Remediation in Higher Education. A Symposium Featuring 'Remedial Education: Costs and Consequences.'

This symposium report consists of a 22-page report by Breneman and Haarlow, followed by 28 pages containing separate commentaries by Robert M. Costrell, David H. Ponitz, and Laurence Steinberg, respectively. The report builds on earlier research into the costs of remedial education as it relates to the total higher education expenditures in the U.S. Data on the cost of remedial programs and the ages of students enrolled were requested from all 50 states. In addition site visits were made to five states (California, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, and Texas) as well as to the National Center for Development Education (NCDE) in Boone, North Carolina. This study supports the earlier estimate that remedial education costs public colleges and universities about $1 billion annually, or roughly 1 percent of the institutions' current revenues of $115 billion. The report's introduction includes a brief description of the terminology and a history of remedial education in the United States. Following is a discussion of the 50-state surveys of costs and enrollments. Next, data from the five state site visits are presented, as are the age distribution findings of the NCDE national study. Finally, the nature of remedial courses and remedial education faculty are discussed. (MAB)