Summary on Gerry McNenny's article

Summary: Collaborations between Basic Writing Professionals and High School Instructors: The Shape of Things to Come

A report published by The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning in 2008 provided National and State to State data on the status and development of adult learning in the United States. This report showed that only a thirty seven percent of adults in the country (between the ages 25 to 64) has attained an Associates Degree or higher. An alarming twenty nine percent of adults in the country have only a high diploma and have never taken any college courses. These statistics create the basis for the growing movement in favor of higher education in the United States. In Gerry McNenny’s article, “Collaborations between Basic Writing Professionals and High School Instructors: The Shape of Things to Come”, an argument is set forth regarding the importance of building a strong connection between high school writing instruction and college level writing in preparation of students so that their transition into college is a smoother one.
In the past, programs who have worked with high schools and public universities achieved a significant amount of success. In 1998, CUNY as well as the FIPSE in Virginia participated in programs that worked in conjunction with high school teachers, curriculum developers and college professors to enhance the writing of high school graduates entering into college for the very first time. Special funds have been set aside by U.S. Department of Education to address this issue. It is seen as a truly imperative that the country focus on this matter as it plays a key role in the reduction of funds spent on remediation courses offered in many public colleges. These courses are taken by students who lack the proper skills to enroll in entry level college writing courses and therefore, must develop their basic writing skills.
The first step in creating this liaison is getting people to talk about issues that are going on and getting both sides to discuss them. Both Basic Writing professionals and high school teachers have a lot of knowledge to offer. Those involved in Basic Writing programs can provide information on the needed instruction, while high school teachers confer about the learning needs of their students. McNenny’s article offers a model that can be used by both parties who wish to collaborate together in hopes of building the aforementioned disparity.
The California State University was fortunate enough to receive funding from the legislature that that provided a nine million dollar yearly grant. This capital was to be used for creating a program that would establish the bridge needed involving high school teachers and college writing professionals. The grant proposal stated that the success of the students would be determined by a ninety minute exam, the English Placement Test (EPT) that included reading comprehension, multiple choice and an essay on a unknown topic that would be timed. Teachers would also be subject to evaluation through questionares and interviews to determine their awareness of the CSU/Diagnostic Writing Service. Two teachers would be chosen at random for follow-ups and discussion of curriculum. At the end of the school year, they would be asked to reflect on what they have learned about from working with the EPT.
Timed writing exams have been the target of much criticism by those who believe that these assessments do not provide accurate representation of a student’s writing skills. One of the people who has made this critique is Mina Shaughnessy, who declares that these timed exams place unnecessary stress on students and therefore hinder their ability to perform as well as they are capable of. In a case study performed by Barbara Gleason on second language learners, she found that these students were unable to pass the Writing Assessment Test because of general mistakes in their writing. These students were professional individuals with degrees from foreign countries and were forced to repeatedly take this exam because they could not pass it. They were prevented from taking CUNY undergraduate courses because of this. Marilyn Sternglass was the first to point out that these students were being penalized for not using “idiomatic expressions” that often take non-native speakers many years to learn.
Other problems with these assessments are that they often fail to take into account speakers of other dialects and vernaculars such as the African-American Vernacular English. Rubrics for these tests do not bear in mind this and have biases against these vernaculars. Despite the inequalities of timed testing, the reality is that this method proves to be the most efficient manner of evaluation if one takes into account economic factors.
CUNY institutionalized programs such as “book flood”, Sustained Silent Reading and Shared Book experience have provided ways in which students can become emerged in conversation, reading and activities that help develop various literacy skills. These programs have been successful as these students have surpassed others in standardized testing. Adele Gihooly examined the effect of reading 1,000 pages of literature and the reflection of these in journals. The outcome of her investigation showed that these students had a significantly higher passing rate of fifty six percent in their timed tests. Other skills were also improved upon.
The collaborators between the high school teachers and college instructors feel that they must work together from the very beginning to the very end in making sure that they build a curriculum that works hand in hand with each other. They adapted a Freireian philosophy, looking at the reality of the situation and working and focusing on how to find a solution.
High school teacher input was crucial as they worked closely with the students and could better interpret their literacy needs. The program was designed so that high school teachers could choose a new and specific teaching strategy to research, implement and reflect upon. However it was kept in mind all the obstacles that high school teachers face in their day to day lives. For example, they regularly teach up to five classes per day composed on 38-40 students, they are overwhelmed with papers to grade, they must write lesson plans and meet state standards. As if all this wasn’t enough, teachers are responsible to covering reading comprehension, writing, technology and public speaking skills. McNenny states that being able to accomplish this within a forty-five minute time frame is something to be marveled with.
Basic Writing Professionals have important positions in constructing the gap. They can provide teachers and students with appropriate feedback, assignments, questions and strategies to use during the teaching of writing. Writing Professionals also can also inform the students about what will be expected from their writing once they reach college and strategies and activities they can partake in to better help their writing. This can be very beneficial as many high school teachers have received very little instruction on teaching writing and surrender to very strict and unoriginal forms of instruction.
Teacher-researched projects helped bridge the gap by emphasizing the reflection of the research being conducted. A journal was given to each teacher to record and write notes on. It was a great way for teachers to communicate with each and offer insightful information that they otherwise would have not shared. It was especially good for first year teachers who could use this as a learning resource. It is also much more personal and credible to teachers than an educational textbook.
The influence of groups on student writing was researched by one of the teachers. Her results showed that when students were aware that their writing would be read by their peers, they paid more attention to their piece of work. They also enjoyed being able to participate in sharing their work with others because it offered them real-life experiences. Other researched projects included authentic assessments, free and creative writing.
Basic Writing professionals provided the link between participating schools. They were able to share results found by other teacher-research projects and found that they spread rapidly among the educational community. This allowed for discussions and meetings that were more rich and in-depth. Teachers were also able to swap ideas and learn from each other. They also used the chosen research projects to identify areas of need for students.
The collaboration with high school and college instructors has been a successful one. To date, they have participated in four semester and plan to enter into their fifth. As a result, high school students have demonstrated more interest in enrolling in universities after their graduation. They have maintained contact with peers already enrolled in college through email to talk about their new experiences. Additionally, teacher-research projects remain being one of the most valuable ways for teachers to share their work with each other.
The root of McNenny’s essay is her stance on how important it is for educators to build a bridge between high school and college writing instruction so that students are able to succeed once they enter college writing courses. Student’s lack of preparation results in the need to take required remediate courses that delay college entry, damper a student’s motivation and can lead to higher dropout rates. The collaboration between high schools and college can be the fundamental factor in changing of these statistics.