Citing lackluster completion rates among students who place into remedial education courses, a group of higher education reformers on Wednesday called for an overhaul in the way that remedial education is delivered.
“Remediation, as currently structured, simply does not work,” said Stan Jones, president of Complete College America, a policy and research organization that works with states to improve college completion rates.
Jones’ organization is one of four that united to issue the new set of research-based principles that they say should shape the way colleges and universities serve students who currently don’t place into college-level courses. The other organizations that joined in the effort are: Jobs for the Future, the Education Commission of the States and the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
The seven principles the groups unveiled Wednesday are:
The idea behind the principles, particularly those that are meant to shorten the remediation process and get students taking credit-bearing courses, is to ensure greater chances of completion, leaders of the effort to revamp remedial education said.
“The more courses you take, the more semesters you have to be in the school, the more life intervenes for students, and the more they drop out,” said Richard Kazis, vice president of Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based organization that works on college and career issues for low-income students.
