Ledger

Editor’s note: The State of the U series seeks to explore the vitality of several areas key to UWT’s success as a fledgling four year institution. For the remainder of the quarter, each issue of the Ledger will feature an installment from this series.

A combination of high-paced classes and the lack of engaging extracurricular activities is making the transition to college life difficult for many University of Washington Tacoma freshmen.

More than 25 percent of the 187 first-year students in UWT’s inagural freshman class wound up on "academic warning" after autumn quarter, meaning that they received a grade point average of 2.0 or below. Slightly more than ten percent of freshmen failed their coursework.

As the mid-way mark of winter quarter passed, UWT faculty and administrators are addressing ways to lower those numbers.

"We’re not satisfied, but we’re hopeful. We think of these students as our pioneers, and they deserve all of our support," said Dr. Beth Kalikoff, core curriculum director. "I don’t want anyone to fail…we want 100 percent retention."

While not completely satisfied with the first statistics to appear concerning freshman academic performance, administrators point out that UWT’s numbers are well below the national average.

"Our country takes great pride in the fact that close to 70 percent of American high school graduates go on to college," said Jim Posey, director of institutional research at UWT. "But high failure rates in freshman courses -15 percent at research universities, 30 to 40 percent at comprehensive universities, and 50 to 60 percent at community colleges-are costly to both institutions and students."

Both freshmen and the faculty who teach the core classes agree that a confluence of factors made the first quarter a rocky one for many students. A steep learning curve necessary for success at college, the lack of extracurricular activities geared for freshmen, and curriculum growing pains all contributed to the issue.

"Since this is a school we don’t live at, there’s nothing to do after classes here, so we just go home. We’re always standing around, trying to figure out what to do," said Olivia Serrano, a UWT freshman who is on academic warning for failing an elective.

Killing time with three of her friends between classes, Serrano is munching on yet another fast-food lunch. After voicing frustration with the lack of a cafeteria on campus, the group complained about other impediments to campus life.

As they nodded their heads in mutual agreement to the point Serrano just made about the lack of campus activities, another freshman at the table added his thoughts. "I think we all want to see more variety of events around campus. We’re always trying to find some activities for freshmen, but there’s nothing."

According to them, the lack of on-campus activities has made it difficult to form any sort of intellectual community outside of the classroom.

However, the nature of first-year core classes has allowed the freshmen to connect within the classroom. Each freshman is assigned to a group for the entire year, and they take a 10-credit, interdisciplinary core course with that group three times a week. They are then allowed to choose a separate elective for their remaining 5 credits.

"It’s a good way to start off the year and get to know new people," said freshman Daniel Co, who credits his core-classes with helping him make a new circle of friends.

"It was tough getting used to the workload," said Serrano. "There is just so much more reading and stuff – it’s really easy to get behind."

Inadequate preparation

Some professors who taught the freshman core classes peg the lack of academic preparation in high school as the largest obstacle to success at UWT.

"Writing has been identified as one key problem in the core," said Dr. Amos Nascimento, a UWT assistant professor who teaches a humanities/science core class this quarter. "The type of writing in high school and here are different, and we’re finding the students just aren’t prepared"

After realizing that freshmen students struggled in writing Autumn quarter, Nascimento said the group of professors who teach the core met with administrators to discuss restructuring the way writing is taught. Showing their willingness to change the system if it wasn’t working, the group decided to move away from the writing drills that marked the curriculum last quarter. Now, students have one final paper and three revisions to complete throughout the quarter.

This way, students learn all steps in the writing process, Nascimento said.

Nascimento’s sentiments were echoed by Dr. Philip Heldrich, who taught the core last quarter. "I’m not quite sure all the students were socialized for an academic life," he said.

Referencing his own college experience, Heldrich went on to say that he was well-prepared for an academic life. His roommate wasn’t, and landed on academic probation the first quarter.

"I think it was a wake up call for him, and he’s now wildly successful," Heldrich said.

Both Heldrich and Nascimento found that many of their students had trouble with college basics, such as taking notes and keeping up with readings. "In high school, a lot of these students probably just coasted by," Heldrich said. "Now, it’s a different game and they’re finding out it’s not so easy…this is the University of Washington, after all."

Another issue some freshmen are facing is balancing school with outside commitments, such as work.

"I tell students that they need to devote 20 hours outside of the classroom for the 10 they spend in it," said Dr. Donald Chinn, who teaches in the same core class as Nascimento. "I had one student ask me, ‘Are you deliberately trying to make me not have a life.’ I wanted to answer: ‘This should be your life.’"

Lack of institutional knowledge

Another impediment to freshman success is the lack of experience in dealing with a younger population group for the first time in UWT’s history.

"I don’t think we had a good sense of the group, as far as their abilities are concerned," Heldrich said.

Heldrich has previous experience teaching freshmen at Emporia State University, where he taught from a traditional model and not the cohort model used here. "They had more than 100 years of institutional knowledge and a support system in place…they had the institutional knowledge and experience working with that population group," he said.

Another issue Heldrich had to work around was the predominance of non-native English speaking students in his class, noting that they had additional needs that he didn’t feel were initially noticed by the university.

While each core is assigned a team of two professors and three staff members, there is no structured class work that deals with college success skills. Instead, the core-classes are visited by members of the Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology, the Library, and the Career Development Center.

"The good thing is that we can integrate that help into the class so everyone has the opportunity to learn from it. A lot of students don’t go and ask for help," Nascimento said.

Extra support offered as core curriculum continues to evolve

Students who found themselves on academic warning have been given extra attention. Advisors have met every freshman on academic warning, according to Kalikoff.

Additionally, they were asked to sign a contract, stating they would meet with an adviser two more times and then check out two academic support options. However, the contract is strictly voluntary and carries no penalties for failing to adhere to it.

In order to further gauge what first-year students need to successfully adjust to college, Kalikoff said that her staff is considering the option of phoning every freshman in the class.

Continuing to remain flexible with the new curriculum is also key, according to Kalikoff. "We met regularly in fall quarter and discussed what was working well and what wasn’t – assessing and adjusting as we go. We’ll keep doing that until it becomes perfect."