Welcome
Last week, the John Locke Foundation published a splendid new Spotlight report, "High School Graduation in NC: Quantity over quality?" This week’s CommenTerry provides an overview of its findings.
If you are a glutton for punishment, I recommend that you download the full report and read it. Note the list of community college remediation rates (by high school and year) listed in the appendix.
Bulletin Board
- The John Locke Foundation is sponsoring a Citizen’s Constitutional Workshop on Saturday, October 22 from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm at Village Hall in Pinehurst, NC. Historian Dr. Troy Kickler and political science expert Dr. Michael Sanera will discuss "What would the Federalists and Anti-federalists say about the current political and economic crises?" The cost is $8.00 per participant, lunch included. Pre-registration is strongly suggested. For more information or to sign up for the event, visit the Events section of the John Locke Foundation website.
- The North Carolina History Project would like educators and homeschool parents to submit lesson plans suitable for middle and high school courses in North Carolina history. Please provide links to NC History Project encyclopedia articles and other primary and secondary source material, if possible. Go to the NC History Project website for further information.
- Visit JLF’s research newsletter archive. It is good for your health.
CommenTerry
In a recent radio interview, Dr. Scott Ralls, president of the N.C. Community College System, reported that the state spends $90 million every year to provide so-called "developmental" or remedial courses and support. Our community colleges spend a majority of these dollars on adult students who return to the classroom to acquire new professional skills or credentials. Understandably, those students often need to relearn basic literacy and math skills that may have been lost since their graduation from high school.
An increasing number of recent high school graduates, however, enter the community college system lacking fundamental English and math skills. Of the $90 million remediation budget, our community colleges spend around $30 million a year just to teach young students what they should have already learned in middle and high school.
During the 2009-10 school year, 64 percent of new community college students enrolled in one or more remedial courses, an alarming 7 percent increase from two years prior. Statewide, more than one-half of those community college students who enrolled the year after graduating from a public school took a remedial math course. Nearly 40 percent enrolled in a remedial English course, while one in four recent graduates required a remedial reading course.
These percentages are straightforward, but the factors contributing to this problem are not. Surely low academic standards and expectations play a prominent role. Our state education agency perpetuates this problem by maintaining inferior curriculum standards and a testing program that continues to set a relatively low bar for students to reach academic proficiency or mastery.
In response, policy experts have proposed a number of solutions. The most promising course of action appears to involve a collaborative effort to align high school and community college standards. North Carolina’s education leaders have initiated an effort to align and strengthen college readiness and testing standards between the secondary and postsecondary levels. This is a good start, but much more will need to be done.
Until community college remediation rates recede, taxpayers should remain skeptical of elected officials and state education leaders who claim that our public school system is a model of excellence. A truly outstanding public school system would not require two out of three community college students to enroll in a remedial English, reading, or math class. Rather, every high school graduate should leave school with the knowledge and skills required to be successful in any postgraduate endeavor they choose.
Random Thought
In Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto observed, "Cooking is one of relatively few odd practices which are peculiarly human — odd, that is, in the scales of nature, judged by the standards of common approaches to nourishment" (p. 3). Honey badgers agree.
Facts and Stats
The following table is from the JLF Spotlight report "High School Graduation in NC: Quantity over quality?"
Click here for a larger version of this graph.
Mailbag
I would like to invite all readers to submit announcements, as well as their personal insights, anecdotes, concerns, and observations about the state of education in North Carolina. I will publish selected submissions in future editions of the newsletter. Anonymity will be honored. For additional information or to send a submission, email Terry at [email protected].
Education Acronym of the Week
NCCCS — North Carolina Community College System
Quote of the Week
A recent report by a North Carolina think-tank suggests that rising remediation rates in our state’s community colleges mean we are providing an easier path to graduation for some students. I do not agree with this assertion. Instead, I believe our students are getting the message about the importance of education to their future, and making the commitment to complete their high school degree.
While it is true that remediation rates are on the rise, it’s also true that we can’t pinpoint exactly why. We haven’t relaxed our standards, and in fact we are making them tougher. …
— "Today’s High School Students Facing Tougher Curriculum," by William Harrison, chairman, N.C. State Board of Education, September 30, 2011
[Note: I highly recommend that you follow the link and read Dr. Harrison’s entire response to my report.]
Click here for the Education Update archive.
