Students without prerequisite skills for class
I have a class with half the students at various levels of competency. They lack the basic skills needed for my class.
How do I deal with this knowledge gap?
Jackie,
Sounds like your years of working in law enforcement is helping you as a professional educator. In law you have to be a problem solver and this holds true for education as well which you are learning each day. I commend you for holding up the standards of your profession because as you mention in the end all you have is the reputation you have earned in law enforcement. I wish you well.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Thank you for your response Dr. Meers. To be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. If I had, I may not have taken the position (I would rather face the unknown behind a locked door during a search warrant than some of the situations I have had to deal with here). It has been a difficult transition as in an academy situation, either the student meets the requirements or they are out of the program – it is a life or death situation. That is not the case with student retention requirements at the vocational education level (even though it is academic in nature, at an academy you can still fail in academics).
It frustrates me to see students pay for an education yet they are not committed to the process of completing the course work, forcing them to repeat the class (at the additional cost). I have been successful in being able to drop some of the students from the program due to their academic or attendance issues. That was not the case with the previous Director who did not maintain the requirements of the institution in order to keep the attendance levels up. There was a product being graduated from the institution that would not meet the academic requirements of an AS degree, nor provide the graduate with the required skills sets of a criminal justice academic degree. But that has now changed, and I could not be able to do so without the support of my administration (if I did not have such support, I would not be able to stay as I have a personal reputation in law enforcement training that I uphold).
Jackie,
I commend you for stepping into this tough situation. I know it has been a challenge for you. It is always hard to step into a program that is already underway. You have a very clear grasp of what needs to be done and I am confident that you are going to be able to put all the parts of this program together to the benefit of your students. As for the diversity of your students I can really understand it. With the generational differences as well as the range of academic abilities it is tough to keep everyone moving forward. We need some additional career counseling in our schools to help students make informed, meaningful and realistic career choices. Too many of them just jump into a career area because of what is popular on TV just as you mention. Between law enforcement (CSI) and the Feed Network they think that they are going to prepare to enter a glamorous and exciting career that a lot and requires very little effort.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
What a wakeup call it was for me to transition from instructing law enforcement courses to active duty students to teaching at a vocational institution with a two year degree program in criminal justice. I have the range of just-out-of-high school 18 year olds to late 20’s/early 30’s military veterans who are dealing with PTSD. Many of the students chose criminal justice based upon their viewing habits of cable and television. The drama displayed on their big screens at home does not provide them with the realities of the profession.
I found their writing skills; block printing, grammar, and spelling were noticeably deficient and would be a major block to their success in a law enforcement training academy or position. Many students believe that they immediately qualify to be a homicide investigator due to their graduating with an AS degree. Although I have a set program to provide, one that has only one term involving report writing, I am using various scenarios throughout the program to develop their critical writing skills.
An additional challenge is that the program is set where a new student can attend at the beginning of a term, no matter where the course curriculum is at. Instead of starting out with the introduction to criminal justice, a new student could find themselves starting with the Criminal Procedures course that is heavy with Constitutional Case Law (and for an 18 year old right out of high school – this is an undergrad level course). We do have an excellent Student Support Services group to assist those students who need it, but the challenge for me has been working with students “who are law enforcement†to students “who want to be law enforcement – maybe.â€
And then there is the “drama†some bring to the classroom, either from home, or in my case, from their allegiance to the previous Program Director who decided to quickly leave the program (and leaving nothing behind for me to instruct with). I want all of my students to have the ability to experience their dreams in criminal justice, but I know for some it will be only a dream, as they do not possess(and will never have) the prerequisite skills/requirements for their career choice.
Juan,
Good way to meet the different learning needs of your students. You are reaching out to the individual needs of the students in a way that gives them the support they need when they need it.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I make all of my students familiar with the tutoring schedule. In addition, I spend a little bit more one on one time with the students I've identified as needing more help during lab time. I tell all the students I will cover some foundation ideas and then give the advanced students an additional challenging objective for their projects.
Robin,
You have a very supportive way of getting your students involved in the class and finding out where they are at in terms of knowledge of the subject matter. This helps them to have the confidence to approach you when they are in need of information or addition input.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Students without the knowledge or prerequisite skills makes classroom learning a little more challenging. I always start out with the basics even if students already had the material in the past. I then ask the students to feel free to ask questions at anytime. I also make it an option for students to see me after class to discuss material. Some students do not feel comfortable asking questions aloud. If a student cannot grasp the material I offer tutoring or have them sit in on another class. With my students, I find different classes at different levels. I then have to adjust my lessons so they can master my objectives.
Michael,
I think your analysis is right on the mark. I think your talk with your academic dean is a good ideas because it seems that the current strategy is not working so some changes need to be made. I wish you the best as you sort through this and come up with a support system that will be effective for the students and can help them move forward in their career development.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have been working hard to get these students to push themselves to catch up. I have given them resources and offered tutoring to help them catch up.
I think flunking them will only discourage them from trying to learn.
I think that if they are unwilling to take the time to catch up, then helping them realize that this class is not for them is best.
I also am planning on having a discussion with my academic dean. I think that the prerequisite classes these students are taking do not prepare them for the advance classes they are taking.
In the end, if the student is frustrated with advance classes, I am not sure they will push them selves to catch up. This will only diminish their preparation to enter the job market.
Hi, Michael,
I have experienced having students lacking basic skills, also. Many of the classes I teach at my community college have no prerequisites. The interesting thing is that we faculty who teach the courses asked our dean if we could apply prereqs to the courses. He refused. It was his opinion that if the students were interested enough, they would learn what they needed. Our concern was that occasionally we would have a student in class who just could not read at a sufficient level.
So, what do we do? If we recognize the issue soon enough, we suggest that the student may want to start with a different class, guiding her/him to the advisor who can provide testing to determine the appropriate class. I know that this could possibly cause the student to quit, but flunking is not good, either. What would you do in such a situation?
Janet
Katrina,
I think this is a great idea as it will give students an exposure to campus activities while they decide is college is something they want to undertake. This will help them make a decision based upon experience so the retention for them should be higher.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think one strategy could be something very similiar to a "pre-college" program in which students spend time on campus in the college environment certain times of the day and are given foundation lessons and study skills lessons. I think this will also encourage students as they are integrated in the class with their colleagues.
Mary,
As I teach a foundational course as well I can appreciate your comments. This is an ongoing challenge because with each group of students their foundational skills seem to get weaker. We are spending a lot of time and money trying to get them ready for college through tutoring in the skills areas they should have gotten in high school.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have this same problem. I teach English Composition, and I find that many of my students don't have basic grammar or writing skills. Due to time constraints, I can't teach them basic grammar; however, without that knowledge, they cannot be effective writers.
Michael,
Hope this works for you because if such a service can be provided you and your school is going to provide a valuable support to your students. As you say your class is not the only one they are going to need these skills in.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think checking into a tutorial system will help the students. Mine won't be the last class they will need these skills in and they will need them in the workplace. Thanks
Michael,
This is a tough situation for everyone since the problem really can't be fixed in one course. You can talk with your administration as see if they are willing to start a pretesting program so that Admissions can determine what the skill levels are of the students. If this is done then it will be easier to place students in certain classes. Also, does your school have a tutorial program or a skills improvement program where students that need additional skill development can go and work until they get their skills up to meet your entry level skill requirements? If none of this is available or possible you can form learning groups within the student body. Then assign each group some activities and assignments that will help them to improve their basic skills. This will help them with their skill development but it may cause you not to be able to get your students to the level of competence you seek for the class and your administration needs to know this as well.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Tim,
What are some strategies you use to get these students ready for success in your class?
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
