Field Expert in Remedial English

FIELD INTERVIEW1

Field Interview – Mary Ann Reutzel:

Field Expert in Remedial English

Deborah Davis

Liberty University

Introduction

MaryAnn Reutzel is a teacher of remedial English at Shawnee State University. She has held this position for twelve years. For twenty-four years prior to that assignment, she worked in the public school system teaching English at various grades. She holds bachelor’s degrees in English and Teaching, and has a Master of Arts in Teaching from Ohio University. As such, she is highly familiar with the structure and assignment of remedial English education in the Appalachian area of Ohio. Mrs. Reutzel has graciously agreed to spend an hour or so answering questions about the topic.

Transcript

Q: Please state your name for the record.

A: Mary Ann Reutzel

Mary Ann, thank you for spending this time with me and sharing your expertise regarding remedial English at our school. As you know, I am a doctoral student at Liberty University, and this interview is part of a class I am taking there. These questions will allow me to gain insight to our situation as it relates to some of the current research and literature on the subject of assignment to and handling of remedial English. Do you have any questions before we get started?

A. No, Deb. I’m glad you are looking into this subject and hope I can be of some help to you.

Great then, let’s begin.

Question 1. The recent literature shows between 20 and 60% of incoming freshman college students require some form of remedial English. The reasons given are multiple. Does this figure jive with your experience? And do you have opinions about the reasons for the requirement?

A. Yes, in my experience, 20-60% would be accurate. That has changed over the years, but right now, right here, it is probably real close to half or more of the incoming freshmen and that has gone up in the past ten years, but been stable for about five. Some students require it – it is largely based on test scores. Some students I know who were borderline did not take the remedial and struggled with the higher level English. I think we tend to allow them or push them to skip some of the lower levels and with all the other things they are learning it is just too much pressure, too much stress – money, laundry, food, time – many haven’t had those responsibilities before and they are overwhelmed.

The other part of it is that they come from such diverse backgrounds. I have had a lot of inner-city students, some from rural areas. Every teacher, I hope, teaches to the best his or her ability, but when those students get to the University, it’s like the waves of an ocean. So many things are piled onto them at once, they can scarcely breathe, much less plow through the waves.

Question 2. In California, the ACT is given at the end of the eleventh grade year to all students instead of a graduation test. Those who do not meet the college freshman entrance level, and desire to go to college, take a course prepared by Cal-State professors to ready them for college. Do you think such a program could work in this area? Why or why not?

A. Oh, I think it would probably be very valuable here in southern Ohio. A lot of our students are “taught” (if that’s the correct verb), to think that because they grew up in Appalachia they are not as well prepared as those students who grew up and went to school in Columbus, or Cincinnati, or California, and that’s just not true. It’s my philosophy, and I can’t prove it but I think it works, you get out of any education exactly what you put into it. Those students who studied, at whatever high school they went to, scored well. Here in Ohio, our students take their Ohio Graduate Test (OGT) in tenth grade. If they pass it, they sort of glide through to graduation. They take required courses, but they know they will graduate. Only those who are really trying to go to specific schools or get certain grants or scholarships seem to keep trying for good grades. If they do poorly, they can retest in eleventh, and even in twelfth grade. Sometimes, they don’t take the ACT or SAT until the middle of senior year. Well, they haven’t been studying for it like they did for the OGT, and so they don’t do as well as they might have otherwise. If they took the ACT, or even the OGT at the end of eleventh, and had to take scholarly or prep classes in twelfth, they would probably be much more prepared.

Question 3. A recent study of a larger University in the Midwest shows a significant increase in student rates for passing, not only remedial English, but the remainder of their college courses and completing their program of study when more educated and experienced teachers are the instructors in the remedial English courses. Have you seen an impact in retention and advancement of students based on experience and education of remedial English teachers? Do you believe the impact significant enough to enhance the remedial English program at Shawnee State in this direction?

