Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SHERIDAN, Wyo. (AP) — Sheridan College is changing the way it teaches remedial math and English courses after administrators determined one-third of all first-year students start their track to a degree with those classes.
Vice President of Academic Affairs Richard Hall said the college once focused on adults who needed to brush up on their skills, but more young students required help, too. He said educators must do a better job of identifying students that need more assistance.
Hall also wants to make sure students who are ready to advance are not left behind, The Sheridan Press reported Monday (http://tinyurl.com/kbkxbuu ).
The courses started out serving adults who were returning to school from the workforce or military, Hall said.
"As they had been out of the academic setting for a while, these were courses on the skills they had not used in a long time to brush up in an academic setting," he said. "It slowly crept in to more students needing remedial education, for whatever reason."
Hall said it's a delicate balancing act.
"If you set them too far behind, you are decreasing their odds for completion; but if you set them at a level that is too high, you are setting them up for failure," Hall said.
Previously, students took a placement exam, and an initial course level was chosen based on the test results. With three levels of remedial math, students could enter college as far back as three semesters before taking college-level courses.
Administrators saw some students get poor results on the placement exam but still thrive in a college-level course, so they now factor in other measures. A placement test is still given, but the score is included with other measures, such as previous school grades and persistence.
English faculty member Robin West said remedial-level students are being held to college-level standards now.
"For many years, we used to look at these developmental classes as remediating what they didn't learn in high school, and we would kind of baby-step them up. Our whole way of looking at it is different now," she said.
___
Information from: The Sheridan (Wyo.) Press, http://www.thesheridanpress.com/
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
