SENATE BILL REPORT

                  SHB 1336

              As Reported By Senate Committee On:

               Higher Education, March 30, 1995

Title:  An act relating to accountability and collaboration in higher education and K‑12 education.

Brief Description:  Requiring institutions of higher education to report on precollege class enrollments.

Sponsors:  House Committee on Higher Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Jacobsen, Carlson, Mastin and Basich).

Brief History:

Committee Activity:  Higher Education:  3/16/95, 3/30/95 [DPA].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Majority Report:  Do pass as amended.

  Signed by Senators Bauer, Chair; Kohl, Vice Chair; A. Anderson, McAuliffe, Prince and Wood.

Staff:  Jean Six (786-7423)

Background:  According to a national survey of colleges and universities released by the National Center for Educational Statistics, 30 percent of college freshmen took at least one remedial or precollege course in the fall of 1989.

Community Colleges:  During the 1993-94 academic year, 18,027 full time equivalent (FTE) students were enrolled in precollege classes in community and technical colleges.  The system expended about $55,660,000 in state general fund monies and student operating fees on the classes.  About 2,243 of those FTE students, or 12 percent, had received a high school diploma within the previous three years.   Most of the recent high school graduates were enrolled in English (36 percent) or math (51 percent).  However, 4 percent of the recent high school graduates were enrolled in Adult Basic Education (ABE) classes.  ABE classes are designed to bring students to an eighth grade level.   Eight percent of the recent graduates were enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.

Regional Institutions:  During the 1993-94 academic year, 621 students at Central Washington University were enrolled in state-supported precollege classes or laboratories in English, writing, spelling, reading, and mathematics.  These students comprised 124 FTEs.  During that academic year, the cost of providing these classes was about $169,000 in state general fund and student operating fee dollars.  At Eastern Washington University, 1,121 students were enrolled in precollege classes during the 1993-94 academic year.  These students constituted 115 FTEs.  The cost of providing the classes was estimated to be $102,516.  Sixty-three students at Western were enrolled in state-supported precollege classes that same year.  These students generated 21 FTEs.  The cost of serving these students was estimated to be $7,971 in state general fund monies and student operating fees.

The Evergreen State College does not offer state-supported precollege classes. 

Research Universities: State-supported precollege classes at the University of Washington (UW) are restricted to participants in the Educational Opportunity Program for disadvantaged students.  During the 1993-94 academic year, 379 students were enrolled in precollege mathematics and English classes.  These students constituted 188 FTEs.  The university expended $294,330 on these classes.  Other UW students may take precollege classes offered by Seattle community colleges or through university extension programs.  Any extension classes are self supporting.

During the 1993-94 academic year, at Washington State University, 231 students were enrolled in precollege classes.  These students generated 46 FTEs.  Most of the students were enrolled in precollege mathematics.  The remaining 18 were enrolled in an ESL class.  The university expended $24,350 on these classes in the 1993-94 academic year.

Summary of Amended Bill:  The Higher Education Coordinating Board, in consultation with the Commission on Student Learning, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education, faculty teachers, and others as are appropriate, is required to adopt common definitions of remedial and precollege material and course work.  The definitions must be adopted by June 30, 1996.

Beginning in 1997, by September 30 of each year, each state baccalaureate university and college, and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges must provide a report on precollege class enrollment to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education and the Commission on Student Learning.

The report contains three elements on students who, within three years of graduating from a Washington high school, enrolled in a state-supported precollege class.  These elements are:  the numbers of students enrolled in the listed precollege classes; the types of classes in which each student was enrolled; and the name of the Washington high school from which each student graduated.

Each college and university reports on precollege class enrollment to certain Washington high schools.  The report is given to Washington high schools who, within the previous three years, graduated a person who then enrolled in a state-supported precollege class at a state college or university.  The report includes the number of students who, within three years of graduating from that high school enrolled in a precollege class, and the types of classes taken by each student.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:  Common definitions for remedial and precollege material and course work are required.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Available.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  The high schools need to know about the ability of their graduates as they begin college course work.

The high school graduation follow-up study has worked as a pilot project for two years.  More information is available than just the remedial course work enrollment.  The electronic transfer of student transcript information can provide many details you are looking for.

A system is in place to gather the information requested by this proposal.  The next step is to expand the study throughout the state.  There are differences in high schools.

Only about 1/3 of the CC students need remediation and then it is only one course, while at the same time they take college level courses.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  Rep. Ken Jacobsen; Susan Patrick, HECB; Pat Green, SBCTC; Jerry Litzenberger, ESD 101.