A new bill introduced in Sacramento on behalf of College of the Canyons seeks to expand tutoring to include degree-applicable coursework.
Authored by Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, Senate Bill 1009 would also remove a requirement that a student receive a faculty member referral prior to receiving tutoring services.
“Research has shown tutoring can make a dramatic difference in a student’s ability to succeed,” Wilk said. “Giving students the needed tools to finish their coursework and prepare them for their next step, whether it is a four year university or the job market, makes sense.”
The senator’s office said statistics from the college showed students who do not receive any tutoring have a 70 percent success rate in classes. Students with one to nine hours of tutoring have a 78 percent success rate while students who receive more than 20 hours of tutoring have an 82 percent success rate.
“When a student first realizes he or she is struggling, that is the time to seek help. Under current law students are required to wait until referred by a faculty member or, even worse, until practically failing the class before they can get help. Community college course tutoring should be promoted and readily available to our students,” Wilk said. “It is in the state’s best interest to provide our students every tool necessary to ensure our college graduates are prepared to compete in an increasingly competitive global economy.”
Wilk said Tuesday he regularly consults with cities and constituents for bills and that COC Chancellor Dianne Van Hook sent him several suggestions for legislation before he opted for the tutoring bill.
“It’s the one I think can have the greatest chance of student success,” he said.
A fact sheet on the bill provided by Wilk’s office said College of the Canyons has 3,272 students in basic skills credit math and English classes and outlined the cost to the state for tutoring services. Wilk said the cost is a small investment that will pay bigger dividends in the long-term.
“The cost to the state of allowing tutoring for basic skills credit classes is about $187,544.81 per semester for these students receiving tutoring for basic skills credit classes assuming they
receive tutoring on average 10 hours each,” the fact sheet said. “Based on their research, without tutoring, you should expect a drop in success rate of about 10 percent. In other words, about 327 students would repeat a course as a result. The cost to the state to eliminate tutoring for this group would be about $218,185.30.”
