Remedial Course Offerings

In fall 1995 and 2000, institutions that enrolled freshmen were asked about their remedial course offerings. The data are presented by institutional type: public 2-year, private 2-year, public 4-year, and private 4-year.¹¹ Institutions reported

• remedial course offerings for undergraduates in reading, writing, and mathematics, and in other academic subjects;
• the reasons for not offering remedial courses; and
• remedial education services or courses offered to local business and industry.

Remedial Course Offerings

Institutions indicated whether they offered any remedial reading, writing, or mathematics courses in fall 1995 and 2000.¹² Institutions that offered at least one such course were asked whether they offered remedial courses in each of the three subject areas and to report the number of courses offered in each area.

Remedial Course Offerings: Overall

In fall 2000, about three-fourths (76 percent) of institutions that enrolled freshmen offered at least one remedial reading, writing, or mathematics course (table 1).¹³ Remediation was more likely to be offered by public 2-year colleges (98 percent) than all other institutional types, and it was more likely to be offered by public 4-year institutions (80 percent) than private 4-year institutions (59 percent).¹⁴

Overall, no difference was detected between 1995 and 2000 in the proportion of institutions that offered at least one remedial reading, writing, or mathematics course (table 1).

Remedial Course Offerings in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics

In fall 2000, institutions were more likely to offer at least one remedial course in mathematics and writing than in reading (table 1). Seventy-one percent of institutions offered remedial mathematics courses and 68 percent offered remedial writing courses, compared with 56 percent of institutions that offered remedial reading courses.

The proportion of institutions that offered remedial reading, writing, and mathematics courses in fall 2000 differed by institutional type, with public 2-year colleges being more likely than other types of institutions to provide college-level remediation in each subject (table 1). For example, remedial mathematics courses were offered by almost all public 2-year institutions (97 percent) compared with 49 to 78 percent of the other types of institutions. In addition, for each subject area, remedial courses were more likely to be offered by public than private 4-year institutions; for example, a higher proportion of public than private 4-year institutions offered remedial mathematics (78 vs. 49 percent).

Between 1995 and 2000, no differences were detected in the overall proportion of institutions that offered remedial courses in reading or mathematics, although the proportion that offered remedial writing courses decreased from 71 percent to 68 percent (table 1). Changes in remedial course offerings by institutional type were observed for public 2-year colleges. For each subject area, there was a decline in the proportion of public 2-year colleges that offered remedial courses; for example, the proportion of institutions that offered remedial reading declined from 99 percent in 1995 to 96 percent in 2000.

Number of Remedial Courses

Institutions typically offered more remedial courses in mathematics than in reading or writing (figures 1 and 2).¹⁵ In fall 2000, a larger proportion of the institutions offered three or more different remedial mathematics courses (40 percent) than the proportion that offered three or more remedial reading or writing courses (24 and 23 percent, respectively).

The extent to which institutions offered postsecondary remediation is also reflected in the average number of courses offered by institutions (table 2). In fall 2000, institutions offered an average of 2.5 remedial mathematics courses, 2.0 remedial reading courses, and 2.0 remedial writing courses. Thus, on average, the number of different remedial mathematics courses offered was higher than the number of different courses in reading or writing.

In fall 2000, the average number of remedial courses differed by institutional type, with public 2-year colleges offering more remedial courses in each of the three subjects than did the other types of institutions (table 2). For example, public 2- year colleges offered an average of 3.4 different remedial mathematics courses, while other types of institutions offered averages of 1.5 to 2.1 such courses. Public 4-year institutions also offered more different reading, writing, and mathematics courses (1.6 to 2.1 courses), on average, than did private 4-year institutions (1.2 to 1.5 courses). Overall, no differences were detected between 1995 and 2000 in the average number of different remedial reading, writing, or mathematics courses offered by institutions (table 2). However, the average number of remedial mathematics courses offered by private 2-year institutions increased from 1.3 in 1995 to 1.8 in 2000.

Remedial Course Offerings in Other Subject Areas

Of the institutions that offered at least one remedial course in fall 2000, 23 percent offered remedial courses in academic subject areas other than reading, writing, or mathematics (figure 3).¹⁶ The most frequently mentioned subjects were science (general science, biology, chemistry, and physics), English as a second language, study skills, and basic computer skills (not shown in figure). Public 2-year colleges were more likely than public or private 4-year institutions to offer such courses (37 percent vs. 15 and 11 percent, respectively).

