Institutions were asked whether they offered remedial courses in reading, writing, or mathematics. Three-fourths of colleges and universities reported offering remedial courses as part of their curricula in fall 1989 (Table 1), and they varied greatly by institutional control, type, selectivity,2 and size. By categories of institutions,3 comparisons of those offering at least one remedial course in reading, writing, or mathematics were as follows:
These patterns in control, type, selectivity, and size for colleges offering at least one remedial course mirrored patterns for colleges offering remedial courses in the specific subjects of reading writing and mathematics. In remedial mathematics, 68 percent of institutions offered courses; in remedial writing 65 percent; and in remedial reading 58 percent.
Colleges with remedial courses typically offered one or two separate courses in each subject in fall 1989 (Table 1). For example, 38 percent of institutions offering courses in remedial mathematics had one course, 29 percent had two, 24 percent had three or four, and 9 percent had more than four. Similar patterns emerged for course offerings in remedial reading and writing (not shown in tables).
Those categories of institutions which most frequently provided remedial courses tended to offer slightly more of them. Public, 2- year, noncompetitive, and large colleges averaged about one and one-half more courses in each subject than did private, 4-year, moderately difficult, and small institutions. For example, the average number of remedial mathematics courses ranged from
The survey sought information on the percentage of entering freshmen who were enrolled in remedial courses in reading, writing and mathematics. Some institutions were unable to provide these figures and were reluctant to give estimates. As a result, non response rates for freshman enrollment were about 17 percent (18 percent in reading, 18 percent in mathematics, and 16 percent in writing) (Table 2).6 Private institutions were more likely than public institutions to provide remedial course enrollment data. For writing courses for instance 5 percent of private institutions were unable to do so, compared to 21 percent of public institutions.
Of those institutions that were able to provide remedial course enrollment data, about 30 percent were unable to provide racial/ ethnic breakdowns (32 percent for reading, 31 percent for mathematics and 29 percent for writing) (Table 2).
Thirty percent of all entering college freshmen enrolled in at least one remedial course in fall 19897 (Table 3). Remedial courses in mathematics were taken by the most students (21 percent), followed by remedial courses in writing (16 percent), and remedial courses in reading (13 percent).
Freshman enrollment in remedial courses varied by institutional type and minority status of the student body. Specifically, the following statistically significant comparisons in the proportion of freshmen enrolled in remedial courses were found:
These patterns emerged for enrollment in remedial reading, writing, and mathematics courses. Remedial enrollments in writing and mathematics were higher at public institutions (17 percent in writing and 23 percent in mathematics) than at private institutions (11 percent* in writing and 12 percent* in mathematics).
Two-thirds of the college freshmen who enrolled in remedial mathematics courses in fall 1989 passed at least one course (Table 3). Seventy-seven percent passed courses in remedial reading, and 73 percent passed in remedial writing. These figures include imputations for data from about one-fourth of the institutions that offered remedial courses but were unable to provide passing rates.8 Non response rates for freshmen passing remedial courses ranged from 23 percent in remedial writing, to 25 percent in remedial mathematics, to 26 percent in remedial reading. Approximately half of the institutions were unable to provide passing rates by racial/ethnic breakdowns (Table 4).
Freshmen in private or small institutions were more likely to pass remedial courses than those in public or large institutions. In remedial mathematics, for example, 80 percent of freshmen at private institutions passed; at public, 65 percent. In small institutions, 79 percent of freshmen enrolled in remedial mathematics passed; in large, 65 percent. In remedial reading differences arose between 2-year and 4-year colleges, with 82 percent of freshmen in 4-year colleges and 73 percent in 2-year colleges passing.
In fall 1989, a total of 30,650 persons taught remedial college courses--an average of 15 persons per institution that offered remedial courses (Table 5). Forty-four percent of schools with remedial courses had 5 or fewer; 23 percent had 6 to 15; and 29 percent had 16 or more9 The average number of teachers varied by institutional size, control and type. Small colleges averaged 3 persons; large, 33 persons. In institutions with remedial courses, an average of 5 persons taught remedial courses at private colleges, compared to 22 at public institutions. Four-year colleges averaged 10 persons; 2-year colleges averaged 20.
About 8 of the 15 persons per institution teaching remedial courses were specifically hired to do so. Almost 6* were given specific training by the institution, and about 3* had degree credentials specific to remedial education (Figure 1).
Although the number of teachers with degree credentials specific to remedial education varied by size, control, and type of the institutions where they taught, the percentage of teachers with degrees in remedial education remained similar in all institutions: 23 to 26 percent. Wider ranges--and statistically significant differences--were found in the percentage of teachers specifically hired to teach remedial courses (45 percent at private colleges and 57 at public, for example), and the percentage given specific training by the institutions ( 19 percent at private institutions and 43 percent at public).
2 2 Colleges were classified based on the selectivity of their admission criteria according to
Peterson's Guide to Four-Year Colleges. 1990 and Peterson's Guide to Two-Year
Colleges 1990. Classifications for 4-year colleges are defined as followed most
difficult, more than 75 percent of the freshmen were in the top 10 percent of their high school class and scored over
1,2S0 on the SAT or over 29 on the ACT, and about 30 percent or fewer of the applicants
were accepted; very difficult, more than 50 percent of the freshmen were in the top 10 percent
of their high school class and scored over 1,150 on the SAT or over 26 on the ACT, and about
60 percent or fewer of the applicants were accepted; moderately
difficult, more than 75
percent of the freshmen were in the top half of their high school class and scored over 900 on
the SAT or over 18 on the ACT, and about 85 percent or fewer of the applicants
were
accepted; minimally difficult, most freshmen were not in the top half of their high school class
and scored somewhat below 900 on the SAT or below 19 on the ACT, and up to 95 percent of
the applicant were accepted; noncompetitive, virtually all applicants were accepted regardless
of high school rank or test scores.
3 Because the estimates are based on a statistical sample, there may
be differences between the
responses of the sample and those that would result from a survey of the entire population.
Standard errors for selected key statistics are included in table 19.
4 Standard error is greater than or equal to 10 percent of the estimate. Throughout the
remainder of this report, an asterisk (*) is used to indicate estimates that have large standard error and, thus, should not
be considered as highly precise. The standard errors for
estimates with asterisks are greater than or equal to 10 percent of the estimate (table 19).
5 Because there were so few institutions
receiving the more selective rating, selectivity was not used in other analyses. Selectivity ratings are defined in footnote 2.
6 See Tables 17 and 18 for number and percentage of institutions in universe and in sample
responding to survey and to enrollment items.
7The percentage of freshmen enrolled in remedial courses was calculated by dividing the sum
of freshmen institutions taking remedial courses by the sum of freshmen at all institutions.
Data were imputed for those institutions unable to report freshmen enrollment in remedial
courses see page 20 in the section on Survey Methodology and Reliability for a description of
the imputation.
8See page 20 in the section on
Survey Methodology and Reliability for a description of the
imputation.
*Standard error is greater than or equal to 10 percent of the estimate (table 19).
9 This item had a 4-percent non response rate.
*Standard error is greater than or equal to 10 percent of the estimate (table 19).
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