Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Malloy to colleges: no more semesters of remediation

  • Education
  • by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas
  • June 1, 2012
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

A bill that limits the circumstances that college officials can require students to spend time and money taking non-credit remedial courses has been signed into law by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

One quarter of the students who enter a public college in Connecticut spend their first year taking only non-credit remedial courses. Some even spend two years.

“We do a disservice to our college students when we burn through their financial aid to pay for remedial learning which doesn’t fulfill graduation requirements,” Malloy said of a statement. “The strength of our economy is dependent upon the skill of our workforce-we are taking steps to fix our broken education system and ensure that graduating high school seniors are ready for the rigors of college-and we want our college students to spend their time, and their financial aid, in preparation for entry into the job market.”

Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, co-chairwoman of the Higher Education Committee, and many other legislators have referred to these remedial courses as the colleges’ Bermuda Triangle: Just 13.6 percent of the full-time students who take them actually earn an associate’s degree in four years, twice the time it should take, reports the Board of Regents.

The approved bill will limit remedial enrollment beginning in the fall of 2014 to one semester and requires more than a standardized entrance exam to determine who must take these non-credit courses. The test that many community colleges currently use was criticized in a recent report by researchers at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Professors at public universities tried to kill the bill, saying it will put many students in courses they are not prepared to take. Figures from the Board of Regents show that 70 percent of the students who enroll in community colleges have been determined to have not been adequately prepared in high school, and need remedial courses.

But that opposition was not enough to sway legislators, who overwhelmingly approved the bill.

Proponents of the new law said these remedial courses puts up an unnecessary barrier to earning a degree.

And this barrier disproportionately affects black and Hispanic students, reports Complete College, a national nonprofit organization funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others. Seventy-two percent of black freshman are sent to remediation compared with 56 percent of white students, the organization reports. Graduation rates are similarly uneven.

Connecticut’s approved state budget provides no funding for this initiative which, in addition to a new evaluation system, also requires that entry-level courses for credit have significant help for students who would have previously been routed to remedial classes.

The current cost to the state to have these remedial courses is steep: $84 million a year, according to the New England Board of Higher Education. Officials say the savings from this reorganization will be able to be reappropriated to provide this extra help for students.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas is CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter and an original member of the CT Mirror staff. She has won first-place awards for investigative reporting from state, New England, and national organizations. Before joining CT Mirror in late 2009, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. She has also worked for Congressional Quarterly and the Toledo Free Press. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Cardona taps a top Lamont staffer to join him at the U.S. Department of Education
by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

Nick Simmons was director of strategic initiatives in Lamont's office for nearly two years.

Hartford schools re-opening for in-person learning without teachers union buy-in
by Frankie Graziano | Connecticut Public Radio

Teachers favored returning after April break when they will all be vaccinated.

CSCU board votes for one-year tuition freeze
by Adria Watson

For the community colleges, services and extension fees will also remain at the 2020-21 levels.

CT tax fairness debate heats up with new pandemic relief on the way
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Connecticut’s tax fairness debate shifted into high gear as state officials eye $2.6 billion in new pandemic relief from Washington.

Bridgeport parents ask state again to fix systemic problems with special education
by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas and Adria Watson

Declines in staffing levels have left some children without the support they need, the complaint charges.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Everybody in, especially those left out
by State Rep. Anne Hughes

In the wake of the spate of gun violence massacres, resuming again with deadly consequences, we are at a familiar crossroads: Do we revert to our usual, American individualized ‘othering,’, or do we reconcile that there is no ‘them’- only ‘us,’ that we refuse to claim? I’m campaigning to reframe the American ‘us’ from some of y’all to “ALL of us all!”

Opinion New Haven at a zoning crossroads
by Robert Orr

Unbeknown to many, most Connecticut zoning (and that of many other states) designates people of color to segregated areas. For that reason, zoning won the moniker, Exclusionary Zoning. Although there’s no mention of race or color in zoning regulations, clever dimensional requirements, put together in the 1950s, achieve exclusion.

Opinion My father should have had options
by Viewpoints Contributor

Max Fey, a Farmington resident whose father Mark lost a battle with pancreatic cancer, shares why it is critical to pass HB 6425 ASAP. This bill would authorize medical aid in dying, so that all Connecticut residents at the end of their lives would have the option to end unbearable suffering.

Opinion Enriching the already rich — it’s been the American way.
by David Holahan

There are supposed to be two certainties in life: death and taxes. Here's a 2021 corollary: As the rich get richer and richer, they pay less and less into the U.S. Treasury. It’s no joke, my fellow 1040 filers. A recent study by economists and the IRS found that the richest Americans —yes, those infamous one-percenters— have been cheating on their taxes to the collective tune of at least $175 billion a year.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO