Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs
535 East 80 Street, New York NY. 10021
MEMORANDUM
TO: Board Committee on Academic Policy, Program and Research
FROM: Vice Chancellor Louise Mirrer
SUBJECT: Implementation plans for January, 1999 resolution
DATE: May 27, 1999
The Chancellor and his staff have reviewed the plans, submitted by each college president, to implement the January 1999 Board resolution phasing out remediation at the senior colleges. From these plans a draft of an "Implementation Template" has been developed. The template distills the various proposals and recommendations in the college plans and also incorporates successful strategies adopted by other institutions and states that similarly have phased out (or phased down) remediation at senior colleges. The template is attached for your review; it will be the subject of discussion at the June 7 CAPPR meeting. While I have attached, for your review, copies of the individual college plans, the Chancellor’s intention is to use the template as a guide for implementing the Board resolution at the University. Please call if you have any comments or if you have any questions prior to the CAPPR meeting.
cc: Interim Chancellor Christoph M. Kimmich
Vice Chairman Herman Badillo
Cabinet
DRAFT
IMPLEMENTATION TEMPLATE
RESOLVED, That all remedial course instruction shall be phased out of all baccalaureate degree programs at the CUNY senior colleges as of the following dates:
January 2000 for Baruch, Brooklyn, Queens, and Hunter Colleges; September 2000 for Lehman, John Jay, City, The College of Staten Island and New York City Technical Colleges; and September 2001 for York and Medgar Evers Colleges. Following a college’s discontinuation of remediation, no student who has not passed all three Freshman Skills Assessment Tests, and any other admissions criteria which may exist, shall be allowed to enroll and/or transfer into that college’s baccalaureate degree programs. Students seeking admission to CUNY senior college baccalaureate degree programs who are in need of remediation shall be able to obtain such remediation services at a CUNY community college, at a senior college only during its summer sessions, or elsewhere as may be made available. This resolution does not apply to ESL students who received a secondary education abroad and who otherwise are not in need of remediation; ... (January 1999)
The City University is committed to providing broad access to all students who are qualified for and can benefit from a college education. As a comprehensive and integrated system of senior and community colleges, the University provides opportunities for students with different levels of skill and academic background, and with varying educational needs and career goals.
The following template is intended to guide the University in planning for and implementing a new policy which will require students to demonstrate readiness for college level work before enrolling in a degree program at the University’s senior colleges. The new policy does not apply to the University’s community colleges, which will continue to provide access to their degree programs to all students who qualify for admission (i.e., hold a high school diploma or GED).
I. Pre-collegiate activities
A. Collaborative programs with New York City public schools.
Many of the colleges work closely with New York City high schools to strengthen precollegiate preparation of students and to develop programs to help students make the transition from high school to college. Selected University initiatives include:
College Now
College Now will be expanded, as funds are provided, to every New York City high school. The program will incorporate a comprehensive early warning system (including skills testing in the junior year) to inform high school juniors, their parents, and teachers and counselors about the students’ readiness for college level work.
Also housed under the "College Now" umbrella will be college preparatory programs piloted by CUNY’s senior colleges in 1998-99 and fully operational in 2000. These programs have identified "feeder" high schools and involve close collaboration to provide testing and skills-building during the junior and senior years of high school. Programs are specially tailored to help students meet the admissions requirements of individual colleges. These include Lehman’s Bridge to College Now and the Baruch Preparatory Program.
Looking Both Ways
Looking Both Ways brought together high school and college teachers during the 1998-1999 academic year to investigate practices and challenges in writing instruction and to lay the groundwork for improved writing instruction in both high schools and colleges. The program will be expanded to ensure the dissemination of promising practices for high quality writing instruction and to foster the development of writing across the curriculum in both high schools and colleges.
Early Warning Math Program
The Early Warning Math Program will be expanded to give high school juniors an opportunity to take the CUNY Math Assessment Test to show them the level of work expected in college and to identify math difficulties in order to address them in the senior year.
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The Summer Intensive English Language Program for High School Students
Since 1997 Summer Intensive English Language Programs have provided campus-based opportunities for entering ninth graders to improve their language skills in a carefully structured program, including an enriched curriculum, access to technology and extracurricular activities. The program will be expanded to include limited English proficient students who are already in high school.
B. University and College based programs
Successful University initiatives will be enhanced and expanded to meet the needs of students who are not fully prepared to engage in college level work.
University Summer Immersion Program
The University Summer Immersion Program will be further expanded at the senior colleges to accommodate the needs of students who have met all but the testing requirements for entrance. Colleges will tailor programs according to specific populations--e.g., modules that allow rapid progress towards successful completion of individual assessment tests; computer-assisted instruction; weekend workshops; tutorials; etc. There will also be late summer versions of USIP to accommodate late admits and testers.
Intersession Programs
Intersession programs will be expanded and new forms will be piloted. Express classes, for example, will allow students who have modest deficiencies to make rapid progress towards successful completion of remedial courses and to pass the Freshman Skills Assessment Tests.
Immersion Programs
Several colleges will offer year-round versions of the University Summer Immersion Program and Intersession skills immersion model.
