is one that I missed. You certainly have the right to expect that the people who are guiding your child towards a college education should know what they're talking about, and that our schools should be capable of providing a foundation which is at least adequate.

There seems to be some sort of disjoint between the standards required to graduate from a public high school, and those for admittance to a reputable college.

Thanks for helping me to better understand this issue.

[MidtownCoog]

This is why HCC can justify the huge tax hikes.

[pineda]

Good article by Rick Casey to explain how the HCC system works:

Houston Chronicle article

[pineda]

Good article by Rick Casey explaining how the Top 10% rule works:

Houston Chronicle article

[CincoRanch-HoustonResident]

Where did you guys go for college and what was your majors. I went to University of Texas and my major was Chemical Engineering.

[HeightsGuy]

Of course, let's not forget this expose on HISD:

The Texas Miracle

Does anyone wonder if there is a correlation?

[pineda]

Thank you, Heights Guy! I had not seen the CBS story. I remember reading all about it in the Houston Chronicle and just shaking my head, wondering why Paige was allowed to keep his job in Washington. His system of fudging numbers, obfuscating the facts, and then lashing out at his critics is an embarrassment to all of us, but the true shame of it all is the wasted potential of all those kids. Houston is a true bilingual city filled with working poor who deserve much better than this. They were taken advantage of, and should be suing Paige for his culpability in all this, or demanding that he step down. "No Child Left Behind"? I don't think so...

[pineda]

School district grades slip under new state guideline

HISD 'acceptable' overall, but many school rankings drop

By JASON SPENCER, Houston Chronicle

UNACCEPTABLE SCHOOLS

Among the hundreds of schools in 60 Houston-area school districts, 22 schools were deemed academically unacceptable:

HISD