Big Education Ape

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Pushout: Documentary Explores Why Black Girls are Punished More at School | NewBlackMan (in Exile)

Pushout: Documentary Explores Why Black Girls are Punished More at School | NewBlackMan (in Exile)

Pushout: Documentary Explores Why Black Girls are Punished More at School

'Research shows black girls are much more likely to be punished in school than white girls. As part of our School Matters series, we spoke to a 13-year-old who says she was dragged outside and left in the cold by her teacher in the second grade. Author and producer Monique W. Morris talks with CBS This Morning's Jericka Duncan.'

Pushout: Documentary Explores Why Black Girls are Punished More at School | NewBlackMan (in Exile)

The Federal Government Collects Data on How Often Schools Seclude Children. The Numbers Don’t Add Up. — ProPublica

The Federal Government Collects Data on How Often Schools Seclude Children. The Numbers Don’t Add Up. — ProPublica

The Federal Government Collects Data on How Often Schools Seclude Children. The Numbers Don’t Add Up.
Even though school districts are required to report their use of seclusion and restraint to the U.S. Department of Education, it can be difficult for parents to see the full picture.

This investigation is a collaboration between ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune.

In fall 2015, Glacier Ridge Elementary School in Crystal Lake first used its Blue Room, a padded space that allows school workers to place students in “isolated timeout” for safety reasons.

Students were secluded in that room more than 120 times during the 2015-16 school year, according to records obtained by ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune. Yet the district, in its required reporting to the federal government, said it hadn’t used seclusion at all that school year.

Crystal Lake District 47 is an example of how even with federal reporting requirements, it’s nearly impossible to know how often some Illinois schools seclude children. An investigation by the Tribune and ProPublica Illinois found widespread use of seclusion but little transparency.

All public school districts are required to report their use of seclusion and physical restraint to the U.S. Department of Education as part of its Civil Rights Data Collection, which the department uses to help investigate discrimination complaints and to ensure districts follow federal policies. The data is collected every other school year and published online.

Because the Illinois State Board of Education does not monitor the use of seclusion or restraint in public schools, the federal data is the only systematic way for communities to determine whether and how frequently those practices are being CONTINUE READING: The Federal Government Collects Data on How Often Schools Seclude Children. The Numbers Don’t Add Up. — ProPublica

Research, the Media, and the Market: A Cautionary Tale | radical eyes for equity

Research, the Media, and the Market: A Cautionary Tale | radical eyes for equity

Research, the Media, and the Market: A Cautionary Tale

Reporting in The New York Times, Gina Kolata offers a compelling lede:

The findings of a large federal study on bypass surgeries and stents call into question the medical care provided to tens of thousands of heart disease patients with blocked coronary arteries, scientists reported at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association on Saturday.

The new study found that patients who received drug therapy alone did not experience more heart attacks or die more often than those who also received bypass surgery or stents, tiny wire cages used to open narrowed arteries.

And Julie Steenhuysen adds an interesting detail to this new major study: “At least two prior studies determined that artery-clearing and stenting or bypass surgery in addition to medical treatment does not significantly lower the risk of heart attacks or death compared with non-invasive medical approaches alone.”

But these details may prove to be the most important ones of all: “Over $8 billion worth of coronary stents will be sold annually by 2025, according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. The increase over the years will be created by an increase in artery diseases coupled with a growing demand for minimally invasive surgeries,” explains Stephen Mraz.

So now let’s do the math. If heart doctors shift to what the new research shows, “The nation could save more than $775 million a year by not giving stents to the 31,000 patients who get the devices even though they have no chest pain, Dr. Hochman said,” reports Kolata.

Better and less intrusive patient care, lower overall medical costs for a U.S. healthcare system already overburdened—what is there to keep the medical profession from embracing compelling scientific research?

Well, the market of course.

Lower costs come from fewer heart surgeries, meaning heart surgeons lose income—and possibly patients.

Keep in mind that while the medical profession decades ago emphasized best practice in prescribing antibiotics (only when bacterial infections are CONTINUE READING: Research, the Media, and the Market: A Cautionary Tale | radical eyes for equity

Michigan: State Takeover of Detroit Schools was a “Costly Mistake” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Michigan: State Takeover of Detroit Schools was a “Costly Mistake” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Michigan: State Takeover of Detroit Schools was a “Costly Mistake”

Koby Levin of Chalkbeat reports that a study of the state takeover of Detroit’s public schools–which lasted for 15 years–was “a costly mistake.”

