SMC Plans to Cut Prerequisite Math & English Courses

Starting summer 2018, the Santa Monica College English and Math departments will be eliminating several prerequisite courses required to take college-level English and Math.

English 85, 21A, and 21B are three English classes that will no longer be offered at SMC. These remedial classes were previously offered to students who were unable to test straight into college-level English. This change will result in students now having to only take one remedial course, English 20.

Although this change can potentially help students transfer sooner by skipping these classes, not all SMC students believe it's the right decision. Risa Shimakura, a business major, said, “I don’t think students can pass English 1 without preparing in English 85, 21A, and 21B.”

The removal of remedial classes in community colleges has been a recent trend after the passage of AB 705, a law signed by Governor Jerry Brown that took effect this year. It aims to "maximize the probability that a student will enter and complete transfer-level coursework in English and Math within a one-year timeframe."

While the English courses change this upcoming summer, the Math sequence will not change until fall 2018. The biggest change in the math department is the creation of a completely new course called Math 1.

SMC math professor, Kristin Lui-Martinez, spearheaded the new math course sequence. "I created a math course sequence called Math 1, 1B, and 1C. It was just approved by the board of trustees last week, and so right now you can probably see it in the online course schedule," Lui-Martinez said. "But it's only open for incoming freshman for fall 2018. After that, it'll probably open up for everyone."

Students who enroll in Math 1 will have the opportunity to pass through Math 85, Math 31 and Math 20 in one semester, giving students a quicker route to complete transfer-level math.

"What we're using is a computer-adaptive program called ALEKS; the course is heavily reliant on this program. It assesses students and determines what their knowledge is in a certain course," Lui-Martinez said. "What ALEKS does [is] it creates these things called knowledge pies. As you learn topics, you'll see the pie fill up, and you can see how much you mastered. So a student can move on and theoretically complete Math 85 in half a semester. If they finish 85 mid-way through the semester, then they can move right into 31."

These remedial math courses will be pass/no pass, self-paced, and based on mastery of the coursework. Students can only pass Math 1 by passing the final.