Students are better prepared for college

Many high school graduates, however, need remedial help before beginning college work, a report says.

By STEPHEN HEGARTY

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 24, 2000

Florida's high school graduates are a little better prepared for college, but nearly four of every 10 still need remedial work before they are ready for college level work.

Scores on the state's College Placement Test were up statewide this year after a big drop last year. Tampa Bay area school districts each were above the state average, and a couple of local districts posted some of the highest scores in the state.

Despite the good news, educators find it hard to get excited. Each year, the College Readiness Report reminds them that a significant number of Florida teens who enter college just aren't ready.

"That's good, but it's still not where I want it," said Catherine Fleeger, assistant superintendent in charge of high schools for Pinellas County. Her district's numbers were up. "It's still hard trying to convince some kids they need to take more than just the basics if they want to be ready for college."

The annual College Readiness Report has been a constant source of irritation to educators. For one thing, it excludes many of the state's brightest kids. This year's report only includes students who graduated in 1998 and entered a public state college or university in 1998-99. That excludes students who went to prestigious colleges out of state, or private in-state colleges.

"That's just the way it is; some of our highest performing students aren't even in here," said Jan Morphew, director of research and accountability for the Citrus County schools, which posted some of the highest scores in the state.

Another source of irritation is that the College Readiness Report is really like two reports -- one full of good news, and one full of bad.

The readiness among university-bound students is pretty impressive -- consistently in the nine out of 10 range. Educators insist that is because those students prepare for college by taking rigorous courses in high school.

Not so, for the students bound for community colleges. More than 60 percent of them need remedial work in either reading, writing or math. The simplest explanation is that Florida's community colleges have an open-enrollment policy, so a student with a high school diploma can enroll, regardless of whether they take college prep courses in high school.

The cost of their lack of preparedness? Roughly $6.5-million spent on remedial courses for public school graduates. The state spends a lot more on remedial classes each year (about $30-million), but some of the cost is paid by student fees, and some of the remedial students are from private schools.

Educators are hopeful that some recent changes at the high school level will push the college readiness levels upward. For instance, students are being required to take algebra in high school. And several districts are discouraging students from taking the less-challenging, basic education courses. But many of those changes are still under way and are not yet reflected in the college-readiness statistics.

"I think we're doing a better job guiding college-bound kids to some more rigorous courses, and that will show up in the readiness scores," said Sandy Ramos, assistant superintendent in charge of instruction for the Pasco schools, which saw one of the biggest gains in readiness scores in the state.

The College Placement Test is given to students as they enter college to see what level of math or English they're ready for. It's a three-part test, including a section on math, reading and writing. Often the test indicates a student needs remedial work in one or more area. The college readiness numbers reflect the percentage of students who needed no remedial work because they passed all three portions of the readiness test.

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