An article in USA TODAY (May 26, 2009) discusses how state policy could enhance more effective remediation. According to reporter Mary Beth Marklein:

Remedial math has emerged as an important place to focus attention: Achieving the Dream data show that, among more than 250,000 students who required the most math remediation, only 16% completed those requirements in three years, and fewer than 10% of those passed a college-level math course within that period.

There's promising news, too: Once students get over the remedial-math hump, they are more likely to persist to the next year, even compared with students who didn't require remediation (80% vs. 54%).

Yet in many cases, students who need help may not get it. Slightly more than half of states require placement testing to determine whether students are prepared for college-level math, and even some of those don't require low scorers to get remediation. Even among states that require testing, "there is substantial evidence that colleges informally exempt students," according to a 2007 report by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University's Teachers College…

>> Read this article at http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-05-26-comcol-main_N.htm (Subscription and/or site registration may be required.)

>> Learn more about CCRC's research for Achieving the Dream at: http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Collection.asp?cid=15