NSHE and its governing Board recognize that traditional remediation does not work. Far too many students have entered on long pathways of traditional remediation that, instead of opening the door to college access, has closed it. For many years the System has focused on remediation; however, the System’s policy paper Traditional Remediation Does Not Work published in February 2019 brought new fervor to reforming remediation. The paper discusses similar findings from Complete College America’s landmark report Remediation: Higher Education’s Bridge to Nowhere, concluding that:
- traditional remediation is not working;
- corequisite remediation results in much higher student success outcomes; and
- regardless of academic preparation, success levels are higher for students in corequisite remediation.
The Board of Regents have established student success goals that aim to increase degree productivity by 2025 dramatically. The mandate of corequisite support will work to eliminate equity gaps in access to college-level courses and improve success rates by removing substantial barriers for students. Across NSHE, underrepresented minorities, including Pell-eligible, first-generation, and students of color are all overrepresented in remediation, causing systemic challenges for them accessing college-level coursework, much less graduating. Remediation within the state has been one of most substantial barriers to college success, and the mandate for corequisite support transforms the experience for thousands of NSHE students.
