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| Dana Jean Maginn acts as a "coach" for remedial education students in Portland, Ore. (Photo by Motoya Nakamura) |
Colleges Rethink Remedial Education
BY DELIA M. RIOS
Posted on 05/10/2006 8:23:00 AM PDT by Incorrigible
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Colleges Rethink Remedial EducationBY DELIA M. RIOS |
To understand why a high school diploma is no guarantee that a graduate has what it takes to thrive in college, a short history lesson is in order:
High schools were never designed to funnel mass numbers of young Americans into colleges and universities. Only a select number of students are on a rigorous track that prepares them to succeed in college.
"We have a system that was really established in 1906 rather than 2006, and we've never adapted the system to the huge demand for college we now have," says Michael Kirst, a Stanford University professor of education.
The National Center for Education Statistics reports that one in 10 freshmen and sophomores enrolled in U.S. colleges takes at least one remedial course. Those are high-school-level classes in basic subjects such as writing and math, teaching material that should have been mastered earlier. Some remedial math classes, for instance, are at the second- or third-grade level.
Remedial courses don't count toward a degree, but they are required if students aren't ready for college-level work. That means students are doling out extra cash and spending valuable time on remedial education. And those who start college in these classes are statistically more at risk of dropping out.
The old approach has been to play catch-up: Identify incoming college freshmen lacking the skills to do the work and direct them into remedial classes.
But many educators and policymakers now emphasize the need to work backward to close the gaps between high schools and institutions of higher learning. The idea is to get more students on the college track earlier -- even as early as grade school. But it's also about extending lifelines to college students who are struggling and to high school dropouts looking for a second chance.
Part of the problem is perception: In a January national survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education, 31 percent of high school teachers reported that their students were "very well" prepared for college work; only 13 percent of college professors agreed.
"An `A' in high school should mean you're ready for college, but it depends on the course and the content," says Laurel Dukehart, director of the Gateway to College project at Portland Community College in Oregon.
Dukehart oversees a program that enables high school dropouts to earn a high school diploma and work toward a community college degree at the same time. It is so successful that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded the college a grant to replicate it elsewhere.
At its Southeast Portland campus, the college also has a $37,000 Mott Foundation grant to do everything possible to help students in remedial classes get their degrees. The program includes tutoring, a study skills class and a career class so students can focus on goals. Its coordinator, Dana Jean Maginn, acts as a coach.
Christopher Phelps, an Ohio State University professor, teaches in a state where 41 percent of college freshmen need remedial English, math or both. What remedy would he apply?
"At the university stage, it's hard to know exactly what to do," Phelps says. "I try to write careful comments and suggestions on students' papers, in hopes that they'll learn to write better the next time around. ... But the bad habits and attitudes are usually too ingrained."
The key is to keep those bad habits from forming.
Both the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Sallie Mae Fund are reaching back to elementary school, investing $4 million and $3 million, respectively, in programs designed to encourage fifth- and sixth-graders to see themselves as college material -- and then to set them on that course.
At the high school level, Ohio's Gov. Bob Taft proposes to overhaul the core curriculum for all students. For example, even those who are not college bound would be required to take Algebra II.
If the governor's program is approved, the first to complete its curriculum will be awarded their high school diplomas in 2011. That would also be the first year that these courses become required for admission to a state-funded four-year college. Remedial education would be phased out of four-year schools and redirected into community colleges.
Susan Bodary, Taft's executive assistant for education and work force development, cites research indicating that Algebra II is a "linchpin" course -- that is, students who complete it are more likely to go to college.
"Let's put rigor in front of every kid," she says.
The goal of these and similar programs is to reduce the need for remedial work and to make sure a high school diploma means something.
"It's all about increasing graduation rates in this country," says Barbara Semedo, a spokeswoman for the Gates Foundation, which has spent more than $1 billion over the past several years to boost the quality of high schools.
"It's about preparing them for jobs in the 21st century economy."
May 9, 2006
(Delia M. Rios can be contacted at delia.rios@newhouse.com.)
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Like the 8th grade test from the 1800's that most college grads. couldn't come close to passing.
It's here on Freerepublic somewhere, I hope it finds it's way to this thread.
Ban the unions.
Promote vouchers.
English only.
Phonics.
Use math textbooks from 1940.
Allow schools to expel students with discipline problems.
Of course, none of these ideas will be seriously considered. And that's because this is a problem that the education esyablishment does not want to solve. There's more money is a vast, growing, unsolvable problem. So that's what we get.
Schools from the first through the twelfth grades should be centers of strict discipline designed to prepare graduates for higher education.
In a complex society such as ours, and in the midst of the Information Age, there is a demand for special skills in virtually everyone.
The problem is the Left (which is, in fact, decadence), which undermines discipline and the demand that students learn and that teachers teach. It's that simple.
The problems of the Left are too numerous of list here, but one of the worst is foolish valuing of good intentions and myopic emotional gratification at the expense of results.
The solution is to repudiate the Left and all its absurdity and decadence, vote sensible people into public office, demand discipline in schools, demand competent teachers, and demand that teachers teach and students learn. It's that simple.
One big problem is that ignorant, uneducated, irresponsible, careless, and/or misguided parents do not demand discipline and learning from their children. Here, the law should intervene in behalf of the children.
They're certainly not an education establishment, perhaps they are an education esyablishment.
Everything you said in post #3 is absolutely correct. The problem is the Left--the decadent, misguided, self-congratulatory, hubritic, and often stupid Left.
You are correct the article reads like a political slogan.
I do agree that remedial classes do not help undereducated students.
A better approach for people who have not been properly prepared for college would be private tutoring . This is the approach Abraham Lincoln took.
I also agree with the posters who think the schools should be fixed ,but even with great schools some people will be undereducated for no other reason than bad luck.
Effect and cause. Students aiming to go to college are more likely to take Algebra II, not vice versa. Although algebra is useful for strengthening the brain, there are a lot of improvements needed in the education system before we start trying to run every child through it. How about having every child able to handle basic math? Although that seems to be beyond the capability of current government schools.
Boy, are you ever right......we have a niece in PORTLAND, OR....taking REMEDIAL courses, "reading" and "math" before she can take college courses. (I know this cause I surreptiously follow her myspace and xanga sites....anyhoo....her mother is a school teacher! I think parents (and kids) are being cheated by the local schools....bigtime! BUT, it's income for the schools....
"undereducated" because of "bad luck." Surely you jest.....
Perhaps, in some cases, I am being over generous.
Four year colleges should stop offering remedial classes altogether. Community college would be the place to offer these, and it would be a lot less expensive for the student to obtain those skills in a school close to home, rather than having to pay the cost of the tuition, room and board at a four year school to get them. After a year at the Community college, the student can then move on to the college and be assured of being able to keep up with the work and do well.
I won't hold my breath waiting for this to happen, though, because the four year colleges are all about putting fannies in the seats, prepared or not.
"There's a lot of information lacking in this article!"
Yes. The writer is using BIG PEOPLE words to say, nothing. This is an example of the baloney, colleges and universities are teaching as the way to succeed. Say a lot of words that don't mean much and you're in...
>>How about having every child able to handle basic math?
Heck, I'd settle for having every student being able to read.
That said, basic numeracy would be a nice addition to basic literacy.
If students can't do all of that by 8th grade there are problems which need to be fixed other than expecting them to dive into algebra classes.
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