Sierra College Grant Aims To Curb Need For Remedial Math Classes

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — California State faculty say many high school graduates aren't ready and too many need remedial help in math classes.

A $2 million grant is expanding a program that has already seen success, reaching high-school seniors to upgrade their math skills before they get stuck in a long and expensive catch-up situation.

Sierra College student Everett Williams says he took one year of math in high school. That meant he had to take remedial courses in college.

"I didn't come knowing a lot about math so it was a lot harder for me," he said.

He is not alone, and that has meant a slower and more costly path on the way to a degree.

A new state grant awarded to Sierra College is being used to change that, creating senior level math classes in feeder high schools to prepare students for college math.

This grant comes as California State University's academic senate, made up of faculty from all 23 campuses, approved a resolution calling for entering freshman to take 4 years of high school math, rather than the current 3.

The grant can't come too soon as colleges work to slow a trend they've been seeing for years. Up to 70 percent of student that come to Sierra College have to take remedial math. At Sacramento State, that's 55 percent.