A. ABSOLUTELY! I think a lot of the remedial courses are taught by those just out of college or who are teaching until . . . whatever. There are students in class whose first college teacher told him that grammar wasn’t important until the final draft. But, I tell them that when you meet someone, grammar is important. The first time you spend time with someone, grammar is important. Recently, the River Days Pageant was held here, and a lot of weight is given to the interview portion. Those who used poor grammar did not make the top five. From that, it is easy to extrapolate that grammar is important every time you open your mouth. And, I think older, more experienced instructors, will have the ability to give these overwhelmed freshmen the examples they need to really comprehend the importance of their grammar, and to help them get through the hurdles of their assignments. There are certain terms that put up roadblocks for them, whether it is Appalachian slang or whatever their local dialect is, the academic world is looking for smooth roads. The example I give is “We have a great gaming program here. These are not usually folks that are double majors in English. However, they have to write up and present their game or project. When they have a game, and their buddy has a game, they want their own game to by funded and marketed and whatever. If the folks that are reviewing the project see yours as grammatically correct, and his littered with errors, they are going to think that if you care enough to make the presentation strong, then your product is strong, and you are going to make money from that.” If you can’t get your point across, you’re not going to get what you want. Experience helps find a way to reach those students.

Question 4. A review of the history of remediation and developmental coursework shows a direct relationship between open enrollment and the remediation requirement. How do you think Universities can encourage students to meet entrance requirements without closing enrollment? Or is there a way to do that?

A. Without open enrollment at all?

I hate to say no open enrollment, because I think anyone who wants to should be able to go to college. But there has been an interest in a return to “prep-schools” and greater division between junior college and university and such. If we had a requirement for enrollment and we had some form of probationary requirement?

Open enrollment is valuable. Sometimes, though, it sets folks up for failure. Sometimes these kids think they have to go to college. I have a son-in-law who could not handle college – didn’t make it to Thanksgiving. But, he is an excellent duct-work person, and di well on all the practical tests required during his apprenticeship. Maybe if there was some form of probation to allow the students to take the first term or so on a pass-fail basis. It could reduce some of the pressure for these students who are trying to learn how to be away from home, how to eat right, pick good friends, manage their time and the money and stuff. If the first few classes were more about learning to be a student than hard-core academics, they might be more successful. There would still be students who could go into academics without probation, but some need the extra help. If there were a junior college here that they could take classes at the same time and get, maybe, partial credit, that could work too, but having qualified teachers is hard enough. Getting them for such a program could be nearly impossible.

Question 5. Many schools have come up with different methods to reduce the number of courses and students in remedial programs. The options include California’s 11th grade ACT option with senior programs for those showing unready; gateway programs required during the summer prior to admission; a return to “prep-school” programs and hard-line admissions requirements; concurrent enrollment with mentors or student teachers; and one-week prep and re-test programs offered at the college. Do any of these seem feasible for Shawnee State? If so, which ones and why? If not, why not and what could be done?

A. Some kind of prep school or re-test program might work here. We get a pretty good cross-section of the whole around here. These students may not want to go to a bigger school or maybe can’t afford one. My son told me the morning of his SAT, “Mom, the rest of my life should not depend on the next four hours.” I’ve never forgotten that because he is right. How much pressure is that to get a score high enough to go to any school? Maybe if there were some other options, they could at least re-group if they did poorly. Now, if the student fails three classes the first term, that student is booted out of school. Wow! Talk about pressure! Maybe if they had more readiness coming in to the freshman year they would not have so much pressure. I think, if they are placed in remedial coursework, they should have two chances to pass it before it counts against them. Finding balance between friends and studies and money and work and sleep is hard.

Question 6. Shawnee State (like most colleges) assigns students to remedial English based on test scores. As I understand it, to pass the program, the student must pass the coursework and an “exit exam” and then will be allowed to enroll in freshman composition. Do you believe this system is in the best interest of the student? Should it be revamped in some way? If you were given carte blanche to handle the program, what would it be like?

A. First, I would let them take the remedial course two or three times if they needed it. I love having the exit exam. It gives me a safety net; it’s not up to me. I cannot fix it or change it. I understand that they can only take the exam once each term because someone has to read and review it (two someone’s actually). But, if the students know they can take it twice without having to retake the course, that would reduce the pressure a lot, and I think more of them would pass on the first course, and even on the first testing.

