Cal State Chancellor Reed criticizes low standards at high schools

California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed said that what passes for algebra in high schools is really “algebra light,” and characterized as “outrageous” that school districts don’t require more of their students.

The backdrop for Reed’s comments, in an interview and in formal remarks before a lunchtime audience this week, was the official opening of the new California State University Center to Close the Achievement Gap.

“We can’t get many school districts to adopt A-G,” Reed said, referring to the courses required to apply to the University of California and Cal State systems. “That is outrageous.”

And even students who take these classes aren’t learning what they’re supposed to, according to Cal State data. More than 60% of first-time freshmen require remedial education in English, mathematics or both. All these students passed the required college preparatory curriculum and earned at least a B grade point average in high school. The picture is more stark for minority students. More than half of African American students, for example, enter Cal State as proficient in neither math nor English.

Focusing on math teachers in particular, Reed said that “less than half” of algebra teachers “had algebra classes or were taught how to teach algebra.”

Developing remedies will be a focus of the new center, which is mostly privately funded, with a projected $1.6-million annual budget. The top four donors are State Farm Insurance, Edison International, Macy's and the United Way of the Bay Area. Cal State’s contribution includes office space and technical support.

The center will be run by veteran educator Jim Lanich, 52, as the next step in an earlier collaboration  with Cal State. In recent years, Lanich has headed California Business for Education Excellence, which also is mostly privately funded. In that role, Lanich helped develop an honor roll of high-achieving schools, including many that serve low-income and minority families. 

Lanich also has used this platform to fault the California school accountability system as overly lax and wasteful of taxpayer dollars.

In his remarks, during a gathering on the Cal State L.A. campus east of downtown, Lanich said the lever to change would be improving teacher quality, developing real accountability and focusing on practices that have produced results. Working teachers need an opportunity to learn from successful schools, he said.

Reed added that these top-flight programs also need to inform teacher training at the 22 Cal State schools with teacher credentialing programs, which produce 17,000 teachers a year.

-- Howard Blume

Comments

[Very simple]

Welcome to the culture of low expectations, Chancellor. This is what happens when a statewide school system is more tuned to accommodating the lowest common denominators and not producing world-class academics.

[Mom]

my husband is a Professor at a Cal State school. Every quarter he gets papers turned in where the kids haven't even bothered to use spell checker! I told him I was going to get him a rubber stamp that says "USE SPEL CHEKKER" in red letters.

It's sad.

[Mom]

Oh, and one more thing - it's never the kids from overseas who turn in papers that don't make sense or are full of errors - it's our American idiots who can't be bothered with proper English.

[steve rodriguez]

Our education standards have fallen below many nations standards1 Amen to Chancellor Charles B. Reed, for not worrying about being politically correct and telling it like it is!!!!

[Dr. Henry Borenson]

What evidence does Chancellor Reed have that “less than half” of algebra teachers “had algebra classes or were taught how to teach algebra.”

Practically all students take algebra and those students who are thinking of becoming educators and teaching algebra in high school will most certainly have had algebra as well as many more advanced math courses in high school and college. Unless California has a very severe problem with teachers teaching high school math out of license, the statement by the Chancellor is either in error or the Chancellor been misquoted.

Regarding the teaching of algebra, that is another matter. Most high school teachers will probably attempt to teach the subject the way they themselves were taught in high school, namely abstractly. Most students then are placed into a position of having to try to learn the subject by rote, which is a sure recipe for failure except among those students who function well in this learning mode.

Not only high school teachers, but middle school and elementary teachers need to be made aware of the powerful algebraic instruction that is available through other learning modalities, e.g. visual and kinesthetic.

In addition, the National Math Panel found that the #1 problem in the instruction of algebra was lack of student interest. By introducing algebra via other learning modalities, not only is algebra learned via sense-making but high engagement and interest is maintained.

The place to start to increase high school success in algebra, however, is in the 4h grade, where students can easily be taught to understand and solve equations such as 4x + 3 = 3x + 9 and to apply their learning to word problems. It is much wiser and cost effective to prevent problems from arising than to attempt to remedy them at the high school level when they do arise.

[steve rodriguez]

Hey Mom, thank God that we have the "kids from overseas" studying here! They are great role models for our American kids!

[Mark Alberstein]

The problem is not the teachers of algebra, nor is it the students. We keep expecting our school system to work right if someone just does their job a little better. We've been say this for decades.

The sad fact is that our system doesn't work anymore. What's changed? The incredible diversity of our students, for one thing. We continue to try to force everyone into lock-step, ingnoring the needs of individuals. Guess what? The kids are fed up.

We continually harp on them about the importance of education, and then we let the majority of them slide by from grade to grade with very low performance and next to no real learning.

Solutions are found at www.educateforachange.com

[gina]

Dr. Borenson, you haven't met too many elementary teachers, have you? The CBEST, a test required for entry into a credentialing program, is passed by 80% of whites and 50% of minorities the first time around. I heard a long time ago that the average California teacher has to take the CBEST 8 times before passing. The CBEST tests reading and math, but there is no algebra involved.

[Chris]

Yes, the whole education system is at fault... but so are parents. I have watched parents scurry their kids off the baseball practice (where they stay until 8 p.m.), watched parents looked dazed and confused when the kids ask them about questions, watch them rely whole heartedly on the teachers and education system, or watched them simply not care at all....

This is not the baby boom era and the most educated generation is looking at parents today and probably wondering... what the eff happened? We are under educated and under educating our children... And we have not taught them how to fight for their rights or demonstrate constructively and we get mad because they don't learn. Maybe if we stop letting the television and computer be our children's teacher and friend, and we take a more proactive approach to helping them succeed (despite our tiredness from work or whatever else), the children and young adults may be more willing to educate themselves and be more criticial.

No wonder the world is going to hell.