The state was supposed to solve intractable problems that elected school officials in Detroit could not.

It made things worse, according to a newly released report on the 15 years during which the Detroit school district was largely controlled by state-appointed officials.

The study, which was commissioned by the current school board, found a pattern of “startling mismanagement” in academic and financial matters whose consequences continue to weigh on the district’s future.

While some had hoped that the report would eventually lead to a lawsuit against the state, that seems unlikely. Instead, it provides a 172-page confirmation of what many Detroiters have argued for years: that installing state officials in place of the elected school board wasn’t enough to make the district’s problems disappear.

“The legacy of emergency management coupled with the continuing effect of inequitable school funding, will inevitably cause the District to hit a ceiling and impede its current progress toward a complete turnaround of CONTINUE READING: Michigan: State Takeover of Detroit Schools was a “Costly Mistake” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Democratic Plans to Boost School Funding Don't Pander to Teachers--They Seek an Important Goal This Nation Has Never Before Attempted - Education Law Prof Blog

Education Law Prof Blog

Democratic Plans to Boost School Funding Don't Pander to Teachers--They Seek an Important Goal This Nation Has Never Before Attempted

Derek W. Black, University of South Carolina

With few exceptions, the various Democratic plans for public education share a common theme: more funding, less privatizing.

Candidates Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders have promised to dramatically increase or triple current federal funding for low-income students and curtail charter school growth. Elizabeth Warren recently went even further, promising to quadruple federal funding for low-income students and end federal funding for charter expansion.

These proposals have provoked a deluge of harsh responses from commentators. Increasing public education funding and limiting charters, critics say, is nothing more than pandering to teacher unions and demonizing charter schools. While this critique may resonate on the surface, it ignores a decade of gross underfunding and privatization of public education. As my research shows, addressing these problems is key to improving student achievement.

Shrinking government by shrinking education

The way taxpayers do or do not fund public schools goes to the core question of the role of government in democracy. Public schools have long consumed the lion’s share of state and local tax dollars. No other single program comes close.

Many of the earliest statewide tax systems came into existence for the express purpose of funding schools. And later major expansions of state taxes, like the state income tax in New Jersey, were solutions to unequal funding across school districts. Education holds this special status because state constitutions specifically require legislatures to fund uniform and adequate systems of public schools.

Powerful politicians and advocates, however, object to the demands public education places on government. The Koch brothers, for instance, have claimed that government illegitimately coerces excessive taxes from the wealthy and redistributes them to the masses through social programs. Public education is one of the forms of redistribution that most concerns them.

The Kochs’ donor network heavily invests in campaigns to reduce public school expenditures, expand charter schools and subsidize private education through vouchers and tax credits. The theory behind these campaigns is CONTINUE READING: Education Law Prof Blog

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Vouchers Are One Step Closer To Ugly Reality

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Vouchers Are One Step Closer To Ugly Reality

PA: Vouchers Are One Step Closer To Ugly Reality

HB 1800, the bill intended to pilot vouchers in Pennsylvania, made it out of committee today. The vote was 13-12, with two GOP representatives (Rosemary Brown and Meghan Schroeder) voting no.

The precipitating excuse for this bill is the school system of Harrisburg, a system that has suffered from financial mismanagement and so was put in financial receivership, a sort of state takeover, last June. By August, House Speaker Mike Turzai was chomping at the bit, because after all, the state had had almost two whole months to turn things around.

Turzai is a Betsy DeVos fanboy with a long-standing dislike for public education, so Harrisburg's vulnerability must strike him as a great chance to once again try to sell vouchers to a GOP-dominated legislature that has already grabbed onto plenty of choice-flavored assaults on public ed.

The foot in the door is the classic voucher approach. It's generally "these will just be for the poor families" or "just for those trapped in a failing school." Turzai has always been a fan of the "We spent all this money on these schools and where are the shiny test scores?" line of reasoning, and Harrisburg schools don't have a lot of friends or political support right now, so they must look like a great chance to start the voucher train rolling in PA.

