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Remedial classes have been standard practice at community colleges since about the 1980s. The original intent of these not-for-credit courses was to protect underperforming students from failing actual college classes. Remedial courses gave such students the extra support they needed to eventually take those classes—and succeed in obtaining a degree. However, in recent years there has been some debate over the effectiveness of remedial courses. This culminated when Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed a bill severely limiting the ability of community colleges to place students into such classes. Colleges cannot now mandate remedial courses for academically underprepared students except...

Now that the 2019 Academy Award nominations have been announced, it's time to begin the handwringing over what the Oscars got wrong. Since, for the first time in decades, I haven't watched any of the movies nominated (I tried to watch Black Panther, but found it so boring I fell asleep about twenty minutes in), I am going to direct my outrage at the continued snubs of actors and actresses who are really good at their craft. Ranked below are the best living actors and actresses who have yet to win an Oscar for acting. Frankly, it's astounding that Jared...

Before Aida Tseggai could major in biology at Cal State Dominguez Hills, she had to catch up in math. She passed a non-credit remedial math class in the fall and then was offered a new pathway – a for-credit course in college-level algebra that provided extra class time, tutoring and review of more fundamental material. Such combination classes – known as co-requisites, bridges or hybrids – are seen as a crucial tool to help hundreds of thousands of CSU students climb out of the remedial education hole in which some feel trapped. Part of a national reform movement, such courses...

The Center for American Progress reveals that students pay more than $1.3 billion in tuition and fees each year for remedial courses which qualify them for academic credits, but do not count towards graduation. California had the highest rate of out-of-pocket remedial spending with more than $205 million, while Alaskan students spent just $1.1 million, statistics generally attributed to student enrollment in these states. According to the survey, the majority of college students enrolled in remedial courses are ethnic minorities, including 56% of African American students and 45% of Hispanic students, compared to just 35% of white students.

New data shows about half of Illinois high school graduates going on to the state's community colleges need remediation in at least one subject. That data was released this past week by the Illinois State Board of Education. It shows 48.7 percent of graduates who enrolled in the community college system needed remedial instruction to prepare them for entry-level college coursework. ... For the first time, that information is being reported with Illinois Report Card data.

"...We are doomed because there is no coherent organization and the cost of government rises under this structure as the efficiency of management declines. Our organizational skills are seriously lacking. We have far too many agencies all regulating in an overlapping manner and this increases the cost as well as the inability to actually manage anything. This was one of the complaints in the Declaration of Independence: He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. It is time to understand this inherent barbaric tribal tendency...

The City University of New York has long spent much of its energy and resources just teaching new students what they need to begin taking college-level courses. But that tide of remedial students has now swelled so large that the university’s six community colleges — like other two-year schools across the country — are having to rethink what and how they teach, even as they reel from steep cuts in state and local aid. About three-quarters of the 17,500 freshmen at the community colleges this year have needed remedial instruction in reading, writing or math, and nearly a quarter of...

... [T]he New York City Department of Education acknowledges that despite rising graduation rates, many graduates lack basic skills, and it is trying to do something about it. This year, for the first time, it has sent detailed reports to all of its high schools, telling them just how many of their students who arrived at the city’s public colleges needed remedial courses, as well as how many stayed enrolled after their first semester. The reports go beyond the basic measure of a school’s success — the percentage of students who earn a diploma — to let educators know whether...

Remedial classes await. Thousands of Colorado high schoolers are graduating this month with plans to go to college in the fall. Hundreds of them will be academically unprepared when they get there. Those students will take — and pay for — remedial classes that don’t count toward a degree. Educators say the need for remedial work is fueled largely by a lack of communication between high schools and colleges about what’s important to know. They also say high school students need to pay closer attention to class selection and grades, especially in the senior year when many coast toward graduation...

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   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...

WSMV-TV, Nashville, Tennessee, E-mail: lbrinton@wsmv.com January 24, 2005 The cream always come to the top. Now let's think back a bit, about two years ago. Ann Zimmerman was a widely-praised Metro School teacher with a lot of experience. Along came Metro Schools Director Pedro Garcia, who required students to be taught from a remedial reading program called "Language!" Zimmerman believed the program was a step-back for her students and that "Language!" contained too many errors and too much jargon. She put her foot down and said no way was she going to use the controversial program for her students. Zimmerman...

<p>LONG BEACH, Calif. - More than half the first-time freshmen at California State University failed to meet math and English proficiency requirements, but most who took remedial courses became proficient by the end of the first year, according to a report released Tuesday.</p>