And a follow-up question is this, do all students placed into remedial courses honestly have the innate intelligence and ability to learn that is associated with the expectations of a BS/BA degree? A portion of my students in the lowest courses present with reading levels of fourth grade and without the ability to abstractly manipulate numbers even in the basic add/subtract/multiply/divide processes. Either they didn't have to or they weren't able to master these basic concrete thinking stepping stones required to develop the abstract thinking necessary for higher order math, and critical reading for that matter. Is it reasonable to assume that with such huge deficiencies, they have the cognitive ability and/or motivational drive to "do the work" required to make up for their first 12 years of education? And for many, while they are working full-time jobs to support spouses, children, and parents?
So, my question is, how do we channel a student's desire to learn into an academic plan that is manageable, challenging, and achievable so that personal success can be achieved when bureaucrats insist that remedial education hamper degree completion? Aren't we, instead, the "last chance" for those who have struggled academically yet still have the desire to further their education? I resent the negative spin on us because it could so easily be spun the other way - the percentage of students who DID graduate because of the opportunity given to them through remedial courses!
If colleges work with the assumption that everyone can "get" a BS/BA, then why not just sell them or give them out at high school graduation? Which raises another question, has the value of a high school diploma been lost because of the same assumption - everyone should get one? Which raises another question - what, then, motivates any single individual to actually do the schoolwork required to learn the content to apply to life in order to "earn" a diploma/degree?
Just askin.....
Let your life speak.
Charlene Aldrich, Instructor
Academic Coordinator
Palmer Campus
Trident Technical College
Charleston, SC 29412
843.722.5516
-----Original Message-----
From: Open Forum for Learning Assistance Professionals [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nic Voge
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2014 12:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Phys.Org
Intriguing. This makes sense to me: "We need further investigation of the ingredients for success at those colleges where taking developmental coursework..."
I think these courses should be conceptualized as preparatory
(prospective) more than remedial (retrospective) in focus. What do receiving institutions expect of students seems to me to be a crucial question with lots of different answers.
Nic
__________________________________
Dominic (Nic) J. Voge
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(609)258-6921
http://www.princeton.edu/mcgraw/us/
Associate Director
McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning
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Princeton University
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On Apr 8, 2014, at 11:06 AM, Norman Stahl wrote:
> Remedial courses fail bachelor's degree seekers, but boost those in
> associate's programs
> April 7th, 2014 in Other Sciences / Social Sciences
>
>
> Taking remedial courses at the four-year college level may hold
> students back from earning their bachelor's degrees, but at the
> community college level remedial education can help earn an
> associate's degree, according to researchers from Boston College's
> Lynch School of Education.
> The role of remedial education has been under scrutiny for years,
> viewed as an essential tool in efforts to raise rates of degree
> completion. At the same time, critics question whether the courses are
> appropriate for institutions of higher education.
> The answer may not be so simple, according to Lynch School researcher
> Katherine A. Shields and Associate Professor of Education Laura M.
> O'Dwyer, who reviewed a federal database of interviews and academic
> transcript data from more than 10,000 students at 670 two- and
> four-year institutions.
> At four-year colleges, students who took three or more remedial
> courses struggled to attain a bachelor's degree when compared to
> similar peers who took no remedial courses, according to the
> researchers, who presented their findings today at the American
> Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting in
> Philadelphia.
> Among students at two-year colleges, taking developmental education
> courses was associated with better odds of earning an associate's
> degree but no higher within six years of enrollment, Shields and
> O'Dwyer discovered, drawing on data collected from college students
> between 2004 and 2009.
> When the researchers looked at the relationship of taking remedial
> courses to the chances of two-year college students ultimately earning
> a bachelor's degree, the potential benefits of the courses
> disappeared. Taking three or more remedial courses at the two-year
> college level was negatively associated with attaining a bachelor's
> degree, they found. Developmental education may divert them from
> transferring to complete a higher degree.
> In addition, the results of remedial courses varied from one two- year
> institution to another, which may reflect the diversity of new
> developmental course models arising during the period of the study,
> according to O'Dwyer, a specialist in educational research,
> measurement, and evaluation.
> Shields said the results show that remedial education at the two- year
> level is not a hindrance in the same way as it seems to be at the
> four-year level, but researchers need to delve into which types of
> programs are the most effective and why.
> "We need further investigation of the ingredients for success at those
> colleges where taking developmental coursework doesn't hold students
> back from finishing an associate's degree," Shields said.
> "Are there institutional policies that do a better job of matching
> students to courses? Are innovations in developmental curriculum
> paying off? The picture looks a lot more complex than in the four-
> year setting."
> More information: O'Dwyer and Shields will present their paper
> "College Completion and Remedial Education: Do Institutional
> Characteristics Make a Difference?" at 8:15 a.m. on Monday, April 7.
> For more information about the session, please see this link.
>
> Provided by Boston College
>
> "Remedial courses fail bachelor's degree seekers, but boost those in
> associate's programs." April 7th, 2014.
> http://phys.org/news/2014-04-remedial-courses-bachelor-degree-seekers.
> html
>
>
> Norman Stahl
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
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