YSU Academic Senate passes admissions proposal
Christina Poe
Issue date: 2/10/05 Section: pageone
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Youngstown State University's Academic Senate passed a proposal last week that will add extra requirements to the university's current open admissions policy.
The senate's Academic Standards committee began research in November to identify at-risk students by comparing individual YSU GPAs with high school GPAs and ACT scores.
Tom Shipka, chair of the Academic Senate, said the passed policy is the "product of extensive consultation."
Shipka said members of the Academic Standards committee gathered input from YSU administrators and faculty for more than six months before drafting the proposal, adding the result of the committee's research is a well-crafted piece of work.
Professor Tod Porter, chair of the senate's Academic Standards committee, said the policy is designed to increase the success of at-risk students by more tightly defining what classes they will take.
Porter said the committee decided students will be considered at risk if they have a high school GPA of 2.0 or lower and an ACT score of 17 or lower.
The conditional admissions policy will go into effect in the Spring 2006 semester to execute it with a smaller group of students and assess possible problems, Porter said.
Porter added these students would be confined to a certain list of classes until their status changes.
According to the proposal, at-risk students will be obligated to meet four requirements before being recognized as a regular student. The student must complete any developmental course they have tested into, acquire six hours of non-developmental class credits, achieve good academic standing and sign and fulfill a contract with the Center for Student Progress (CSP).
According to the proposal, the contract will commit the student to work with the CSP until the conditional status is removed.
Tom Maraffa, special assistant to the president, said the conditional admission policy is aimed at retaining students.
Maraffa, a member of the Academic Senate, said the goal is to increase the chances that "at-risk" students receive a full education.
"If people enroll and drop out, it doesn't do us any good and it doesn't do the students any good," Maraffa said.
Despite the committee's concern about different high school grading standards, Porter said they were confident those GPAs have been accurate predictors of students' performances at YSU.
Porter added the policy is an addition to, not replacement of, YSU's current open admissions policy. He also said the policy is not a cure for the success of unprepared students, but a "modest step" in the right direction.
"Not all of them will succeed, but we're doing a better job of setting them on the right path," Porter said.
Call Christina Poe at (330) 941-1913
The senate's Academic Standards committee began research in November to identify at-risk students by comparing individual YSU GPAs with high school GPAs and ACT scores.
Tom Shipka, chair of the Academic Senate, said the passed policy is the "product of extensive consultation."
Shipka said members of the Academic Standards committee gathered input from YSU administrators and faculty for more than six months before drafting the proposal, adding the result of the committee's research is a well-crafted piece of work.
Professor Tod Porter, chair of the senate's Academic Standards committee, said the policy is designed to increase the success of at-risk students by more tightly defining what classes they will take.
Porter said the committee decided students will be considered at risk if they have a high school GPA of 2.0 or lower and an ACT score of 17 or lower.
The conditional admissions policy will go into effect in the Spring 2006 semester to execute it with a smaller group of students and assess possible problems, Porter said.
Porter added these students would be confined to a certain list of classes until their status changes.
According to the proposal, at-risk students will be obligated to meet four requirements before being recognized as a regular student. The student must complete any developmental course they have tested into, acquire six hours of non-developmental class credits, achieve good academic standing and sign and fulfill a contract with the Center for Student Progress (CSP).
According to the proposal, the contract will commit the student to work with the CSP until the conditional status is removed.
Tom Maraffa, special assistant to the president, said the conditional admission policy is aimed at retaining students.
Maraffa, a member of the Academic Senate, said the goal is to increase the chances that "at-risk" students receive a full education.
"If people enroll and drop out, it doesn't do us any good and it doesn't do the students any good," Maraffa said.
Despite the committee's concern about different high school grading standards, Porter said they were confident those GPAs have been accurate predictors of students' performances at YSU.
Porter added the policy is an addition to, not replacement of, YSU's current open admissions policy. He also said the policy is not a cure for the success of unprepared students, but a "modest step" in the right direction.
"Not all of them will succeed, but we're doing a better job of setting them on the right path," Porter said.
Call Christina Poe at (330) 941-1913