NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
50 Years of ERIC
50 Years of ERIC
The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) is celebrating its 50th Birthday! First opened on May 15th, 1964 ERIC continues the long tradition of ongoing innovation and enhancement.

Learn more about the history of ERIC here. PDF icon

Back to results
ERIC Number: ED490876
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2005-May
Pages: 28
Abstractor: Author
Reference Count: 0
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
Addressing the Needs of Under-Prepared Students in Higher Education: Does College Remediation Work? NBER Working Paper No. 11325
Bettinger, Eric P.; Long, Bridget Terry
National Bureau of Economic Research
Each year, thousands of students graduate high school academically unprepared for college. As a result, approximately one-third of entering postsecondary students require remedial or developmental work before entering college-level courses. However, little is known about the causal impact of remediation on student outcomes. At an annual cost of over $1 billion at public colleges alone, there is a growing debate about its effectiveness. Who should be placed in remediation, and how does it affect their educational progress? This project addresses these critical questions by examining the effects of math and English remediation using a unique dataset of approximately 28,000 students. To account for selection biases, the paper uses variation in remedial placement policies across institutions and the importance of proximity in college choice. The results suggest that students in remediation are more likely to persist in college in comparison to students with similar test scores and backgrounds who were not required to take the courses. They are also more likely to transfer to a higher-level college and to complete a bachelor's degree.
National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138-5398. Tel: 617-588-0343; Web site: http://www.nber.org.
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.
Identifiers: Ohio