CUNY Language Immersion Program
In Fall 1999 the CUNY Language Immersion Program will be located at 8 schools, all six community colleges plus New York City Technical College and York College. It will continue to serve as an opportunity for limited English proficient students to receive enhanced ESL instruction in preparation for beginning college level study. The University will strengthen it efforts to establish a closer relationship between the formal ESL programs on the campuses
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and the immersion programs. As curriculum is refined, efforts will continue to determine the appropriate criteria for exit from to ensure a successful transition to college.
II. New and/or Intensified University Initiatives
A. Articulated Programs
Articulated programs involve partnerships between community and senior colleges. Such programs often include block programming which provides students with a support group for academic and social interaction and which often links skills and content courses. Thus students can complete remedial needs while making progress toward degree requirements at the senior college which they aspire to attend.
"Prelude to Success"
This model program is a partnership developed by Borough of Manhattan Community College and Hunter College. It will allow select groups of students who have been provisionally admitted to Hunter, City and other senior colleges who, based on test scores, are likely to be able to fulfill their remedial requirements in one semester to do so on the campus of the senior college while registered at the community college. These students will take the FSATs at the end of the semester and if they pass all three, will be assured of transfer to the senior college. See appropriate appended documents for complete program description.
B. Counseling and Advisement
To accompany the new outreach efforts, earlier and more frequent testing in all basic skills areas, with scores made available more quickly, will allow for diagnosis and early and multiple interventions for both pre-collegiate and transfer students. Intensive academic advisement is being made available to students prior to enrollment, as well as to entering students, transfer students and adult students. The expansion of block programming at many of the colleges will also help to integrate new students into the colleges and improve retention and progress.
C. Use of Technology
Electronic classrooms are being enhanced and new ones are being created for students in immersion and other programs. Computer assisted instruction and modular programming is being used both in and outside of the classroom.
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D. Recruitment and preparation for Professional Career Pathways
There will be a general strengthening of recruitment efforts focused on attracting students qualified to meet higher performance standards in, for example, professional careers such as teaching, engineering and the health professions.
Strategies include:
* Targeting recruitment in the high schools and expanding advertising efforts for programs in teacher education, engineering and the health professions;
* Articulating a clear understanding of the requirements for all programs leading to careers in the professions;
* Expanding scholarship opportunities and honors programs;
* Enhancing admission standards for teacher education and related professional programs;
* Strengthening and expanding dual/joint programs between the community colleges and the senior colleges to ensure that all qualified students have access to teacher education and other professional programs.
III. Special Provision for Adult Students
In cooperation with all the campuses, the University will make special efforts to ensure that adults, who may be affected by the implementation of the Board resolution, are informed of the new policies, are provided opportunities to evaluate their preparedness prior to the submission of applications and are provided with flexible and effective opportunities to enhance their skills prior to enrollment in a senior college.
We will establish a formal consultative committee (composed of representatives of entities that have large numbers of adult constituents or clients, e.g., trade unions, social service organizations, state and city agencies, and the public libraries) to provide information and advice on the needs of these individuals.
Strategies include:
* the development and distribution of high-quality print and video materials that describe and illustrate the knowledge and skills that students entering college should have in ways that are understandable to adult students and other interested parties;
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* the establishment of campus-based comprehensive assessment and basic skills instruction centers to enable interested individuals to assess their readiness for college and, if necessary, enhance their skills prior to application or admission through participation in both full and part-time immersion type programs;
* the development of a strategic plan with the State University of New York concerning the involvement of the Educational Opportunity Centers in -remediation;
* the development of partnership programs with employers, trade unions, and nonprofit organizations to provide basic skills instruction to interested individuals;
* the development of new instructional approaches in cooperation with the staffs of adult-oriented programs, such as the Adult Degree Program at Lehman College and the Center for Worker Education at City College, and of campus-based divisions of continuing education.
IV. SEEK (Search for Education. Elevation and Knowledge) Students
SEEK students are not included in the resolution, but they will be faced with sharply reduced opportunities for remediation. This may be somewhat mitigated by the fact that restructuring of the SEEK programs on each campus actually began several years ago and included more rigorous admissions requirements and new academic support and counseling initiatives. Special Programs will continue to work with the colleges to ensure that SEEK students receive appropriate support and to explore and develop innovative curricula.
A. Intensified supplemental instruction
Instruction will be supplemented further through: tutors in the classroom and in one-on-one situations; computer assisted tutorials; and, throughout the year, skills immersion workshops or cooperative learning groups targeting specific subject areas or student sub-populations.
B. Intensified counseling initiatives
These include group counseling and theme based counseling.
C. Innovative Curriculum Models
New curriculum models linking developmental education and basic skills course work with core curriculum, science and humanities are being developed and implemented.
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V. ESL Students
To ensure that admitted ESL students who are accepted in accordance with the provisions of the Board resolution, and are provided with ESL instruction as well as regular college studies which will allow them to make satisfactory progress toward degree completion, the following steps will be taken.
* ESL students will be provided with thoughtful and comprehensive advisement in order to ensure proper placement in the various ESL course sequences.
* Promising curricular and instructional practices will be identified and disseminated (such as the registration of students in blocked classes, whereby English language learning is closely linked to disciplinary content area study);
* Models of supplementary ESL instruction will be identified and disseminated (such as the organized participation of English-proficient students in conversation circles with ESL students);
* The new Writing Across the Curriculum Initiative will be used to respond to the special learning needs of ESL students.
The University is committed to moving forward with these initiatives and is confident that the colleges are prepared to meet the letter and spirit of the Trustees’ January resolution.
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