Question 7. Do you think students know that they can petition to become exempt from remedial English? Word from the testing center is that no one has tried to retest or waive it in years. Does that sound correct to you? In some recent literature, the first day of remedial is a re-test that can allow the student to be transferred to a freshman English course instead of remedial. Do you think that Shawnee State could/should institute such a program? What would the outcome be in your view?

A. There is an opportunity, but I don’t know anyone who has taken it, and I have been here more than ten years. One student received a letter, after he had enrolled in remedial that said he could enroll in regular classes. So, he was sent to the success center and enrolled into regular freshman English. Sometimes, the testing process doesn’t meet the guidelines of the school enrollment process. Maybe we who teach remedial could point this out more routinely, but by the time the retest is done and graded, the regular freshman courses are frequently full and there are no opportunities for the students then. Maybe every entering student, at the beginning of orientation, should take another placement test, and it could be graded by the time they register at the end of the orientation. Then, the higher of the scores, received tests or placement, could apply.

Question 8. Literature reveals a connection between the physical act of handwriting and the composition asset of critical thinking. In today’s testing centers, handwriting is obsolete and computers are used nearly exclusively. While this creates a barrier for students who lack typing skills, few are challenging this evolution as a constraint on critical thinking and organizational thought. Do you believe there is a relationship between the physically written word and the ability to write well? If so, how can we overcome that in an increasingly electronic classroom? If not, does it matter if students know how to handwrite well at all?

A. This may not be a direct answer, but I think the upcoming students who are not taught cursive are being done a HUGE disservice. It is ABSOLUTELY a relationship. In the remedial reading class, the students’ have to write and it makes a big difference. There is a lot of handwriting any time they have to show comprehension. I have to ask them to write larger and more neatly on a regular basis. I was taught to respond through cursive writing, and I think when you are physically writing a note, an answer, anything, you are putting yourself into it. It is not just that you read it, but that you understand it. It is an investment in yourself. These days, students read on the computer and write on the computer, and sometimes it seems like it doesn’t get through the brain from eyes to fingertips. Written work is slower, but it requires more thought. That’s a good thing.

9. Remedial English students run the gamut from those with learning disabilities who truly expected to require more training before college-level coursework and those who did fine or well in high school English and are shocked to be there. In recent studies, it seems that while having stronger writers in class brings up the writing ability of lower-level learners, it is detrimental to those high-level learners placed within the same class. In today’s societal sense of mainstreaming, it is considered inappropriate to do ability grouping within courses. How then, can this issue be addressed?

A. Oh, I am a big believer in ability grouping. We have lots of secondary students on campus now. With some of these students, the high school students are writing at a much higher level than the college students. The college students were encouraged to improve their own writing. However, the high school students may not have had as much growth as some of the college students. The remedial program used to have two parts, one for considerably lower scores, and one for marginally lower scores. I think that was a more productive approach for these students.

Conclusion

Ms. Reutzel has a depth of knowledge in this field that is vital to understanding the issues in this environment. Her insights allowed me to broaden my own knowledge of the area or remedial English. Her experiences aided me in finding a desire to learn more about our remedial process and, in particular, the system in California and the relationship between our own graduate testing process and the recent increases in remedial English enrollment among Ohio students. The Ohio graduate test is given in the tenth grade and if passed, no academics are required after that – just electives, and a few mandatory courses like Ohio state and national government. Students here frequently do not take the ACT or SAT until the middle of the senior year. It may well have been over a year since having an English class when they sit down to take the test. This may have an impact on remedial English enrollment that I, for one, had not considered.

Ms. Reutzel’s understanding and compassion for the stresses and pressures of these students is admirable. Her depth of experience allows her to provide example after example to her students, and to find ways to aid them regardless of the issues they face. She is, in and of herself, a validation of that study finding greater experience and education to be of value in the remedial classroom.

All in all, this interview allowed me to gain a new perspective and lead me to a new slant on my research. While I was not looking at high school performance, as my focus had been the variance between quarters and semesters, my interest is now angled toward the relationship between the Ohio graduation test and the students ACT scores.