The bill is ugly. The state-appointed receiver is directed to offer vouchers, without caps and without oversight. Also, the districts have to provide transportation. Half of the voucher amount ($8,200) would come out of local money and half from the state subsidy. And the bill expressly forbids the state from forcing anyone to accept these vouchers-- so private schools can pick and choose which students they want to accept.

It's also worth remembering that where they have been implemented, vouchers tend to pump lots of CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Vouchers Are One Step Closer To Ugly Reality

Seattle Schools Community Forum: A Lot of Seattle Special Education News

Seattle Schools Community Forum: A Lot of Seattle Special Education News

A Lot of Seattle Special Education News

Via Facebook:

If your student identifies as 2e, please note and if you can help share that there is:
2e meeting tonight (Monday Night) at Thurgood Marshall and Dr. Liliana Sacarin will be the parent speaker tonight discussing Tomatis & Audio Therapy.

Additionally for anyone who wishes to come there is a Seattle Special Education PTSA Meeting Tuesday night at JSCEE at 7:00 and there are topics related to 2e, Dyslexia and Advanced Learning and Denise Juneau will be coming to answer questions on how the strategic plan will address these student and teacher needs.

Here is a recap on SSEPTA and if you can help make people aware via your school web pages and PTA, it will be such a help to support and advocate for children with disabilities. This can also be attended via Zoom, but in person support is appreciated to let Juneau and her team know we are expecting excellence on these topics outlined below.

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Who is the SSEPTA?
The Seattle Special Education PTSA are https://www.facebook.com/seattlespecialeducationPTSA/ Seattle parents, educators, friends, and students with the mission to represent all students in our schools with disabilities.

We are a racially, culturally, and socio-economically inclusive group that is representative of the students we advocate for in our schools.

SSEPTA Membership
We invite you to become a member of the Seattle Special Education PTSA an CONTINUE READING: Seattle Schools Community Forum: A Lot of Seattle Special Education News

WHEN BILLIONAIRES BUY YOUR SCHOOL BOARD: Caught in a Venn Diagram in “Progressive” West Hollywood

Caught in a Venn Diagram in “Progressive” West Hollywood

Caught in a Venn Diagram in “Progressive” West Hollywood

Today I experienced something that felt like a car accident but instead of getting hurt in a vehicle I crashed into the center of a Venn diagram. I landed in the zone where public education, naivete and privilege all come together and form a very ugly picture. What makes it worse is that it is happened in a community whom I have great history and affection, West Hollywood, CA. A town that is known around the world for progressive ideals is on the edge of hitting a low normally seen in TrumpLand. My hope is that by shining a light on this precarious edge some people will be motivated to make sound decisions and pull back to get on the correct side of history.

Like all LA stories, mine began today while driving. After I dropped my son off at school in the mid-city are of Los Angeles, I then headed fifteen miles north east for Eagle Rock High School. As I was slogging through the morning traffic in Koreatown and Silverlake my mind drifted to a spring day in 2016 when I met my friend Mary for breakfast at her favorite tony restaurant in WeHO.

Once I snuggled into the plush booth and ordered my matcha tea latte, the busboy brought Mary her decaf coffee. I was surprised when Mary got up and hugged the busboy and then said, “Carlos, this is Tracy she knows all about public schools and she will help your son Carlos Jr.”

Without a beat, I asked, “What’s going on?” I learned that Carlos Jr. was in fifth grade and needed to land in a good middle school. I was still a bit confused why my help was needed but when Carlos left to take care of another customer my friend told me in a hushed voice that his wife, the son’s mother, was dying of cancer and the family was having a hard time keeping it together and figuring out middle school was too hard a task. I knew right then I would help. It took a couple months and I had to navigate a language bump, but we somehow made it work and his son ended up at a very nice middle school in Glassell Park. Before his wife died, Carlos told me she was so grateful that we found Carlos Jr. a good school. I was so glad to have been a part of that journey for Carlos and his family.

I have thought about Carlos Jr. over the years and was thinking about reaching out to his dad just to see how he was doing when out of the blue I got a text on Saturday.

