Open access an NIC priority

COEUR d'ALENE - Chicago's community college system is considering putting an end to offering remedial courses, a move that would limit community college accessibility for prospective students whose reading, writing or math skills show they aren't prepared for college-level work.

Education Week magazine reported last week that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley cited the high cost of remedial programs as a reason to cut them. Daley suggested the money spent on remedial courses might be better spent at alternative high schools to get students' skills up to college-level.

George Boggs, president and chief executive officer of the American Association of Community Colleges, told Education Week that cutting back on basic remediation programs is a trend happening at community colleges throughout the nation, and it concerns him.

"Community college has always been an open door for college. We have taken everybody," Boggs said.

All prospective North Idaho College students must take the COMPASS test for placement in college courses. If they test low, they have to take remedial classes first in order to take the college-level courses required for degrees.

This applies to all students regardless of age, whether they are freshly graduated from high school or non-traditional students returning later in life.

During the last two semesters at NIC, 9,741 credits of the total credits generated were remedial, and represent 9 percent of the total credits received by students at the college. Most of those credits do not count toward an associate's degree.

"At this point, NIC remains committed to open access," said John Martin, the college's vice president for community relations. "Along with affordability and availability, it rounds out the three most important attributes of a comprehensive community college."

Martin said NIC's "open access" policy allows the school to serve a spectrum of students who would not ordinarily be able to attend college.

"This is an issue in Idaho as well as other states. We have heard it not only from colleges and universities but also from the workforce, that far too many high school graduates need remediation after graduation," said Melissa McGrath, spokesperson for the Idaho State Department of Education.

Idaho schools chief Tom Luna's goal, McGrath said, is to ensure that every student in Idaho not only graduates from high school, but graduates and goes on to college or the workforce without the need for remediation.

One way the state is working on achieving that goal is by increasing dual credit college course offerings at the high school level. Through the Idaho Education Network, Idaho has already increased the number of students taking dual credit courses by 15 percent in just the last year.

Luna has also secured another $5 million to help improve students' scores on the Idaho Standards Achievement Tests by offering after-school tutoring and other types of extra help.

In addition, Luna has worked with other states on the Common Core State Standards Initiative, an initiative to create common, college- and career-ready standards in math and English language arts that are comparable with other countries around the world. These more rigorous standards are up for adoption before the Idaho State Board of Education in November. If approved, they will go to the Legislature in January.