According to a new report, remedial courses cost students and their families a staggering $1.3 billion across the 50 states and the District of Columbia every year. The report's recommendations focus on the steps that K-12 and higher education systems can take together to eliminate the need for remedial education for recent high school graduates by aligning high school graduation and college admission requirements, increasing transparency around the knowledge, skills, and coursework necessary for success in higher education and creating consensus around definitions, placement practices, and structures for remedial education in public higher education institutions. Read the full report from the Center for American Progress. Nationally, students at two-year colleges paid $920 million for remediation; for more actions specific to community college and K-12 collaboration, see our report,  Seizing the Moment.

 

Postsecondary Success = Workforce Success

According to a recent survey, Americans are increasingly uncertain about the necessity of college for success in the workforce. From 2000-2009, increasing numbers of Americans said that college is necessary, yet now just 42 percent of Americans say college is necessary for workforce success, a 13 percent drop from 2009. Despite this perspective shift since the Great Recession, research shows that nearly all the jobs created in the recovery - 11.5 million out of 11.6 million - have gone to workers with at least some postsecondary education, including the vast majority of the good jobs - full-time jobs with benefits that pay more than $53,000. By 2020, 65 percent of all new jobs in the United States will require at least some postsecondary education and training, pointing to the continued importance of higher education to the economic well-being of individuals, families, communities and the nation. For more on the results of the survey, check out the infographic here. Stay tuned: Higher Ed for Higher Standards will be releasing additional resources related to state postsecondary credentialing goals in fall 2016 as part of Leveraging ESSA.  

 

Supporting Latino Students Critical to Degree Attainment Goals

In order to reach the goals we set around credential attainment, and reap the accompanying economic and social benefits, we must continue to work to close the educational attainment gap, especially between Latinos and their white counterparts, says Deborah Santiago, COO and Vice President for Policy at Excelencia in Education. In the last 20 years, Latino enrollment in higher education has tripled, from 1 to 3.2 million, making them the second largest student population enrolled in higher education today. Meanwhile, Latino attainment of an associate's degree or higher has nearly doubled, from 12% in 1995 to 23% in 2014. Despite these gains, Hispanic students are still more likely to require remediation and less likely to successfully complete the remedial and credit-bearing course sequence, according to data from Complete College America. We must continue to work to increase and accelerate Latino student success by focusing on both college readiness and postsecondary completion to truly achieve educational equity and reach our degree attainment goals.  Read the full piece here.

 

Remediation & the Connection to Postsecondary Outcomes

Findings from a new study suggest "misalignment between high school and college academic standards" and the variable policies on remedial education and placement across states and institutions are posing major obstacles to student success. The report, using nationally representative data from student transcripts from 2003 - 2009,  concludes that a deeper understanding of the impact of remediation course-taking on key postsecondary outcomes, including earning college-level English and math credits and persisting through college for both 2- and 4-year students, can help colleges and universities "better identify struggling students, design strategies to help them overcome their hurdles, and make remedial programs more effective in retaining students and enabling them to progress to college-level curricula and beyond."

 

What Does it Take to Get Students Ready for College?

Collaboration with local high schools is key, according to an article from Community College Research Center (CCRC). Transition courses designed to fill in gaps in students' college readiness were in place in 29 states as of late 2012, but research on designing and implementing these courses well is still in its infancy. Specifically, the ways that high schools and colleges can successfully work together to improve student readiness for college earlier requires further attention. New research from CCRC outlines methods to maximize their effectiveness, including an  overview outlining the state of knowledge about the courses, as well as findings from a qualitative report of implementation in California, Tennessee, New York, and West Virginia based on faculty, administrator and student interviews and classroom observations. Without an agreement with higher ed that the transition courses satisfy remediation requirements, students may still have to take a placement test when they get to college; meanwhile, a lack of feedback on how transition course students fare in college leaves K-12 unsure of whether the courses are effective or need improvement -- underscoring the need for collaboration with K-12 and higher ed. For promising practices on community colleges and K-12 collaboration on transition courses, see our report,  Seizing the Moment .