Study shows what 1 in 3 freshmen need
February 14, 2010 by Claire KnightPosted in: Academics, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Getting used to college life isn’t easy — and there’s one thing many students need to make a successful transition.
An average of one in three students need remedial help in at least one core subject, according to an annual report by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. More findings from the research break down the numbers:
First-year students enrolled in two-year schools needed remedial help in:
- Math (41%)
- Writing (37%)
- Reading (27%)
- All three core subjects (17%)
Freshmen students enrolled in four-year universities needed remedial help in:
- Math (16%)
- Writing (9%)
- Reading (6%)
- All three core subjects (3%)
Has your school noticed an increase in the number of freshmen who need remedial help in core subjects? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
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Tags: college remedial courses, Colorado Commission on Higher Education
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February 17th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
The statistics quoted above seem to me to be about right. I teach in a community college and many of our students do indeed need remedial math and English. My question is: How is it that the students are able to get a high school graduation certificate when they often can’t write a complete sentence or handle simple fractions or read for even minimal comprehension? I can’t even begin to tell you how many students I have seen over the years (I do a lot of general advising) who take the Accuplacer placement exam and get placed in MA090 (Pre Algebra). I ask them what math courses they took in high school. Frequently they tell me that they took consumer math, which apparently fails to teach them to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Sometimes a student will place into MA101 or MA103 (College Algebra). But they want to register for Pre-Calculus or Engineering Calculus I or something such. I ask them what math they took in high school. They tell me they took Pre-Calc or sometimes even Calculus I (honors) and earned at least a “C” or a “B”. But they clearly did not learn the material at a level sufficient for them to move on to the next course. They end up taking College Algebra so that they can then go on to Pre-Calculus. I ask them if they know that they really had not learned the math in high school. Many, if not most, of them know full well that they were given a grade that they did not deserve for a course which they did not learn. It is not that the students are unaware of the undeserved grade sydrome. They just play along with the game since they don’t know what else to do. And then they come in unprepared for college level work even though they are intellectually capable of learning the necessary material. So they realize they have wasted a year or two in high school. It is the “Lake Woebegone” syndrome.