Washington's highly competitive, global economy demands a workforce with higher levels of skill and knowledge. Consequently, the need for post-secondary education and/or training has become more important than ever. The good news is that 76 percent of Washington's high school graduates pursue some sort of post-secondary program within two years of graduation. However, the bad news is that many students are not prepared to take college-level courses once they get there!

Rates of Remediation

Remediation rates show that students are not learning the basic skills in high school that they need to be successful in their post-secondary endeavors. Many students directly out of high school are required to take remedial courses before they are able to take college credit-bearing courses. In 2006, 52 percent (12,468 students) of students who graduated from high school and enrolled in community or technical college (CTC) the following fall had to take pre-college courses to gain the skills they should have learned in high school (SBCTC, 2006).

Remediation Rates for Students of Color

Students of color have higher rates of remediation. Latino and African-American rates are especially high.

Source: State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

Math, Writing and Reading

By far, the largest remediation problem is in math. The number of recent high school students taking pre-college math is high - 10,970 students in 2006-07. Students entering college with skills below the college-readiness level must take pre-college math courses before starting on their required math sequence in college (SBCTC, 2007).

Statewide, 16 percent of recent high school graduates take pre-college writing at a community or technical college before taking college-level writing courses. Statewide, 10 percent of recent high school graduates take pre-college reading classes.

Costs of Remediation

Research shows that the costs of remediation are high both financially for taxpayers and students.

• Remedial courses also cost money and time for individual students. Students must take and pay for remedial classes, but do not receive college-level credit.
• $17.5 million was spent by community and technical college statewide in 2006-07 on remediation for recent high school graduates in two-year community and technical colleges.
• Nationally, research shows that only half of the students who took a remedial course completed college.

Source: State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

The fact that more than half the students entering a community or technical college needs to take a pre-college course is a staggering statistic. It serves to highlights the disconnect between Washington's high school graduation requirements and the skills needed to enter and succeed in a post-secondary program. More must be done to bridge the gap between what it takes to graduate from high school in Washington and what it takes to be prepared for their next educational or training step.