New challenges for English dept; efforts to improve core education

By Yomi Akinyemi and Ryan Kuhn
The Guardsman

City College’s English department is one of many victims affected by the loss of state funds.

Faced with its share of class cuts and budget cuts, the department has had to cater to more students yearly while operating under a leaner structure led by department chair Jessica Brown.

“My main goal is to create a more organized department – one that is more systematized so everything within it runs a lot smoother,” she said.

The English department is not expecting to see any major class cuts, but the fund shortfall means the department will be unable to add more classes.

Looking  to balance its budget for the 2011 fall semester, 350 to 400 classes will be cut next year, according to the June board of trustees meeting.

Brown has been a full-time professor at City College since 1997 and with more responsibility becoming department chair, the stress of it is not far behind.

“My first year as pretty chaotic…there was just so much stuff to figure out,” she said. “But then I said to myself, the only way to succeed is to have a personal mission statement and set goals for the department.” Brown said.

Resolve and evolve was the motto she came up with believing one of the keys going forward for the department is to rethink the curriculum to establish a modus operandi that addresses some of the English department’s core problems.

As she tries to move a department forward, the absence of a reading and writing center is just one of the major challenges Brown is attempting to tackle.

“The Chancellor has looked into a proposal that would include a centralized reading and writing lab,” Brown said.

According to a study from the nonprofit group Campaign for College Opportunity, about 70 percent of degree-seeking students at community colleges across the state drop out so the department  revised the curriculum which is now based on a proposal designed by the Basic Skills Initiative back in 2009 called YO! (Year One) First Year Experience.

The program will focus its efforts on primarily African-American and Latino/a students.

“This too is now going to be institutionalized and will not rely on grant funding,” Brown said. “The idea is to provide all incoming freshmen with a core curriculum of English, Math, and College Success as required first year courses in order to provide the foundation for success.”

Recent figures also show that 90 percent of students testing into City College basic skills courses possess a seventh to ninth grade reading level, according to assessment data.

There is hope for now. A $515,000 grant given by Microsoft in June, allowed City College, SFUSD and the city of San Francisco to help launch the “Bridge to Success” program.

“Bridge to Success” focuses on closing the graduation gap in San Francisco public schools that exists particularly among the low-income minority population.

In the first year of the three-year pilot course, the accelerated program had a 98 percent retention rate for freshmen.

The aim of the program is to make high school students college-ready by aligning a cohesive curriculum between SFUSD high schools and post-secondary institutions.

Currently, only 27 percent of current ninth graders in San Francisco will receive a post-secondary degree, and for African American, Latino and Pacific Islander students, the figure is 10 percent.

“The goal of the accelerated program, using well researched, pedagogical methods is to provide students with a core – a learning community which prepares the students and ensures they graduate on time and are well equipped at City College and after they leave this college.” Brown said. “My number one mission for the department is to make sure the department provides students with courses they will need to succeed.”