It was from Carlos Jr. who was now in eighth grade. He and his dad kept my cell number all these years and he asked, “Can you help me get into Fairfax High?”

I asked how he was doing and he told me that he had all ‘A’s last year. I said, “Let me go to Fairfax on Tuesday and see what we need to do to get you in one of the schools on campus.” I added, “But don’t you also want to consider Eagle Rock High School?”

I suggested Eagle Rock because it is near Glassell Park and there would be some kids from his school going there as well. He texted me back, “That would be great.” So, there I was today driving to Eagle Rock and then to Fairfax all to help Carlos Jr. What I had not realized was that the Venn diagram awaited me because WeHO parents were CONTINUE READING: Caught in a Venn Diagram in “Progressive” West Hollywood

Monday, November 18, 2019

Red for Ed Action Day: Teacher pay driving thousands to Statehouse

Red for Ed Action Day: Teacher pay driving thousands to Statehouse

Red for Ed Action Day: Teacher pay driving thousands to Statehouse -

Half of Indiana’s public school students will be out of classrooms Tuesday while thousands of teachers from across the state rally at the Statehouse to demand better pay.

It’s an unprecedented move from Indiana’s teachers, who have spent the last several years watching their counterparts in other states and cities striking, walking out and marching their way toward higher salaries and better working and learning conditions.

Earlier this year, the Indiana State Teachers Association organized a rally that attracted several thousand teachers – but it was on a Saturday, so there were no disruptions to schools, students and families.

Organizers of Tuesday’s event said they’ve tried every other way to get their message across and still feel unheard. So, ISTA is holding the Red for Ed Action Day on Tuesday to coincide with the day lawmakers return to the Statehouse and kickoff the 2020 legislative session.

Still have questions? We’ve got answers.

What is Red for Ed?

Red for Ed stands for Red for Education. It’s a national movement that encourages teachers, families and communities to show their support for public education by wearing the color red, which is why the teacher protests across the country over the last two years have generally been marked by masses of marchers in red t-shirts.

What day is Red for Ed?

Indiana’s Red for Ed Action Day is Tuesday, Nov. 19. It’s also Organization Day, the ceremonial start of the 2020 legislative session, when lawmakers return to the Statehouse and promote their legislative agendas.

Why are teachers marching? CONTINUE READING: Red for Ed Action Day: Teacher pay driving thousands to Statehouse

Peter Greene: Can Rich Content Improve Education?

Can Rich Content Improve Education?

Can Rich Content Improve Education?

Modern high-stakes testing really kicked into gear with No Child Left Behind, and then got another huge boost with the advent of Common Core. All through that era, teachers pushed back against the fracturing of reading instruction, the idea that reading is a suite of discrete skills that can be taught independent of any particular content.

The pendulum has begun its swing back. Content knowledge is coming back into vogue, and while there are plenty of cognitive science-heavy explanations out there, the basic idea is easy to grasp. If you know a lot about dinosaurs, you have an easier time reading and comprehending a book about dinosaurs. If you are trying to sound out an unfamiliar word on the page, it’s easier if you already know the word by sound. If you learn and store new information by connecting it to information you already have banked, that process is easier if you actually have plenty of information already stored away.

Classroom teachers have known this. Some have argued that the Common Core acknowledged this (but did so in the appendix, none of which is tested material). And while much of the education reform crowd joined the “skills” push (one attempted catchphrase of the new SAT created under Common Core creator David Coleman was “skilled it”), some reformers never lost faith in the work of Ed Hirsch, Jr., who has himself stayed committed to the idea through his Core Knowledge Foundation.

So if we restore rich content to education and provide students with a wealth of background knowledge, will that revitalize education and fix some of the issues that have plagued us? Or will this, like the great skills revolution at the beginning of the century, turn out to be a terribly misguided idea?

Well, both. Hirsch’s 1983 book, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs To Know, underlines two of the potential pitfalls of rich content in education CONTINUE READING: Can Rich Content Improve Education?

