College remediation rate drops again

Report: 47.8% of state’s new students unprepared in ’12, besting record low

— The number of Arkansas students who entered the state’s public colleges and universities unprepared for college-level course work fell in the fall of 2012 to 11,108 - or 47.8 percent of 23,240 firsttime students - continuing a steady trend of decline, a report released this week bythe Arkansas Department of Higher Education said.

That number, called the remediation rate, beat the state’s previous low rate of 48.5 percent, which it hit in 1994, the department said.

The rate measures firsttime students who scored below 19 in at least one area - math, English or reading - of the ACT college-admissions test and were required to complete noncredit, remedial course work in that area before continuing to traditional classes. The test has a maximum score of 36.

Despite declines, the state’s remediation rate remains relatively high compared with those of many other states, and it demands continued attention, highereducation leaders said.

“Hopefully, it would continue to go down,” said Shane Broadway, interim director of the state Higher Education Department. “Obviously, that would be our hope.”

A focus on assisting struggling students comes as the state’s institutions work to improve graduation rates forall students and to enroll older adults who’ve never pursued a degree to help meet Gov. Mike Beebe’s goal of doubling the number of Arkansas degree holders by 2025.

U.S. census data released last year show that Arkansas ranks second from the bottom in a state-by-state ranking of degree-holding adults in the latter half of the decade, with only 18.9 percent of residents older than 25 holding bachelor’s degrees. That number was well below the 27.5 percent national average. Only West Virginia had fewer, with 17.1 percent.

“The longer someone does not pursue a higher education, the more likely they are to need to be remediated,” Broadway said.

The rate is lower for students who attended high school more recently, according to the report, which the Higher Education Coordinating Board will review Friday. Of the 19,020 first-time college students whose 2012 enrollment fell within a year of their high school graduation, 40 percent needed remedial courses, the report said.

College and university leaders credited changes in the state’s elementary and secondary education system for better preparing students for college, reducing the need for academic interventions.

Calvin Johnson, interim chancellor at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and a former state lawmaker, said efforts to raise academic standards and better fund the state’s public school districtshave fueled recent improvements.

“I think we’re really beginning to see results from that,” he said.

UAPB had the highest remediation rate among fouryear institutions, at 85.2 percent, down from 93.1 percent in 2008. The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville had the lowest rate, at 8.5 percent.

All of the state’s colleges and universities have worked to redesign remedial curriculum and increase advising so that students who require extra academic assistance have a greater likelihood of graduating after completing the courses.

That’s especially important at universities with openadmissions policies, such as UAPB and the University of Arkansas at Monticello,Johnson said. Because those campuses admit students regardless of test scores or high school grades, they attract many first-generation students from low-income families, he said.

Those students often benefit from special summer programs, additional tutoring and in-dorm academic coaches, Johnson said. UAPB also makes special learning plans for students with ACT scores below 15.

“You might say, ‘You shouldn’t have to do these things,’ but we know that it helps,” Johnson said. “It’s a challenge for us, but that’s our mission, and we feel good when we are able to get those students on track.”

Some universities, such as Arkansas Tech University, have seen a steady growth inremediation rates. The Russellville campus’ 2012 entering class had a remediation rate of 50.6 percent, compared with 40.2 percent in 2008, the report said.

The rate has increased because of enrollment growth in Arkansas Tech’s two-year programs, which are included in its overall rate, spokesman Sam Strasner said.

Some universities, such as Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, have tightened admissions standards, leading to a drop in remediation rates.

In 2010, ASU required a grade-point average of at least a 2.5 and a minimum ACT score of 17 for unconditional admissions. Those requirements rose gradually. In 2014, the university is set to requirea minimum grade-point average of 2.75 and an ACT score of at least 21 for unconditional admissions.

ASU’s remediation rate dropped from 48.5 percent in 2008 to 30.4 percent in 2012, the report said.

Similarly, UALR has increased the standards it uses to admit students with a cumulative score lower than 21 on the ACT, tying their admissions to performance in certain high school courses.

Those new standards led to a remediation rate of 40.5 percent in 2012, down from 50.3 percent in 2008.

“That [new standard] was driven by the concern that students with academic preparation below some level have a very low prospect of success,” UALR Chancellor Joel Anderson said. “They were coming, we were admitting them and then at the end of the semester they had a bad transcript that was a permanent burden - and they also typically would leave here with debt.”

Under the new standards, UALR turns away some students it would have previously admitted, largely referring them to community colleges, he said.

Of the 8,393 community college students starting college for the first time in 2012, 74.2 percent required remediation in at least one subject, the report said. Of the 14,847 students starting four-year universities, 32.9 percent required remedial courses, it said.

“We can be optimistic that, both for us and for the state, that number will continue to go down,” Anderson said. “The fundamental shaping factor is K-12.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/30/2013

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