Early college seminars spice up pre-college pipeline for San Quentin residents

Mount Tamalpais College, San Quentin’s on-site college program, provides non-credit, pre-college courses to ensure that incoming students are prepared for success in college classrooms.

A high school diploma or high school equivalency is the only prerequisite for admission to MTC’s liberal arts program. Some incarcerated students who meet this qualification have been away from the classroom for decades and need refreshers to ensure readiness for higher education.

To gauge incoming student preparedness the College administers writing and math assessments. If assessments indicate that the student is not ready for credit courses, or if the student declines the assessments, he is steered to pre-college courses. This can frustrate new students anxious to earn college credits and related CDCR milestones.

MTC explained the rationale for non-credit courses in its 2024/25 Annual Report. “To prepare new students for the rigor and intellectual challenge of MTC’s credit program, these non-credit courses provide a foundation for college success, a stronger sense of student identity, and a clear understanding of the academic pathways to reach educational goals.”

San Quentin resident and MTC student Paul Quattropani recalled his assessment and placement experience. “I [took] two assessment tests upon enrollment, one for math and the other for English/writing. The tests were very broad ranging from remedial all the way up to an advanced level well beyond my recognition … I placed somewhat low in my math assessment and somewhere in the medium range with the writing and was placed in math/English classes accordingly. While taking these classes I felt challenged but not overwhelmed. I eventually went on to complete all the math and English classes required to graduate … the placement I was given was accurate and beneficial. It played an integral part in the success I’ve had in school thus far.”

Pre-college courses include Introduction to College, Foundations of Reading and Writing I & II, Mathematics Foundations I & II, and Elementary Algebra.

MTC requires Introduction to College for all new students unless they have completed a comparable course in another college or at least nine units of college credit with a C- or better.

The College’s Summer 2026 Registration Packet notes that the Introduction to College course “… introduces students to skills that will help them successfully navigate their college experience and become active members of MTC’s academic community.”

MTC’s writing assessment determines whether students will begin in pre-college English courses or in the credit-earning English curriculum.

The two Foundations of Reading and Writing courses focus on critical reading, writing and thinking. In the first, students practice with written responses to reading assignments and with free-writes, and submit two formal essays while becoming familiar with the five-paragraph essay structure. The second course examines thesis development and evidence gathering and students prepare three formal essays with varying purposes.

Math assessments determine if students begin in a pre-college math course or in the first credit-earning math class, intermediate algebra.

In Mathematics Foundations I students review arithmetic and its applications to daily life including basic mathematical operations, decimals and fractions, exponents and roots, rates, ratios and proportions. Mathematics Foundations II prepares students for elementary algebra. Students encounter variables, coordinate axes, and graphing. The final pre-college math course introduces elementary algebra and prepares students for intermediate algebra.

To encourage students working through the pre-college courses MTC developed “Early College Seminars,” a series of one-credit, nine-week courses. These classes are “… open to newer students at the College to supplement the math and writing courses required for most new students. By providing access to a wider range of disciplines, MTC offers students the opportunity to explore new fields and experience the excitement of learning, motivating them to persist,” noted the 2024/25 Annual Report.

Examples of recent early college seminars include: Sense and Sensibility and Science, From Particles to People to Planets: Understanding the Physics of Our World at Every Scale, Linguistic Landscapes, and Diagnosing and Treating Psychological Trauma.

These classes give students in the pre-college math and English pipeline a chance to accumulate credits toward graduation and milestones. The College reserves these seminars as the exclusive domain of newer students.

Quattropani offered encouragement to new students. “If you’re considering enrollment in MTC, come in and take these tests, do the best you can and be certain the school will make sure you start out exactly where you’re supposed to be.”