Recently the state of Missouri, through the Missouri Department of Higher Education, has started to work toward the goal of having 60 percent of state residents hold some type of postsecondary credential. This goal aligns with similar initiatives in other states as well as President Obama's objective for the nation. In order to reach this ambitious target, improvements in postsecondary education will need to be made in a number of areas. One such area is remedial education. Remedial education (sometimes also described as developmental education) refers to courses taught within postsecondary education that cover content below the college level. Students who require remediation upon entering postsecondary institutions may face adverse consequences. First, these students may be less likely to complete their course of study and more likely to stop out or drop out. Second, it may take these students longer, both in terms of the number of courses taken and number of years enrolled, to complete their studies. It is therefore in the best interests of Missouri that it address and improve remedial education at the postsecondary level. To this end, this report examines remedial education from several angles. It first investigates the extent of remedial coursetaking in postsecondary education both nationally and in Missouri. It then explores remedial students' persistence and attainment compared with the persistence and attainment of nonremedial students. The report concludes by describing the various approaches to remedial education that have been adopted throughout the country. A table, Research Evaluations of Remedial Education Interventions, is appended. (Contains 7 figures, 1 table, and 4 footnotes.)