Thinking remedially

re·me·di·al/riˈmēdēəl/Adjective

1. Giving or intended as a remedy or cure.

2. Provided or intended for students who are experiencing learning difficulties

We don’t have a remedial program at Parkland College.

That’s a dangerous statement, isn’t it? Do you know the distinction between 'remedial" and "developmental' education?

Colleges and universities have long offered precollege-level courses designed to teach the basic academic skills necessary for success in college. We have long standing courses designed to serve students who were quite competent as poets, writers, or philosophers but lacked mathematical skills or students who had excellent potential as scientists, mathematicians, or engineers but had difficulty with the written word. Of course, we also serve students that need both.

But at Parkland, we prefer to call it developmental education and there is a difference. Modern developmental education involves a range of services designed to promote personal and academic development. These services may include counseling and advising, tutoring, individualized instruction, and courses to enhance study skills and strategies (PSY 109), promote critical thinking, and/or introduce students to the realities and expectations of college.

“Colleges never saw remedial education as their mission,” says George R. Boggs, president of the American Association of Community Colleges and former president of Palomar Community College in California. “They felt their job was giving an opportunity. If the student succeeded, great! Higher education has never been rewarded for the success of its students, only enrollments.”

In developmental education, remediation is only one of several possible options along a continuum of interventions ranging from occasional tutoring to brush up on forgotten material to a complete menu of remedial courses. In other words, remedial courses are a part of our developmental education program and the choice of interventions is based on assessment information (our Compass test) combined with the professional judgment of developmental educators.

An April 20, 2010 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education outlining the Gates Foundation plans to improve remedial education with a $110MM investment is interesting.

It says:

“Community colleges should replace weak remedial programs with innovative practices as a way to increase completion rates, Melinda F. Gates, co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, told two-year college leaders Tuesday as she delivered the closing speech here at the American Association of Community Colleges' annual meeting.

To that end, Ms. Gates said that her foundation is spending up to $110-million to work with dozens of partners, including colleges and school districts, to develop groundbreaking models for remedial education and to replicate effective practices. About half of the foundation's commitment has already been given to colleges and programs. The remaining $57-million will be given as grants over the next two years.”

Remedial (developmental) education, it appears, is an “afterthought” at many community colleges. We know from experience at Parkland that some 70-75% of recent high school graduates come to Parkland in need of one or more remedial courses from our developmental curriculum. Most often, deficits are in mathematics. There is no doubt that many of the students we see have a long road to travel before taking a college-level course. It can be terribly disheartening.

Melinda Gates described remedial programs as the “…biggest obstacles students must overcome in pursuit of a college degree”. In addition, she provided evidence from several community colleges that seem to be doing remedial education well. Let’s take a look.

El Paso Community College is working with local high schools to make sure students making the transition to college know what's expected. Students who plan to attend El Paso take the college's placement test while they are still in high school, and they can take a summer course at the college before they enroll for their first year if they don't pass the test.

Parkland College has offered placement tests to area juniors and seniors since 2003. Hundreds, if not thousands of students have been provided free access to placement testing and post-test advising in order to help students understand the value of taking four years of mathematics and encouraging good use of the senior year. Been there, done that, still doing it.

Mountain Empire Community College, in Virginia, has designed new lesson plans and textbooks geared toward helping students get through the remedial phase much faster. Students in these fast-track courses review basic mathematics in a single week during the summer, and algebra in just two weeks.

At Parkland College, accelerated-format, remedial mathematics is not even close to a new program. We have piloted and implemented self-paced, technology supported courses in both the traditional classroom as well as in modular format. The Math Department has made significant technology improvements in many classrooms to include LCD projectors tied to tablet monitors, allowing faculty to annotate in real-time, incorporate specialized software, and simulations to enhance comprehension.

We do faculty tutoring and peer tutoring. We have math faculty advisors in the summer. Our pre-placement test website contains problem sets and answers for students that want to study. Faculty and resources are available for students at no charge before they are even a Parkland student.

And maybe the most important piece, the faculty in the Mathematics Department have tables outside their offices. It is not uncommon to find groups of students studying and doing homework right outside the faculty office. I have witnessed many times, faculty sitting at these tables working with students at all hours of the day. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the most effective practice of all that I have mentioned. These are the hallmarks of a quality developmental program.

In Washington state, a program called I-Best lets students do college-level work while they are still taking basic-skills classes, instead of having to pass all their remedial classes first. In pilot studies, students in I-Best were four times more likely to graduate than their peers, Ms. Gates said.

Other things that are not new at Parkland include co-enrollment, learning communities, the writing center, and of course, our Center for Academic Success with its mission to provide more in-depth integration of academic support and student development services:

ú  Tutoring and learning assistance services provided by faculty, learning assistance professionals, and student peer tutors.  This includes academic support for students who place into developmental coursework and/or who have learning disabilities.

ú  For-credit modules or courses to supplement developmental coursework requirements and to support college-level courses with significant attrition rates.

ú  Needs-assessment and student development services to identify and support academically at-risk students.

Perhaps the best piece of data that supports the effectiveness question relative to the Center for Academic Success is usage. Our students visit the Center some 40,000 times throughout the academic year. Voluntarily.

It is clear to me that our community college cares deeply about the developmental portion of our mission, despite the fact that it is dramatically underfunded by the state in comparison to college-level courses. Parkland receives approximately $9 per credit hour in reimbursement for remedial courses as compared with nearly $40 per credit hour for baccalaureate courses. We staff these courses with fully-qualified full and part-time faculty.

We spend considerable time, energy and resources on our developmental mission and for good reason. All too often, our college is the first, last, and best hope.

What do you think?

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