Posts published on July 14, 2010
Carnegie Launches Statistics Pathway To Lower College Remediation
| The problem addressed through foundation support of this work is the dismal failure rate of students in remedial mathematics. Up to 60 percent of students enrolling in U.S. community colleges must take at least one remedial course (also called developmental education) to build their basic academic skills. The vast majority of community college students referred to developmental mathematics do not successfully complete the current sequence of required courses and many leave college for good.
“Developmental mathematics courses become a roadblock to success for our nation’s community college students,” said Carnegie President Anthony S. Bryk. “We are wasting precious human potential. The high cost of denied dreams and unfulfilled aspirations is unacceptable. Rather than a gateway to a college education and a better life, mathematics has become an unyielding gatekeeper.” This new effort, driven by the Carnegie Foundation, aims to double the proportion of students, who, within one year of continuous community college enrollment, are mathematically prepared to succeed in further academic study and/or academic pursuits, regardless of limitation that they may have in language, literacy and mathematics and their ability, on entry, to navigate college. The $14 million initiative, funded by all five foundations for two years, will build a networked community working on the development of two newly designed mathematics pathways. The Statistics Pathway (Statway) will move developmental math students to and through transferable college statistics in one year. The Mathematical Literacy Pathway (Mathway) will be a new one semester course, replacing elementary and intermediate algebra, followed by completion of a college-level mathematics course. “For students to succeed in an ever-changing, globalized world, they need to apply creativity and imagination to solve problems,” said Michele Cahill, Vice President, National Program, and Program Director, Urban Education at Carnegie Corporation of New York. “A statistics pathway will not only help prepare students for careers in business, information technology, law and many other fields, it offers the quantitative literacy students need to fully participate in civic life.” |
