Wednesday, May 25, 2005 | 11:08 a.m.
The Clark County School District should mandate that students take more challenging levels of math, English and science courses to reduce the increasing need for incoming college freshmen to enroll in remedial classes, university system Chancellor Jim Rogers wrote in a letter to School Board President Larry Mason.
Rogers asked Mason to consider whether Clark County should adopt the "Gateway" curriculum that the Washoe County School Board has approved. Beginning with the freshman class of 2006, Washoe will mandate that all students take the same rigorous curriculum and would require parents to appear in person to opt their children out of the program.
Washoe County high school seniors are often surprised to learn many colleges and universities expect applicants to have completed three years of science classes and four years of mathematics, officials in that district said. Like Clark County, Washoe County requires two years of science and three years of math for graduation.
"For too long, Nevada high school students have been allowed to take too many courses that have little academic substance," Rogers wrote in his letter. "This results in students having higher grade point averages, which may not correspond to real knowledge and skills."
Mason could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The Clark County School District upped its math requirements beginning with the class of 2007, who are currently sophomores, making algebra a prerequisite for graduation.
About 40 percent of Nevada high school graduates in June 2004 enrolled in remedial courses at a state institution that summer or fall, according to the most recent system data available. It cost taxpayers more than $3 million to bring the 2,871 students up to speed in math and/or English according to the February report.
Washoe had a slightly higher percentage of students needing remediation at 42 percent, but a smaller total number of students.
Clark County School District officials say they aren't sure Washoe's program is right for Clark County.
"When kids feel they have no options, that's when panic sets in," Charlene Green, CCSD's associate superintendent of student support services, said. "Our job as education leaders is to give students choices and the support system necessary for them to complete whatever path they choose."
A handful of the district's high schools offer the AVID program, which stands for Advanced Via Individual Determination. Created more than 20 years ago by a public school teacher in San Diego, AVID calls for students with average grades to be automatically enrolled in honors and Advanced Placement classes.
The students receive tutoring, daily classes focusing on study skills and are assigned a mentor. "You can't just push every kid into an upper-level class and then leave them to fend for themselves," Green said. "When there's a safety net and a structured environment surrounding them, it's a whole different picture." District officials have said they would like to offer AVID at all of the district's 35 high schools, but the cost, about $450,000 annually for 540 students at nine campuses, makes it impossible.
Rogers, who was in Carson City and unavailable for comment Tuesday, focused his letter on the need for dialogue and cooperation between the Clark County School District and the newly renamed Nevada System of Higher Education to reduce the number of students needing remedial classes.
Clark County Schools Superintendent Carlos Garcia said Tuesday he welcomed the chancellor's involvement but asked that Rogers provide hard data demonstrating the effectiveness of the university system's remedial classes.
Students are assigned to remedial classes in the university system based on their SAT scores, Garcia said. But those same students are not re-tested after taking the remedial class to determine whether their performance has improved, Garcia said.
"If they'll test every kid coming out of their remedial programs and show us their classes are as good as they're suggesting, we'll invite them to come here and teach those same classes to every senior in the district who qualifies," Garcia said. "It's easy to criticize, but the proof is in the pudding."
A joint task force between the two has already made several advances on the university system's end, including changing the way students are placed into remedial classes and upping the course requirements for future Millennium Scholars, Chris Chairsell, interim vice chancellor for academic and student affairs, said.
"We're really cooking," said Chairsell of the cooperative effort, which she sees as essential to helping reduce the need for remediation.
Remediation students are not "inferior" in any way, both Rogers and Chairsell said, they simply haven't learned the skills they need for college work and need additional help. The system's remediated students actually have higher retention rates than non-remediated students.
The task force, however, has long stressed what Rogers is recommending, that all students need to take more advanced math, science and English courses.
Washoe has been very "courageous" in mandating those courses for its students, Chairsell said, but she noted that Garcia has moved in that direction by increasing the number of eighth graders taking algebra and mandating that sophomores take the PSAT.
Most School District officials she's worked with have already embraced the value and worth of pushing the upper level courses, which benefit all students, Chairsell said. It will just take a while to implement those courses given the district's size and the number of people such a policy would impact.
"I liken it to turning an air craft carrier completely around in the ocean," Chairsell said. "You don't do it on a dime."
Gov. Kenny Guinn signed a bill Tuesday allowing school districts to conduct additional classes in remedial education for students who are falling behind.
Assembly Bill 518 permits the school districts to apply to the state superintendent of public instruction to start a program for additional days or minutes of instruction for failing students.
It also requires student attendance in a remedial program if the district recommends it. The classes would be offered at no cost to students and, if needed, transportation to the classes will be provided.
The bill, sought by the Washoe County School District, would allow a parent to appeal the determination of the district that the pupil must attend the remedial education courses.
Guinn said this bill fits in with his program to provide $50 million a year to failing or near failing elementary schools.
"We have nearly 200 schools that are on the failing or watch list for No Child Left Behind, and we must get remedial funding to them quickly. AB518 makes sure this money is effectively used," Guinn said as he signed the measure into law.
The federal education law already requires districts to use Title I dollars for remedial programs at failing schools with the highest percentage of students from low-income households. The state money would be welcome for students at schools that may not meet the threshold for federal aid but are struggling nonetheless, Green said.
The funds will be particularly helpful for transportation, one of the key factors that often keep students away from after-hour remedial programs, early morning tutorials and weekend help sessions.
"It would take a big load off parents' minds to know transportation was taken care of," Green said.
For the program to be effective, both parents and students will have to commit to the increased demands on their time, Green said. "It's important that we communicate to them that this isn't a punishment but another means by which to raise student achievement," Green said. This is the second time this week that Rogers has offered advice to the School Board on how they should operate the district.
Just Monday, Rogers mailed a letter to trustees encouraging them to look for a businessman like him to fill the vacant superintendent position.
When Rogers, the multimillionaire owner of Sunbelt Communications, offered to fill in as an interim superintendent six years ago, trustees would not let Rogers "ever near the place."
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