Nearly one in three Colorado high school graduates who attend a state college or university must take at least one remedial class to bring basic math, writing or reading skills up to speed, according to a Feb. 4 report.
How does your school or district measure up? EdNews has tracked remediation trends since 2005. Click in the search boxes to see the latest data on the percentage of students required to take remedial classes. For an in-depth look at the issue, read our 2010 story.
Click here to load this Caspio Online Database.
Search tips
- Click “All” in the School District box to bring up all high schools. However, the state only releases data on those high schools with at least 25 graduates attending a Colorado college or university. If you can’t find your school, or there are blanks for some years, the school did not meet that minimum benchmark.
- Click any district name to bring up all schools in that district. The state’s ten largest districts also have “district totals” encompassing all high schools. There also are “state of Colorado” totals.
- To compare schools or districts, hit “Ctrl” and click on as many names as you’d like to see.
- Clicking the “Details” button brings up more information about the number of graduates in the 2010 report needing help, including a breakdown by subject. Math is, by far, the most common area requiring remediation. Note that some students must take remedial courses in more than one subject.
Important notes about the data
- Remediation rates are lagging indicators so the latest figures are for students entering college in fall 2009.
- Numbers included in the EdNews’ database include only those high schools with at least 25 graduates attending a Colorado college or university. Our district and state summaries are based on those figures. These numbers may differ slightly from those reported elsewhere as the state, in its summaries, folds in some students needing remediation who have graduated from private schools or out-of-state schools – a catchall category designated as “out of state/private/unknown.” In addition, if a high school graduates fewer than 25 students who attend a Colorado college or university, the state will not publicly report how many need remediation but will include them in district summaries.
- Many students who graduate from Colorado high schools enroll in colleges or universities outside the state. Remediation rates for those students, who may be among the best and brightest graduates, are not included in any way in the state report.
Would you know why Mountain Range HS in Adams 12 has no data included?
Ms. Gilmour – According to the state Department of Higher Education, there are two reasons a high school may not appear in this report. One reason is that fewer than 25 graduates attended a Colorado college or university. High schools with fewer graduates would not be named/identified in the report although the remedial data for their graduates would be included in overall figures. This is an attempt to protect the privacy of students. The second reason is that state colleges or universities failed to submit a high school code for Mountain Range. The latter reason doesn’t seem to apply to Mountain Range – it is listed in the 2009 report but specific numbers are not, indicating state schools are aware of it but that Mountain Range did not have at least 25 students attending a Colorado college or university.
Is this for public schools only? How do we find this type of information for private schools?
Ms. Blusey – This data is for public schools only. I checked with staff at the Department of Higher Education and they are not aware of any publicly-reported data on remediation at state colleges and universities linked to individual private high schools. The state report does include private school graduates in a cumulative “other” category that also includes students from high schools outside of Colorado, for example. But it does not currently disaggregate data by individual private school.
I am curious about the percentage of students who graduate from college within four to six years of graduating from high school. Is this information available?
Ms. Dassler – Data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows “approximately 57 percent of first-time students seeking a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent and attending a 4-year institution full time in 2001–02 completed a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent at that institution in 6 years or less.” Of those students, 36 percent had received their degree within four years.
In Colorado, the numbers are roughly similar – 30 percent graduated from four-year institutions within 4 years and 57.7 percent had graduated within six years. That report is here – http://highered.colorado.gov/Publications/Reports/Enrollment/FY2009/2009_GradRates.pdf.
The state does not yet track, by Colorado high school, the percentage going on to graduate from a state college or university within four to six years but higher ed officials tell me they are working on a grant to do just that.
I was wondering if you could tell me why Manuel High School is not listed?
Ms. Osborne – Manual isn’t listed because it did not have a graduating class with students that could have entered college in fall 2009, which is what this particular database shows. Manual re-opened as a single school with a ninth-grade only in fall 2007 and added a grade at a time so it did not yet have a senior class in 2008-09.