At the end of the program, Summer Bridge students will be able to take UNLV’s math placement exam, a 90-minute, multiple-choice exam used to assess students’ math abilities and place them in an appropriate course. (Passing scores on standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT are also accepted.)
Once students pass this placement exam, they may opt out of Math 095 and 096, which are the equivalent of high school-level Algebra I and II courses. These courses cost $600 each at UNLV, so placing out of them represents a significant cost saving for remedial students, Forgues said.
Some students are in the Summer Bridge program to score higher on the math placement exam to bypass easier college-level math courses. These higher-achieving students may be able to learn just enough during the summer to bump them into an introductory calculus course in college, saving them money in the long run, Forgues added.
Eventually, Forgues said he hoped the program would expand to all 1,000 students in need of math remediation. There are plans to offer remedial English courses in the future, he added.
However, scaling up this pilot program is likely to cost the cash-strapped university more money, Forgues said. UNLV is looking for grant money or additional state funding to ramp up its remediation efforts.
Charging some tuition for the summer bridge program also may be discussed, Forgues said.
Regardless of the cost, it’s a worthwhile investment for Nevada colleges and universities, which face a growing and costly problem of serving remedial students, he said. Under a new higher education funding formula that rewards colleges based on the number of students it graduates, getting remedial students caught up has become a priority.
Other Las Vegas Valley institutions, such as the College of Southern Nevada, also are working with UNLV and the Clark County School District to offer summer programs to reach remedial students, Forgues said.
“This is a societal problem,” he said. “We all have to work together.”
That’s good news for Garcia, who hopes to become a journalist. If she passes her math placement exam, she just needs to take Math 120 to fulfill her math requirement.
“I’m pretty happy they gave me this opportunity,” she said. “It keeps my mind going.”
(c)2012 the Las Vegas Sun (Las Vegas, Nev.). Visit the Las Vegas Sun (Las Vegas, Nev.) at www.lasvegassun.com. Distributed by MCT Information Services.
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