CURMUDGUCATION: Pondiscio: Success Academy Is Better And Worse Than You Think

CURMUDGUCATION: Pondiscio: Success Academy Is Better And Worse Than You Think

Pondiscio: Success Academy Is Better And Worse Than You Think

Robert Pondiscio is a senior fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a thinky tank steeped in conservative ed reform and staunch advocates of school choice, so one might expect that his book about Success Academy, the famous/infamous charter chain in New York City would be something of a puff piece, one more example of founder Eva Moskowitz’s broad and endless PR campaign. Indeed, the title How The Other Half Learns, seems like a bad sign-- Success Academy is not and does not represent half of anything, and to present it that way might suggest that Pondiscio is setting out a case for SA as an elite solution to education's problems.

It’s not that simple (which could be a subtitle for the book). Pondiscio brings a unique skill set to this work; he was a journalist for his first career and, in a real rarity for Reformsters, he taught in an actual classroom (five years in the South Bronx, not far from where the school that is the subject of this book now stands). Pondiscio enters this project as a fan of choice, and he leaves the same way, but along the way he gives a fairly unflinching look at his year inside the Success chain. Much of the books is commendably objective and reportorial, to the point that it can serve, as Pondiscio suggests, as a kind of Rorschach Test. If you are a supporter of charters and SA, you will find much here to confirm your beliefs; if you are an opponent, you will find many of your critiques confirmed as well. In fact, there isn't a bad thing you've heard about Success Academy that is not here in this book. If I had to pick a bottom line for the book, it would be this:

Success Academy schools are both better and worse than you think. Here are some things I learned from this book.

Success Academy Does, In Fact, Cream

But not the way they’re usually accused of. As Pondiscio details in considerable detail throughout the book, the charter chain doesn’t cream students, but families. From a demanding application process, through repeated meetings that lay out the demands of the charter, even through CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Pondiscio: Success Academy Is Better And Worse Than You Think

Gov. Wolf calls for constraints on Pennsylvania charter schools at school administrator meeting | News | mdjonline.com

Gov. Wolf calls for constraints on Pennsylvania charter schools at school administrator meeting | News | mdjonline.com

Gov. Wolf calls for constraints on Pennsylvania charter schools at school administrator meeting

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday that the state’s charter and cyber charter schools are overfunded at the expense of traditional public schools and largely immune from public scrutiny – accusations that he intends to address through what he calls a “charter school accountability plan.”

Speaking at a meeting of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, the governor renewed his claims that Pennsylvania’s charter school law is one of the worst in the country and argued that reforms are needed to put traditional public schools on more solid footing and to avoid the annual drumbeat of property tax increases

Wolf, a Democrat in his second term in office, insists that implementing his accountability plan will result in $280 million being redirected annually from charters to traditional public schools. To justify such a move, Wolf pointed to a Stanford study that showed that some cyber charter schools are underperforming.

“Every student deserves a great education, whether in a traditional public school or a charter school, but the state’s flawed and outdated charter school law is failing children, parents, and taxpayers,” Wolf said in a statement. “Pennsylvania has a history of school choice, which I support, but there is widespread agreement that we must change the law to prioritize quality and align funding to actual costs.”

The Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, in a news release following Wolf’s remarks, noted that many traditional public schools have a track record of underperforming, too, which has been one of the drivers of interest in charter school options.

“The families of more than 143,000 students have chosen to send their children to a public charter school,” Ana Meyers, executive director of the coalition, said in the news release. “There are more than 30,000 students waiting to get into a charter school in Philadelphia alone. Why? Because their school district was not meeting their child’s needs. If Governor Wolf gets his way, these students will be trapped in a school district building based on their zip code – not based on the educational needs of the students.”

Among the deficiencies that Wolf sees in the existing charter school system are the fact that charters do not have an elected school board, that the companies that run them aren’t CONTINUE READING: Gov. Wolf calls for constraints on Pennsylvania charter schools at school administrator meeting | News | mdjonline.com

What is a teacher? Tennessee lawmakers call for specific definition, cite ambiguity with pay raises | Chattanooga Times Free Press

What is a teacher? Tennessee lawmakers call for specific definition, cite ambiguity with pay raises | Chattanooga Times Free Press

What is a teacher? Tennessee lawmakers call for specific definition, cite ambiguity with pay raises

Throughout Hamilton County's contentious debate this year over public education funding and whether or not Hamilton County Schools or its teachers deserve more funding, one question has continuously been asked by elected officials, state lawmakers and taxpayers — who exactly is a teacher?

