The 20 Million Minds Foundation is starting a new blog, and for topics of mutual interest, Michael and I will be posting articles several times a month on their site and occasionally cross-posting here. The first article of mine went up last week.
Two Approaches to Watch in Remedial Education Innovation
It is no secret that the current approach to remedial (or developmental) courses does not work. According to a study by Complete College America (see original for footnotes documenting sources):
“The numbers tell a dispiriting story. Half of all undergraduates and 70 percent of community college students take at least one remedial course. Too many of these students never overcome being placed into a remedial course. Only about a quarter of community college students who take a remedial course graduate within eight years. In fact, most students who are referred to remedial education do not even complete the remedial sequence: One study found 46 percent of students completed the sequence in reading and only 33 percent completed it in math.”
Following the maxim that “if it doesn’t work, try something else”, two community colleges on opposite coasts – Miami-Dade College in Florida and Cerritos College in California – are trying to change the game. What can we learn from these two divergent examples?
Read the whole article here.
