By Jonathan Munson
The last of seven candidates to be interviewed for the position of dean of arts and sciences at this college, Dr. James Perry, chair of math, life and natural sciences at Owens Community College, drew from personal experience when asked about developmental education during the open forum of a Nov. 5 interview.
“I am a Dev-Ed student,” Perry said. “I did not learn to read until my first semester in college.” His problem wasn’t so much in reading, but in understanding and analyzing sentences. Remedial courses were not around at the time, but a helpful instructor took him in and helped him through his dilemma.
“This instructor took me from not being able to understand a sentence to being able to understand a paragraph,” Perry said. “Now I have a Ph.D. I understand. I’ve taught developmental math. I understand the plight that these individuals have.”
He added that providing the K-12 system with the means to prepare students for college can have a major impact.
“If we’ve got our students already prepared to succeed, I think we can do away with developmental education at that point,” he said. “If they’re prepared; but they’re not coming prepared.”
“One of the things I’ve been doing a lot here in the last four years is getting out into the K-12 systems,” Perry said, describing presentations he gives at elementary schools. The chair dons a tie-dyed lab coat and mad scientist’s hair to get students engaged. “It’s something that will excite them and it’s been working.”
A data-driven person, statistics and feedback carry a lot of weight when it comes to Perry’s decision making.
When asked for his opinions on professional development, and which areas faculty and staff need to focus on to better serve their students, he said, “I’m so ingrained in going back to the faculty for those kinds of decisions, that I tend not to form my own.” Perry did say that he’d like for faculty and staff to receive more specialized training in presentation media. Providing faculty with opportunities to attend conferences, with an understanding that they will return and share what they learn, also is an important factor in professional development.
Perry was asked what he thought about learning communities and supplemental instruction. “I’ve seen it work, but I’ve also seen it fail,” Perry replied. “But if it’s set up right, and run right, student retention improves.”
Perry brought one major solution to the table. He explained that in Ohio, they have created a fourth year of required mathematics for high school students, whereas in Texas, students are only required to take three years of mathematics.
“Get with the Legislature and with the Department of Education, and do what Ohio has done,” Perry said. “Some of them wait as much as three years after they’ve taken their last math class before they attempt to take their college-level math class. If they don’t use it, they lose it.”
With technology in the classroom being a major issue, Perry was asked how he feels about that. He began by describing the situation at his college.
“Every classroom and lab in the math-science complex is 100 percent wired to the Web,” Perry said. When asked how this was funded, he responded that a deal with information technology department made it possible to complete the project in six months.
“If I bought the projector units, they would provide the computer service,” Perry said. He described his philosophy on funding in regards to that situation.
“I’ll pay this if you pay that,” he said. “Let’s let your department money stretch and my department money stretch.”