As more and more people take the view that traditional remediation is largely ineffective in helping unprepared students succeed at the college level, particularly in mathematics, an increasing number of systems are turning to the corequisite model of education. This model provides a seemingly elegant solution to the problem by simply eliminating remedial courses altogether and replacing them with credit-bearing corequisite courses.
The model is based on the argument that all high-school graduates are essentially prepared for college-level work if they are directed away from certain challenging courses and offered some extra support. But wishing doesn’t make it so, and the change will clearly result in lower academic standards. Even worse, for corequisite students who later want to pursue fields that require knowledge of foundational mathematics, the model will severely limit their options.
For more than a decade, I have been involved with efforts to improve the college readiness of high-school students in my state, Kentucky. As part of a statewide initiative in 2009 to reduce remediation rates, I helped develop online college-placement exams for high-school students who, after failing to meet ACT benchmarks in their junior year, had taken college-transition courses in their senior year. As a result of the combined effort of colleges, high schools, the state’s Department of Education, and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, the percentage of college-ready public high-school graduates in the state increased from 34 percent in 2010 to 60 percent in 2016.
Unfortunately, Kentucky, like other states and college systems across the country, has since decided that a lack of college readiness shouldn’t hinder students from taking college-level courses. Beginning this fall, it will switch to a corequisite model.
Full implementation of the corequisite model will mean that more college students and more college graduates will be poorly prepared in basic algebra as well as in foundational elementary- and middle-school mathematics. The vast majority of corequisite courses in mathematics, such as mathematics for the liberal arts and elementary statistics, require little or no algebra. They are generally four-credit-hour courses covering roughly the same content as corresponding three-hour general-studies courses designed for students who are college-ready in mathematics.
That extra time in the four-credit-hour courses is focused on helping students learn the content of the specific course, not on the foundational mathematics or basic algebra that they clearly lack. No attempt is made to remediate students’ deficiencies in these two critically important areas.
As a result, students who are underprepared in mathematics have little chance to acquire the skills they lack in foundational mathematics or basic algebra. Without the prerequisites for courses that require a background in algebra, or access to courses that enable them to meet these prerequisites, they cannot pursue college degrees or career paths that require mathematics. STEM majors, business majors, and many career and technical-education majors — among others that require a background in foundational mathematics or basic algebra — are not realistic options for these students.
Fortunately, students who are underprepared in reading or writing do not face the same dilemma. These students can continue to take college courses that require reading and writing to improve their skills in these areas over the course of their college career.
The universal use of the corequisite model will, in the long run, damage both the K-12 and postsecondary education systems because of its de-emphasis of mathematics. The unintended message it sends to the K-12 system is that students need very little, if any, algebra in order to be successful in college. By embracing this model, colleges are sending the message that even beginning algebra is too difficult for most students and should be reserved for only high-performing students with a talent for the subject.
Employers frequently complain that high-school graduates are appallingly ill-prepared in basic mathematics. These graduates generally cannot work with fractions or decimals, cannot solve simple applied-arithmetic problems such as those involving percentages or rates and proportions, and cannot work even the simplest algebra problems. Sadly, the same is true of too many college students and too many college graduates. The nation’s work force is at risk if this trend continues and employers are unable to find enough competent, technically trained employees. The public perception of the value and integrity of a college degree will be justifiably diminished.
Far more emphasis should be put on getting more high-school graduates college-ready. Remediation should take place primarily in the high schools, not the colleges. There is no reason that underprepared high-school seniors who wish to attend college should not have the opportunity to take transitional courses that address their academic deficiencies in mathematics, reading, or writing while they are still in high school. College faculty members should collaborate with high-school teachers on the curriculum to ensure that students who succeed in the transitional courses can enter college fully prepared to take college-level courses without need of remediation.
It is time for schools and colleges to begin working together as a single education system that provides students with clear academic goals. Lowering academic standards and expectations through universal implementation of the corequisite model is not the answer. The short-term results of a such a model might look promising to colleges and states, but eventually the negative consequences will catch up to them.