And who gets a raise when "teachers" are promised one?

State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, and state Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, have long called for one official definition of what a "teacher" is that school districts and the state can stick to, and they have again been raising the issue with Hamilton County's school leaders and lawmakers.

"For a couple years, Mike and I have been trying to define what a teacher is. Everyone likes to use them as an excuse to do whatever they want to do. All we want to do is pick a definition and stick with it," Gardenhire said during a recent meeting at the Times Free Press with reporters and editors. "In our view, and for most people in Hamilton County, it's a person in a classroom in front of students working in the discipline they were trained in."

Now, when money is allocated for "teacher pay raises" at the state or local level, the people who spend all day in classrooms with students aren't the only ones who receive that raise.

The state's Basic Education Program (BEP) funding formula — how the state calculates how much money to give to Tennessee's 146 school districts — groups teachers with all "instructional staff."

Regular classroom teachers, special education teachers, vocational education, music or art teachers, school counselors, guidance counselors, social workers, librarians, principals, assistant principals, and even supervisors such as instructional coaches, teacher supervisors and staff who complete special education assessments for students all fall into the same category.

This way of allocating funding has led to controversy when governors, such as former Gov. Bill Haslam and CONTINUE READING: What is a teacher? Tennessee lawmakers call for specific definition, cite ambiguity with pay raises | Chattanooga Times Free Press

Australian Study: Is Digital Literacy Undercutting Literacy? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Australian Study: Is Digital Literacy Undercutting Literacy? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Australian Study: Is Digital Literacy Undercutting Literacy?

A newly released study in Australia raises questions about whether digital literacy is actually undermining children’s ability and interest in reading.

A Four Corners investigation has found there are growing fears among education experts that screen time is contributing to a generation of skim readers with poor literacy, who may struggle to gain employment later in life as low-skilled jobs disappear.

By the age of 12 or 13, up to 30 per cent of Australian children’s waking hours are spent in front of a screen, according to the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.

Robyn Ewing, a Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Sydney, said this was having a tangible impact on vocabulary and literacy.

“Children who have been sat in front of a screen from a very early age start school with thousands and thousands of words less, vocabulary-wise, than those who have been meaningfully communicated with,” Professor Ewing said.

Four Corners gained exclusive access to the initial results of a national survey of 1,000 teachers and principals conducted by the Gonski Institute.

The survey found excessive screen time had a profound CONTINUE READING: Australian Study: Is Digital Literacy Undercutting Literacy? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Should all remedial classes in college be eliminated?

Should all remedial classes in college be eliminated?

States are testing unproven ways to eliminate remedial ed — on their students
Florida study argues for restoring placement tests but lowering pass scores

Community colleges and nonselective universities that enroll everyone are at a crossroads. Helping less-prepared students make the jump to college-level work is a big part of their mission. In recent history, roughly half of first-year college students have been sent to remedial classes in math, English or both, according a 2016 Center for American Progress report. At the same time, remedial classes have been a giant bottleneck for students in getting their college degrees. For some, remedial requirements are an expensive waste of time that they don’t need. For others, they become a trap: Unable to progress to college-credit courses, many get discouraged and drop out, often with debt.

Policymakers have been trying to fix the system. Florida made remedial classes optional in 2014, letting students decide for themselves whether to take them. California took the bold step of ending required remedial classes in its community college system in 2018, allowing most students who had passed their high school classes to start with college-credit classes. North Carolina, Virginia and Minnesota have moved forward with big changes too. (A November 2019 report from the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness (CAPR) surveys many of the changes in remedial classes around the nation.)

Meanwhile, researchers are scrambling to keep up with the fast pace of policy change. “A lot of these ideas were thrown out there by the research world, and we need to go in and evaluate what has happened,” said Federick Ngo, an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who is a national expert in community college students and remedial education. “It’s a ‘who knows what’s going to happen’ kind of time.”

There are things we do know. In the places that are sending more students directly to college courses, bypassing remedial education, pass rates have fallen a bit, by a few percentage points, but not a lot. Roughly speaking, 60 percent of California college students are still CONTINUE READING: Should all remedial classes in college be eliminated?

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