JLF’s Terry Stoops has analyzed our state’s graduation rates, along with the remediation required for those enrolling in our community colleges. What he’s discovered is a big concern.
Stoops focused his research on increases in both public school graduation rates from 2007 to 2009 and enrollment in state community college remedial courses in the following school years. “The state’s four-year graduation rate grew by 2.3 percent during that time period, from 69.5 percent to 71.8 percent,” Stoops said. “At the same time, enrollment in community college remedial classes — also known as “Developmental” classes — increased by an even faster rate.”
By 2009-10, more than one-half of students newly enrolled in a North Carolina community college took a remedial math course, while nearly 40 percent enrolled in a remedial English course. “In sum, 64 percent of new community college students enrolled in one or more remedial courses, a 7 percent increase from the 2007-08 school year.”
