On Tue, 27 Jan 1998, Peggy Keller wrote:
>
> However, we also need to do something so that students cease to feel there
> is a stigma attached to taking the same course more than once! ...
> What we need, I think, is some kind of
> open-entry/open-exit type of developmental course, rather than set
> semesters. This, of course, will never fly because the "bean counters"
> would no longer have the "data" they require to "prove" that developmental
> students can't succeed in college courses! Sometimes I think our
> education system is set up strictly to produce "data" (retention, success
> or failure rates, demographics, etc.) rather than to actually "educate"
> anyone!
Peggy,
Open entry/open exit is possible. I have been in colleges where
we allowed students to work on a self-paced model. When they finished one
level, they moved right on to the next. Of course, we had to "cheat" the
system by registering the student into the sequential course for the
following semester (sometimes registering the student for two courses in
the next semester -- say pre-algebra and algebra -- in order to compensate
for the lack of flexibility in both the college's registration and
enrollment system and the government's inflexible financial aid
guidelines.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Jim Valkenburg [log in to unmask]
Delta College
University Center, MI 48710-0002
(517) 686-9034 FAX (517) 686-8736
