I INTRODUCTION Remedial Education, special instruction designed to help students catch up to a desired level of academic achievement.

In the United States and Canada, remedial education is common at all levels of schooling, from preschools through college s and universities. The most common remedial education programs focus on develop ing students basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. Some remedial education programs attempt to remedy insufficient learning in prev ious academic settings. These programs typically involve reteaching subjects or redesigning lessons to make the instruction clearer or more personalized for ind ividual students. Remedial programs may also be designed to compensate for an ed ucational disadvantage. For instance, a preschool program may provide learning o pportunities designed to help children who are considered at risk of educational failure because of limited English proficiency. In higher education, a remedial math course may help some first-year college or university students compensate for inadequate preparation in math during high school. Remedial education is based on the presumption that a student underachieves beca use of extrinsic (environmental) factors, such as poverty or insufficient access to high-quality education. Remedial education thus differs from special educati on, where the source of the learning difficulty is generally viewed as intrinsic t hat is, due to a disability or disorder that exists within the individual. To av oid a common misperception that students in remedial programs have an intrinsic learning difficulty, some educators in the United States prefer to use the term developmental education rather than remedial education. Most educators consider programs in English as a Second Language (ESL) to be neither remedial, developme ntal, nor special education but a separate category of educational support. Historically, schools allowed children to fall behind academically if they had d ifficulty matching the achievement of their peers. Most students who found learn ing difficult eventually dropped out of school to find work in occupations that did not require high levels of educational achievement. However, as society has changed and work has become more complex, the accepted minimum levels of educati onal achievement have steadily risen, especially since the 1960s. Enrollment lev els in remedial education programs have likewise risen. II THE NEED FOR REMEDIAL EDUCATION Many students need additional instructional support in a particular subject at s ome point in their school years. Some students need more remedial support than o thers. Many educators consider remedial education necessary to overcome the ill effects of poverty. Schools always have had difficulty educating children who live in e conomically disadvantaged households. Educational researchers note that relative ly few low-income households are able to afford educational resources that could help create a rich, supportive learning environment in the home. For instance, families living in poverty are less likely to be able to afford books, computers , encyclopedias, and other learning resources. Children in such households often have difficulty matching the academic achievement of more advantaged children w ho live in homes and communities that provide greater access to educational reso urces. In addition, parents with low incomes typically have lower levels of educ ational attainment themselves. These parents often find it difficult to offer th eir children the same sort of academic advice and support that wealthier and bet ter-educated parents can provide their own children. Schools in lower-income communities are typically funded less than schools in hi gher-income communities. On various measures, such as class sizes, teacher quali fications, access to curriculum materials, and library facilities, schools in lo wer-income communities rank below those in higher-income communities. The result is that often students in lower-income communities receive a lower-quality educ ation. This problem produces a greater need for remedial education programs. There are many other reasons why students may fall behind academically and need

remedial instruction. Teachers differ in their expertness for teaching math, rea ding, and other subjects. Thus, a student might need remedial help if he had tea cher A in first grade but not if he had been lucky enough to have teacher B. Sch ool systems also differ in their support for teachers. In a school district with overcrowded classrooms, the same teacher B might be overwhelmed with work and n ot be able to attend to individual needs as well. Finally, parent involvement pl ays an important role in a student s learning. Students whose parents are highly i nvolved in their education are less likely to need remedial help than students w hose parents are not involved. III PLACEMENT IN REMEDIAL COURSES Many schools administer standardized tests to determine which students would ben efit from placement in a remedial course. Students whose test scores fall below a predetermined level are eligible for remedial education. Many elementary and s econdary schools may also place students in remedial courses based on a teacher s recommendation. For instance, a history teacher may suggest a remedial reading c ourse for a student who seems to have difficulty keeping up with the required re ading for the class. Some colleges and universities may place students in remedi al programs based on an analysis of courses completed in high school. Eligibility for remedial programs does not always mean that such instruction wil l be provided. In the United States, for instance, fewer than 20 percent of high school students eligible for remedial reading classes are offered such instruct ion. The eligibility levels vary from school to school, as does the likelihood o f receiving remedial instruction. Often demand for remedial education exceeds su pply. That is, there are more students who qualify for services than there are f unds to provide the needed services. Remedial instruction is typically made mand atory only for certain students at the college and university level. IV ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL PROGRAMS Remedial education courses are more common in elementary and junior high schools than in high schools. Many elementary schools strive to introduce remedial educ ation as early as possible, generally in the primary grades (kindergarten to gra de 3). Educators target these grades because research indicates that overcoming difficulties in reading, writing, and math becomes more difficult as children gr ow older. At the secondary school level, many students require remedial support to help meet graduation standards. In the United States, the federal Title I program, administered by the U.S. Depa rtment of Education, provides funding for remedial programs in approximately 90 percent of all school districts. A school district becomes eligible for Title I funds primarily based on the estimated number of children in the district who co me from low-income families. Most school districts concentrate their Title I gra nts to fund remedial programs in the elementary grades. Approximately 11 percent of elementary and secondary school students in the United States attend a remed ial program funded through Title I. In Canada, funding for remedial education is more decentralized. School districts receive general funds from their province or territory s Ministry of Education, and each district decides on its own how muc h to fund remedial programs. Most remedial education programs in Canada do not r eceive federal funding. However, school districts with employment-preparation pr ograms may apply for funding from Human Resources Development Canada, a federal agency. In many respects, instruction in remedial courses is similar to instruction in r egular, or mainstream, courses. However, schools typically limit the class size of remedial courses to a relatively small number of students per teacher. This c lass size gives teachers more opportunity to respond to the unique needs of indi vidual students. Most remedial education classes consist of groups of fewer than ten students per teacher. In some cases, one-on-one tutoring (one instructor wo rking with one student) can help the student make substantial gains in achieveme

