San Francisco State University

Integrated Reading/Writing (IRW) Program
Project Co-Directors: Dr. Sugie Goen-Salter and Dr. Helen Gillotte-Tropp


SFSU’s Integrated Reading/Writing (IRW) program proposed an alternative to SFSU's approach to English remediation. Traditionally, students who scored in the lowest quartile on the California State University’s systemwide English Placement Test (EPT) -- two levels below first year composition --  completed a full year of developmental-level course work. In their first semester, they took a 3-unit basic writing course (English 48) concurrently with a 1-unit reading course (English 118). In their second semester, they take another 3-unit basic writing course (English 51) concurrently with a 1-unit reading course (English 121). In meeting this requirement, they had had two different writing instructors, two different reading instructors, and four different groups of classmates by the time they entered their first-year composition class in their third semester of enrollment.

With funding from the US Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE Grant No. P116B011242) we designed an integrated, year-long course, with one instructor and one cohort of students. Students most at-risk for disenrollment under the CSU remediation policy, and/or dropping out of college altogether, are typically those who score in the lowest quartile on the English Placement Test (T141 or below). Rather than requiring these students to complete two developmental-level writing classes concurrent with two reading classes before becoming eligible for first year composition, SFSU’s IRW program enrolls them in a single year-long course in which instruction in reading and writing are fully integrated. Students who successfully complete this course will have met not only the CSU remediation requirement, but also the CSU first-year college composition requirement, in effect completing in one year what would ordinarily have taken three semesters to accomplish.

We designed an assessment protocol to compare the IRW group on a number of outcome measures to a control group of students enrolled in the traditional sequence of separate reading and writing courses. Between 2001 and 2004 (the three years of FIPSE-funding), students in the IRW group had higher retention rates, received higher ratings on their writing portfolios, and scored similar to or higher on measures of reading comprehension, critical reasoning and vocabulary. More importantly, the IRW group was also able to accomplish these goals in one semester less of instruction than students in the control group. These educational benefits have a corresponding cost benefit to the University. SFSU’s traditional three-semester progression from Developmental Writing/Reading through first-year composition carries an annual cost of $672,100. The year-long IRW program reduces that annual expenditure to $286,000, for a net savings of in $386,100.

In 2006, the San Francisco State University administration approved a plan to provide no more general funding for remediation effective AY 2007-08.  Initially, the administration was considering two options in lieu of continuing to fund the approximately 1 million dollars annually to provide remedial instruction in English and mathematics: A) to remand all remediation to the College of Extended Learning (CEL) or B) to outsource remedial instruction to the community colleges. Of these two plans, SFSU preferred Option A, despite the prohibitive premium students would have to pay to register for these courses through CEL.

Around the time these deliberations were taking place (2005-2006), SFSU's IRW program began to receive national and statewide attention  for its documented success in helping students who score in the lowest quartile on the EPT to progress to second-year composition in their third semester of enrollment (a full semester ahead of schedule). Upon hearing these reports, the SFSU administration asked the program directors, Dr. Sugie Goen-Salter and Dr. Helen Gillotte-Tropp, to present their findings, and to provide a cost analysis for implementing the program to include all entering first year students. As a result, the administration has now approved a plan to convert all of our previously developmental level reading and writing courses (English 48/English 118 and English 51/English 121) to English 114 (First-Year Composition) equivalent courses.

Converting IRW Courses to First-Year Composition Equivalents

Under the new plan, there will be three different pathways by which all first-year students will be able to satisfy the university’s first-year composition requirement:

1) ENG 114: For students with an EPT score of 151 and above. ENG 114 is a 3-unit, one-semester first year composition course. Successful completion of English 114 meets the university’s first-year composition requirement. Students who do not pass must repeat, and successfully complete, English 114 in order to satisfy the university’s first-year composition requirement.


2) ENG 106: For students with EPT score between 150-142. ENG 106 is a 4-unit, one-semester integrated reading/writing course (formerly English 51/121). Successful completion of English 106 meets the university’s first-year composition requirement.
  • Students who complete all required work in ENG 106, but whose work is below C level by the end of the course will receive an NC grade in ENG 106 and must then enroll in, and successfully complete, English 114 in order to satisfy the university’s first-year composition requirement.
  • Students who do not complete the ENG 106 course (they quit coming to class entirely, or come only haphazardly, and do not complete the requirements) will receive an administrative W at the end of the course. They must repeat and pass ENG 106 their second semester of enrollment or be out of compliance with EO 665, the California State University’s one-year remediation policy.

3) ENG 104-105. For students with EPT score 141 and below. ENG 104-105 is an 8-unit, one-year integrated reading/writing course. Students enroll in ENG 104 their first semester at SFSU, progressing to ENG 105 their second semester. Successful completion of English 104/105 meets the university’s first-year composition requirement.
  • Students who complete the ENG 104 requirements, but are not yet doing work at the C level are allowed to progress to ENG 105 with a C- grade (they have the full year to produce passing work).
  • Students who do not meet the ENG 104 requirements (e.g. they quit coming to class entirely, or come only haphazardly) will receive an administrative W at the end of the ENG 104 course. They must repeat and pass ENG 104 their second semester of enrollment or be out of compliance with EO 665, the California State University’s one-year remediation policy. They then must complete and pass ENG 105 in summer to complete their first-year composition requirement.
  • Students who progress to ENG 105 their second semester (or summer) but are not producing passing work by the end of the ENG 105 course will receive an NC grade in ENG 105, and must then enroll in, and successfully complete, English 114 in order to satisfy the university’s first-year composition requirement.
  • Students who progress to ENG 105 their second semester of enrollment, but who do not complete the requirements of the ENG 105 course (e.g. they quit coming to class entirely, or come only haphazardly) will receive an NC grade at the end of the ENG 105 course.  They must enroll in, and successfully complete, English 114 in order to satisfy the university’s first-year composition requirement.

New Course Requirements

The new courses, ENG 106 and English 104/105, will retain enrollment caps of 18 students; ENG 114 will retain its current enrollment cap of 25.

The one-year ENG 104-105 course will implement the current yearlong IRW curriculum, ENG 106 will implement the second semester of the IRW curriculum, and ENG 114 will maintain its current curriculum. All three versions of our first-year course should meet common learning outcomes and offer students opportunities to write approximately 8,000 words.

Potential for Success

Since 1999, SFSU has been experimenting with an integrated reading/writing curriculum taught to students who place in the lowest quartile on the EPT (141 and below). The program has been able to demonstrate, on a variety of learning measures, that students in this enriched learning environment can successfully meet the learning outcomes of ENG 114 a full semester ahead of schedule (accomplishing in two semesters what traditionally took three semesters to accomplish).  We have every reason to believe that this success will continue under the new ENG 104-105 plan.

We can reasonably anticipate success with ENG 106 based on the success of the yearlong IRW courses. Since the students who enroll in ENG 106 are already close to the ENG 114 cutoff (EPT scores between 142-150), because they represent the most narrow range of scores in any quartile on the EPT (only an 8 point spread), and because students will also be taught an enriched, integrated reading/writing curriculum, they should be able to accomplish the same goal as their lower scoring counterparts: meeting the ENG 114 learning outcomes a semester ahead of schedule (accomplishing in one semester what it traditionally took two semesters to accomplish).