CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Efforts by educational leaders in West Virginia to increase the number of students passing college entry level math and English classes are starting to pay off, according to the Higher Education Policy Commission.
The HEPC met earlier this month and announced their findings, they believe the change is in part due to recent efforts to reform college’s remedial education programs.
In the past, one in four West Virginia students at colleges have been required to take a remedial math or English class because of their high school grade point averages or entrance exam test.
Remedial classes regularly offer no credit towards a degree, which can lead to a lack of motivation and dropouts.
“Education too often has led to a dead end for students,” said Dr. Paul Hill, Chancellor of the HEPC. “It’s discouraging, because not only are they taking and paying for classes that don’t count toward their degrees, but they often are being asked to re-learn information at a snail’s pace.”
Hill said he believes a new model developed by the HEPC will allow students who have to take remedial classes to catch up quickly and maintain momentum toward earning a college diploma.
This new model, is the result of a collaboration between Complete College America, HEPC, the West Virginia Community and Technical College System, and public colleges and universities from across the state.
The new format, known in the education world as a co-requisite model, provided students who have low GPAs or entrance exam scores with extra help. That help comes in the form of required tutoring, extra lab classes, or even two teachers to one class so students get more individual attention.
“Most of it is an additional section,” said HEPC Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Corley Dennison. “Let’s say your regular math class meets three times a week, there would be a fourth session. There are a couple different models, another has students staying another 20 or 30 minutes after class.”
Dennison, said data shows a 6 percent increase in the success rate for English and a 7 percent increase in math for students statewide.
“The numbers are showing real improvement in pass rates for English and math,” said Dennison. “These numbers are from 2010 to 2014, so it isn’t full implementation. We are very pleased with those numbers and expect them to grow as they reach full implementation.
The new model also wiped out remedial classes that students received no credit for taking and replaced them with co-requisite classes. This allowed students to complete college level coursework that counted toward their degrees, while also getting the help they needed in any weak areas.
“The numbers are kind of interesting, because what they show is not that they were not passing developmental math, they were,” Dennison said. “Those students didn’t persists to their general math courses, so those developmental courses were a real killer as far as persistence is concerned.”
Data presented at the HEPC meeting earlier this month showed at Fairmont State University the number of students completing entry-level math jumped from 28 percent to 81 percent after the school switched to providing co-requisite courses.
At West Liberty University, English entry-level completion increased from 46 percent to 90 percent.
Dennison said he expects the change to have a major impact on the number of people successfully earning a college degree.
“It seemed to be the case that the students come in and work really hard in developmental classes and get burned out and don’t take the gateway course,” Dennison said. “This is putting the student in the gateway course. I think the students are psyched up because they are in a college level course and they know if they work hard and pass the class that they can move on.”
Hill said ultimately the new model is also a more cost-efficient method of offering classes.
“Previously, our colleges and universities had to dedicate faculty, space and class time for an entire semester to conduct high-school-level courses in order to prepare students for college work,” Hill said. “Now we are integrating the developmental work into first-year college courses and utilizing existing campus services, such as tutoring and faculty office hours, to offer extra support for the students who need it.”
West Virginia is one of just five states to implement the model across the entire public higher education system.