REMEDIAL EDUCATION BOOSTED; COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS STRESSING BASIC MATH, ENGLISH.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

When classes resume Aug. 20 at College of the Canyons, the fall schedule will contain 101 remedial English and math classes, continuing the rising trend in recent years to offer basic skills instruction.

Whether by coincidence or good planning, the increase in remedial course offerings at COC comes as California State University, Northridge, is turning away incoming freshmen who need remedial help. COC officials didn't know if there was a direct relationship between their fall schedule and the situation at CSUN, the closest state university to the Santa Clarita Valley.

Overall, 210 remedial class section will be offered in subjects including computers and art, but most will focus on English and math. From the fall 1994 and fall 1997 semesters, College of the Canyons increased its remedial English class offerings by 55 percent - from 29 to 45 - and math courses by 31 percent - from 32 to 42, said Nancy Mattice, an institutional researcher at COC.

In the fall 1998 schedule, there are 51 sections of pre-freshman level English, focusing on subjects like grammar, spelling, vocabulary, reading skills, sentence writing and note-taking. Those offerings aren't part of the English-as-a-second-language program, which has its own set of remedial classes.

There are 50 sections of remedial math classes on the fall schedule, covering subjects like arithmetic, elementary algebra and geometry.

Remedial classes are designated with a zero before the course number, like ``English 010'' for the reading and study skills class. The schedule also denotes that students don't earn credits toward a college degree when they take remedial courses.

Carter Doran, COC's vice president of instruction, said remedial classes have been a part of the campus curriculum since the campus opened three decades ago.

``College of the Canyons will certainly welcome any people who want to enroll here because they've been turned down from CSUN,'' Doran said. ``The university systems have been hinting at this for quite a while, and the reason is the cost is so much lower to educate a student here than at the university level.

``Actually, (the universities) have had this requirement in place for a while. As their enrollment has increased, they've been more strict about (enforcing) it,'' Doran added.

``The universities are saying that the community colleges often times are better set up to handle basic skills (instruction), and we feel that's part of our mission - to give people a chance to prepare themselves and remediate things that they're weak in,'' Doran added.

Administrators say there's no way to measure how many students are enrolling at College of the Canyons because they were turned away by the CSUN admissions office. But Doran said that COC will add remedial classes to meet any increasing demand in the fall.

``If we have another room and another teacher, we try to open another (class), because students need (remedial courses) more than ever,'' he said.

Earlier this year, the California State University system released a report that showed 43 percent of first-time freshmen enrolled in fall 1996 needed remedial English, and 53 percent needed remedial math. At CSUN in fall 1997, those figures stood at 62 percent for remedial English and 67 percent for remedial math.

Doran said community colleges have been forging partnerships with their feeder high schools to address the problem of why students are arriving unprepared for college-level work.

``You want this to be a seamless transition from high school to college,'' Doran said, noting College of the Canyons has a representative on the curriculum committee of the William S. Hart Union High School District.

``We're trying to narrow any gaps there may be. We're really trying to work with the high schools to facilitate that transition,'' he said.