In December 2004, the WTCS State Board convened a working group charged with designing an instructional model to better prepare students for successful participation in technical college associate degree programs. Over a 12-month period, that group – the WTCS Underprepared Learners Committee – developed four recommendations intended to improve student success through mandatory assessment and placement in transitional coursework.

The recommendations are:

1. Develop a new level of tuition-bearing and financially aidable coursework – called General College – that leads directly into associate degree general education courses.
2. Implement mandatory assessment and placement. Students are to be placed in appropriate starting courses, including General College.
3. Improve college readiness of high school students by identifying and eliminating gaps between high school and technical college curricula.
4. Develop and/or expand student support programs, including more insistent student advising, so as to improve student success.

These recommendations – and the manner in which they are implemented – will have significant ramifications for the technical colleges and WTCS students. Previously, the “open enrollment” philosophy of the technical colleges resulted in many underprepared students trying to tough it out in associate degree coursework rather than enroll in voluntary basic skills courses.

Under the new initiative, all students will be required to take some form of skills assessment. The assessment will measure preparedness in reading, writing, math, science, and college readiness. Students who are deemed to be underprepared in any of these areas will initially be placed in the corresponding General College subject area. Each General College subject area will consist of three to five credits of coursework that transition to associate degree general education courses.

Some students may be prepared for some general education courses (e.g. English) but unprepared for others (e.g. math). In this instance, students will be allowed to take associate degree general education courses in subject areas where preparedness is demonstrated while also taking General College courses.

Basic skills programs will not be eliminated. Students whose assessments indicate unreadiness for General College transitional coursework will be placed in basic skills.

In the coming weeks, faculty and staff will begin fleshing out some details of the underprepared learners plan. Most importantly, work groups – which will include faculty representatives – will begin developing the curriculum for General College courses.

Many faculty view the underprepared learners initiative in a positive light. The effort to standardize general education courses on a statewide basis has led to a general increase in the rigor of general education coursework, particularly in mathematics. If this is to be the general trend in the technical colleges, then a system to increase preparedness of technical college students is vital.

While the general concept of increasing student preparedness is viewed as a positive development, several significant questions surround the implementation of such a plan. For example:

• Will the underprepared initiative require new funding and, if so, where will the necessary financial resources come from?
• Will districts be required to offer all the General College credits in each subject area? If not, will the implied goal of bringing students to a minimum level of competence be achieved?
• Will the same test score indicate preparedness in all districts? Or will one district require higher test scores than another? If the latter, will technical college students across the state have the minimum level of competence necessary to succeed in common, statewide general education?
• How will “college preparedness” – currently one of the General College subject areas – be assessed? Does this type of course belong in General College?
• How will this new requirement impact time-to-degree? Is there a possibility that students will lose financial aid because time-to-degree will be drawn out?

These and other questions will need to be resolved if the effort to increase student preparedness – a laudable goal – is to succeed.