A majority of California’s community college students aren’t ready to do college-level work when they start, concludes EdSource in a report on basic skills education called Something’s Got To Give. College completion rates won’t improve until colleges accelerate the pace of remedial education, the report finds.
The EdSource study looked at the background characteristics, aspirations, and academic progress of students who began in fall 2002 and—sometime between then and spring 2009—enrolled in a remedial mathematics or writing course that was part of a sequence leading to college level work. About two-thirds of those students neither transferred to a four-year university nor completed any type of credential or certificate.
“Something’s got to give if California’s community colleges are to ensure that significantly more of their students—especially those of color and first generation college attendees—are to successfully complete school,” said Mary Perry, deputy director of EdSource.
Students’ starting levels in writing and mathematics in 2002
Students who started at the lowest levels tended to be older and were disproportionately African American and Hispanic/Latino. They were also more likely to be low income and to enroll part time.
Full-time students who began remedial classes immediately were more likely to succeed. Not surprisingly, those who required the least remediation were the most likely to move on to college-level classes.
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at 10:01 am
[...] community colleges can’t improve completion rates significantly until the system learns how to teach basic skills quickly to unprepared students, concludes a new report. Most new students aren’t ready for college-level [...]
at 10:01 am
[...] community colleges can’t improve completion rates significantly until the system learns how to teach basic skills quickly to unprepared students, concludes a new report. Most new students aren’t ready for college-level [...]