Remediation, forcing students to take non-credit-bearing courses before admitting them to introductory courses, may be on the way out in Connecticut. Many states have proposed something like this, but Connecticut’s looks promising.
According to an article by Kathleen Megan in the Hartford Courant:
Now state lawmakers have gotten behind legislation that would eliminate no-credit remedial college classes by 2014, replacing them with regular credit-bearing classes that come with “embedded” remedial support for students who need it.
The bill, which the higher education committee easily approved, would transform the landscape for a student who arrives unprepared for college work at a community college or a state university, allowing students to earn college credits while getting remedial help.
The bill apparently came about because some in Connecticut were concerned that students were using up financial aid money on remedial courses, effectively spending their college money before they even got to take real college courses.
Some 70 percent of Connecticut’s community college students have to take at least one remedial course.
Only 13 percent of community college students who take remedial courses earn an associate degree within in four years, according to the article.
