By Bria Isaacson, News Editor
This year has seen an increase in the number of students taking English 100: Intro to Composition (ENG 100), an assigned support class.
The English Department had to add one course of 20 students this fall semester and one course of 20 students for the spring semester in order to meet demand, according to Corrie Merricks, assistant professor of English and director of the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE).
An assigned support class is a class that the Admissions Review Committee (ARC), which reviews undergraduate applications to enter Asbury University, will assign as a prerequisite to other classes due to low ACT or SAT math and English scores. The two assigned support classes are ENG 100 and math 100: Intro to Problem Solving (MAT 100).
“Our intention when someone is accepted [to Asbury University] is to do everything to help them,” said Mark Troyer, vice president for enrollment management. “We want students to be successful. We are intentional in getting students started on the right foot here by offering good services and support.”
ENG 100 is a class with lessons on essay writing and grammar, as well as weekly sessions with a writing consultant in the Writing Center for individualized help.
Although help of this kind is beneficial, there are challenges when demand increases so suddenly. According to Merricks, the Writing Center had to hire two additional writing consultants to be able to meet with the 60 ENG 100 students, as well as to handle an increased number of walk-in writers.
There are an additional 40 students taking ENG 100 in the spring, totaling 100 students in ENG 100 for 2016.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”We are intentional in getting students started on the right foot here by offering good services and support.”[/perfectpullquote]
And the Writing Center has also seen an increase in the number of walk-in writers and the number of consultations this year, compared to the numbers recorded at midterm in other semesters. For instance, last fall, there was a total of 49 walk-in writers, while this year there have already been 46 walk-in writers; according to records kept by CAE Staff Assistant Julie Barlow, this number will most likely double by the end of the semester.
MAT 100 has a similar demand. This year, there are about 110 students taking this assigned support class, which is consistent with the past few years’ numbers, according to Towanna Roller, math department chair and professor.
This class focuses on the conceptual understanding and real-life applications of math, as well as “prerequisite math skills,” such as fractions, decimals and percentages and formulas, according to Roller.
MAT 100’s goal is to prepare students to take their next math course, whether it is MAT 120, a math education class, or calculus.
Students also have a similar support to that of the Writing Center in the “7-11 lab.”
“[Math lab] is an environment to do work with upper-level math tutors who are familiar with MAT 100 and other math work,” David Coulliette, a mathematics professor who teaches MAT 100, said. “It offers immediate assistance.”
Troyer suspects that more students who need support have chosen to attend Asbury precisely because of the free supports that are offered.
“Not a lot of schools offer completely free tutoring,” Troyer said. “The number of students in [assigned support classes] waxes and wanes each year. This year, 36 percent of accepted students ended up coming [to Asbury], and we never know which [level of] students will attend.”
Regardless of the numbers, student workers say that assigned supports are assisting students.
Junior Writing Consultant Faith Neece has seen students develop better writing skills.
“I’ve seen a lot of students gain confidence in their writing, which is really important,” Neece said. “I’ve seen them improve their grammar and structuring of their papers also.”
MAT 100 has also been successful. Its success is measured by the pass rates in MAT 120, which have gone up since the structure of MAT 100 changed about five years ago, according to Roller.
In addition, the assigned support classes and the other services have proven to be successful in increasing the freshmen retention rate, according to Troyer.
“Our freshmen are more successful after ENG 100 [or MAT 100] than [freshmen at] most colleges are,” Troyer said.
