Center Directors Kenny Nienhusser and Diana LaRocco. Courtesy of Unotes
In Connecticut, approximately two-thirds of students entering community college need remedial education in mathematics and English, but only eight percent of them graduate within three years.
These statistics indicate that existing remedial education measures are not effective in making students ready for higher education or the workplace.
Thus, the Act Concerning College Readiness and Completion, also known as Act No. 12-40, was enacted to solve this problem.
On July 25, 2013, a roundtable discussion was organized to discuss the act, its impact and its required implementation for students entering community colleges in 2014.
The co-sponsors of the event were Kenny Nienhusser, Director of the Center for Learning and Professional Education, and Diana LaRocco, Director of the Center for Health and Educational Policy. Both work in the Institute for Translational Research within the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions here at the University of Hartford.
Neinhusser introduced a very impressive panel of people who put an immense amount of work into this new way of education.
It began with panelist Merle W. Harris, Ph.D., the Chair of Academic and Student Affairs Committee on the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education.
Braden J. Hosch, Ph.D. is the Director of Policy and Research and Interim Director of Academic Affairs on the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education.
The third panelist was Kathy K. Taylor, Esq., the Acting Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Naugatuck Valley Community College.
Act 12-40 has three major components. The first is to redefine the delivery of remedial education by placing students in one of three tiers: college-level, college-level with embedded support, and Intensive College Readiness Program.
The purpose of placing students into these categories is to more efficiently guide students through more tailored remedial classes so that curriculum time is not sacrificed.
The second major component of the act is to place these students in these three tiers based on numerous measures. Prospective students will be placed based on their SAT scores, GPAs, high school transcripts and essays.
Lastly, the act aligns public high school curriculums with Common Core State Standards to assure they are ready for college.
Obviously, this will take a significant financial investment to put this act into place. It is hoped that all three components will be implemented in Connecticut by fall 2014, but as of now there are still some aspects not fully developed.
Measurement of success, for example, still needs to be developed. The act is designed to provide college graduates with the necessary skills to complete in the local, state, national and international workforce. Thus it will require additional resources to track and analyze the success of the college graduates that took remedial courses and participated in the Intensive College Readiness Program.
Furthermore, public high schools will need to play their role in making sure this act has the effects it was created to have. They will be responsible for identifying students who are behind as early as eighth and tenth grade. Public high schools will also need to align their math and English curriculums with Common Core State Standards.
Some school districts will be encouraged to redesign grade 12 math and English courses entirely in order to resemble, or at least prepare students for, entry-level college courses.
This will allow students all over Connecticut to have a smoother transition from high school to college, which is one of the priorities of the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education.
As of now the Act Concerning College Readiness and Completion is on track to be enacted in Fall 2014. If successful, the number of graduates from community colleges in Connecticut will increase dramatically. It will also help those students who have struggled to stay afloat in high school become more confident in entering a college setting.