Abstract
Each year, a sizeable percentage of community college students enroll in remedial coursework to address skill deficiencies
in math, writing, and/or reading. Unfortunately, the majority of these students do not attain college-level competency in
the subjects in which they require remedial assistance. Moreover, students whose point of entry into the remedial sequence
is at the lower end of the hierarchy of skill suffer the lowest rates of attainment by far. Yet, to date, we do not understand
fully why students who begin at the lower end of the remedial sequence are so much less likely than are students who begin
at the higher end to attain college-level competency. The purpose of this study is to illuminate the junctures in the remedial
sequences in math and writing at which meaningful attrition of students is occurring and, in particular, the junctures at
which “low-skill” remedial students suffer differential attrition relative to “high-skill” remedial students. To accomplish
this end, I use data that address students in California’s community colleges to examine three ways of characterizing and
explaining the differential in college-level skill attainment between low- and high-skill remedial math students and, separately,
between low- and high-skill remedial writing students. The three characterizations include nonspecific attrition, skill-specific
attrition, and course-specific attrition. I find that each of these characterizations contributes to explaining the differential
in college-level skill attainment between low- and high-skill remedial students.
in math, writing, and/or reading. Unfortunately, the majority of these students do not attain college-level competency in
the subjects in which they require remedial assistance. Moreover, students whose point of entry into the remedial sequence
is at the lower end of the hierarchy of skill suffer the lowest rates of attainment by far. Yet, to date, we do not understand
fully why students who begin at the lower end of the remedial sequence are so much less likely than are students who begin
at the higher end to attain college-level competency. The purpose of this study is to illuminate the junctures in the remedial
sequences in math and writing at which meaningful attrition of students is occurring and, in particular, the junctures at
which “low-skill” remedial students suffer differential attrition relative to “high-skill” remedial students. To accomplish
this end, I use data that address students in California’s community colleges to examine three ways of characterizing and
explaining the differential in college-level skill attainment between low- and high-skill remedial math students and, separately,
between low- and high-skill remedial writing students. The three characterizations include nonspecific attrition, skill-specific
attrition, and course-specific attrition. I find that each of these characterizations contributes to explaining the differential
in college-level skill attainment between low- and high-skill remedial students.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-33
- DOI 10.1007/s11162-011-9243-2
- Authors
- Peter Riley Bahr, Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, School of Education, University of Michigan, Room 2108, 610 E. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1259, USA
- Journal Research in Higher Education
- Online ISSN 1573-188X
- Print ISSN 0361-0365