17% of CSUN Freshmen Fail Remediation Courses

NORTHRIDGE —  Five percent of the 2,300 freshmen who enrolled at Cal State Northridge last fall failed remediation courses and flunked out after the spring semester, university officials said Monday.

The university sent “stop letters” to 120 students on Friday explaining that they did not meet the requirements of Executive Order 665, which mandates that freshmen complete remedial math or English courses during their first academic year.

Under discretion granted to Cal State campus presidents, about 275 students who still must pass one or two remedial courses were given until the end of the coming fall semester to do so. Incoming fall freshmen will have only through the summer of 2000 to pass their remedial courses.

“To be honest, the numbers are smaller than what we had feared,” said Robert Danes, CSUN’s director of undergraduate affairs. “I think everyone is comfortable with these numbers, frankly.”

In all, 17% of CSUN freshmen failed to meet remediation requirements by the end of the spring semester, compared with 11% of Cal State Long Beach freshmen. Statewide figures will not be available until November, officials said.

The controversial executive order went into effect last fall to signal to California’s K-12 schools the need for tougher educational standards and to shift the focus of the first year from remediation to college-level course work. The Cal State system has for several years been overburdened with remedial students, with 80% of freshmen who entered CSUN last fall needing remediation.

“It may be better for some of these students to go to a community college and do their work in that environment--they may do better if they have a slower pace,” Danes said.

CSUN students protested Executive Order 665 earlier this year amid fears that more first-year students would flunk out than pass their remedial courses.

Conversely, the CSU Board of Trustees at first underestimated the order’s impact, Danes said.

“When this policy was first formulated the trustees were just thinking it would affect a small number of students,” he said. “I don’t think they had it clear in their minds how many of our students are in this category. This has been a learning process at every level.”

The students who still need to complete remedial courses may do so during CSUN’s five-week summer session or in the fall. The summer remedial class is free, said CSUN spokesman John Chandler.

CSUN is also offering two other alternatives this summer: a tutorial program that qualifies students to retake the university placement exam, and remedial courses through CSUN’s College of Extended Learning at a cost of $700.

Students with extenuating circumstances or those who believe they were dealt with unfairly may appeal their expulsion, Danes said.