Remedial courses meant to get underprepared students ready for college-level work are often not an on-ramp but a dead end, leaders of four national higher-education groups said, recommending sweeping changes in how such students are brought up to speed. Students required to take a sequence of remedial, or developmental, courses before they can sign up for credit-bearing ones often get discouraged and drop out, and many would be better off in gateway courses, with extra support built in, according to the groups' report, "Core Principles for Transforming Remedial Education: A Joint Statement." The groups called on governors, legislators, and higher-education leaders to create incentives that would allow for an overhaul nationally. That would involve changing some state policies to give colleges more discretion in placing students. The groups identified seven core principles they said should govern an overhaul of remedial education. Among them: (1) Colleges should not rely on a single test to place students in the appropriate classes; (2) Students who are significantly underprepared need accelerated paths to college-level work; (3) Enrollment in gateway college-level courses, with additional academic support, should be the default placement for many more students; and (4) The content of those courses should align with a broad category of majors, such as social sciences or human services, that students choose when they enroll in college.