nt in a relatively short period of time. One-on-one tutoring can be especially e ffective in remedial reading programs. However, most schools lack the resources to provide instruction on such a personal level. Elementary and secondary schools usually offer remedial programs during normal s chool hours, but increasing numbers of schools offer after-school and summer-sch ool programs. These programs appear to be the most successful ones because parti cipating students do not have to miss regular classroom instruction while attend ing the remedial course and thus benefit from the additional time spent in class es. V COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS Colleges and universities in the United States first introduced remedial courses in reading, writing, and mathematics during the 19th century. As college enroll ments rose during the 20th century, the number of remedial programs in American higher education also increased. Today, college remedial programs sometimes called college prep programs are offered in virtually all community colleges, in more th an 80 percent of public four-year universities, and in more than 60 percent of p rivate four-year institutions in the United States. About 30 percent of students entering U.S. colleges and universities take at least one remedial course, but the percentage of students enrolled in remedial courses varies widely from schoo l to school. In Canada, it is rare for universities to offer remedial instruction, although s ome offer basic-level courses for no academic credit. Students who wish to enrol l in a university must meet its basic entry requirements; some students may atte nd summer school or adult education classes before applying to meet these requir ements. Canadian community colleges serve mainly to provide vocational and techn ical training. Most American colleges and universities design their remedial courses to increas e academic achievement in reading, writing, or mathematics. Completion of colleg e-level remedial courses usually does not count as academic credit that can be a pplied toward an academic degree or program. Colleges and universities may requi re some students to satisfactorily complete particular remedial courses before t hey can take other courses for credit. Colleges and universities also offer remedial help through instructional support centers or tutoring programs. These resources provide assistance for students a lready enrolled in standard, for-credit courses or programs. For example, many c olleges have a writing center where students can receive assistance on writing a ssignments. Many also have similar centers to support mathematics or other speci fic courses, such as chemistry and physics. Some colleges and universities provi de students with access to personal tutors who offer academic support in a varie ty of subjects. Instructional support centers and tutoring services rarely offer academic credit to students who use these programs. Colleges and universities generally offer remedial courses during the normal sch ool year, from fall through spring. Many also offer remedial programs during the summer. Some colleges require entering students who need remedial instruction t o enroll in the summer so they can complete all necessary remedial study before their first year of college study begins. VI ISSUES AND TRENDS Currently, students from low-income families are overrepresented in remedial cla sses at all levels. Because a larger proportion of minority families have povert y-level incomes than families in the general population, minority students are a lso disproportionately represented in remedial classes. However, since the 1960s the differences in academic achievement between low-income and middle-class stu dents have steadily narrowed. Likewise, the differences in achievement between m inority students and white students have also become smaller. Some scholars attr

ibute these trends to the concurrent rise of remedial education programs through out the country. Despite these gains, some educators and policymakers have proposed alternatives to remedial education in elementary and secondary schools. For example, some sch ools require students to repeat grades if their academic achievement falls below a targeted level. Many educators disagree with this policy, pointing to researc h indicating that students who repeat grades demonstrate no long-term gains in a cademic achievement. Critics also argue that requiring students to repeat grades is generally more expensive for school districts than implementing well-designe d remedial education. Some politicians and some trustees of colleges and universities have proposed el iminating college remedial programs altogether. They argue that colleges and uni versities should not have to reteach the material that high schools should have taught students in the first place. Defenders of remedial education claim that w ithout remedial programs in colleges and universities, many high school graduate s would never have the opportunity to attend college. These remedial education a dvocates argue that low-achieving high-school graduates would be forced to take low-paying jobs, receive government assistance, or impose costs on society in so me other way. Increasingly, colleges and universities have responded to this deb ate by shifting most remedial education programs to two-year community colleges. For example, in 1998 the board of trustees at the City University of New York v oted to end remedial classes at the system s four-year colleges and permit them on ly at its two-year community colleges. Other four-year institutions have discont inued their own remedial programs and instead contract with local community coll eges to offer remedial classes to their students. FROM: http://www.englisharticles.info/2010/12/07/remedial-education/