When you look at the quality of students heading to college (their ability to write, do math, think, and articulate), this is zero surprise.
Tribune analysis: College prep courses not preparing kids for college
A full plate of general classes – the most common courses statewide across Illinois public high schools – is supposed to prepare students for life after graduation. But tens of thousands of students taking only general courses in main subjects – often labeled “college prep” in school curriculum guides – were not prepared for college classes, a sweeping Tribune analysis of the class of 2015 found.
More:
“Overall, 75 to 80 percent of students who took only general-level classes in math, social studies or science weren’t prepared for key college classes in those subjects,” reports Diane Rado.A variety of factors, including the push to improve graduation rates and eliminate remedial courses, quietly weakened the rigor of some general classes, educators said, leaving students in courses that weren’t tough enough.
. . . “Telling a kid he needs to go to remediation means we just don’t think you’re smart enough to get high school curriculum,” said Kevin O’Mara, superintendent of the south suburban Argo Community High School district and the president of the Illinois High School District Organization.
At the same time, O’Mara raised concerns about courses that aren’t labeled accurately. “School districts will play games with labeling to try to make sure that they don’t have any remedial courses on the books anymore,” he said. “That I feel is fraudulent to the taxpayers, to the kids, to the parents, to the teachers.”
Remedial classes are “a death sentence,” said Carol Baker, a former curriculum director and now a superintendent. “It’s like the no-college sentence.”
Via Joanne Jacobs