Between 1995 and 2000, no overall differences were detected in the proportion of institutions that offered remedial courses in subject areas other than reading, writing, or mathematics. However, when analyzing by institutional type, the proportion of public 4-year colleges that offered such courses declined from 27 percent to 15 percent during this time period (figures 3 and 4).

Reasons Institutions Do Not Offer Remedial Courses

Institutions that did not offer remedial reading, writing, or mathematics courses were asked to indicate why those courses were not offered, using a list of reasons provided on the questionnaire: remedial courses were not needed by students at the institution, students at the institution who were determined to need remediation took remedial courses offered by another institution, state policy or law did not allow the institution to offer remedial courses, and institutional policy did not allow the institution to offer remedial courses.¹⁷ Institutions were also given the option to specify an "other reason" for not offering remedial courses.

The most common reason that institutions gave for not offering remedial courses was that students at the institution did not need such courses; 59 percent of the institutions that did not offer remedial courses in 2000 cited this reason (figure 5). Fewer institutions indicated that they did not offer remedial courses because students who were determined to need remediation took remedial courses at another institution (29 percent), and/or institutional policy did not allow remedial course offerings (26 percent). Of the reasons listed, institutions were least likely to indicate that they did not offer remedial courses because their state policy or law did not allow such course offerings (8 percent). Fifteen percent of institutions indicated that they did not offer remedial courses because of reasons other than those listed in the survey.

Overall, for each of the reasons examined in the survey, no differences were detected between 1995 and 2000 in the proportion of institutions that gave the reason for not offering remedial courses (figures 5 and 6).

Remedial Course Offerings to Local Business and Industry

Institutions reported whether they provided remedial services or courses to local business and industry. Institutions that offered those services also reported the subject areas covered (i.e., reading, writing, mathematics, or other subjects) and the location of those services (i.e., on the campus of the institution, at business or industry sites, through distance learning, or at other locations).

Remedial education services/courses were provided to local business and industry by 21 percent of institutions that enrolled freshmen in fall 2000 (figure 7 and table 3). Public 2-year colleges were more likely than other types of institutions to provide remedial services/courses to local business and industry; 56 percent of public 2-year colleges compared with 8 percent of public 4-year institutions and 3 percent of private 4-year institutions provided those services (figure 7). Of the postsecondary institutions that provided remedial education services to business and industry in fall 2000, a higher proportion provided remediation in mathematics than in reading (93 vs. 81 percent) (table 3). Twenty percent of the institutions provided remediation in some other subject area (mostly English as a second language and basic computer skills; not shown in tables). Of the institutions that provided remedial services to business and industry in 2000, most provided those services at business and industry sites (80 percent) or on the campus of the institution (85 percent) (table 3).¹⁸ Fewer institutions offered those remedial services through distance learning (16 percent), while institutions were least likely to provide such services at some other location (8 percent).

Between 1995 and 2000, no differences were detected in the proportion of institutions that provided remedial services to business and industry, overall, and in each of the subject areas examined (table 3 and figures 7 and 8). However, the proportion of institutions that offered remedial education services to business and industry through distance education increased from 5 percent in 1995 to 16 percent in 2000. During this time period, the proportion of institutions offering remedial services at business and industry sites declined from 89 percent to 80 percent, whereas the proportion of institutions offering such services at campuses of institutions increased from 74 percent to 85 percent.

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¹¹ Differences by institutional type are reported only when they are statistically significant.

¹² Institutions were instructed on the front of the questionnaire to respond for their regular undergraduate programs, except for question 13, which asked about services/courses to business and industry. Thus, remedial courses offered to business and industry were not considered in the institution's reporting of remedial course offerings in other sections of the questionnaire.

¹³ Analyses in this report are based on institutions that enrolled freshmen in fall 2000. These data are compared to those for institutions that enrolled freshmen in fall 1995.

¹⁴ Estimates for private 2-year institutions were based on small sample sizes and generally had large standard errors. Thus, throughout the report, differences that appear large for private 2-year institutions were often not statistically significant.

¹⁵ Institutions were asked to report the number of remedial courses with different course catalog numbers and instructed that they should not count multiple sections of the same course.

¹⁶ Institutions included some courses in the "other" category that are typically not considered academic (e.g., English as a second language).

¹⁷ Institutions could provide more than one reason for not offering remedial reading, writing, or mathematics courses.

¹⁸ Institutions could provide remedial services to business and industry at one or more of the listed locations.

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