LEGISLATIVE CONCERNS

The diminishing or extinguishing of opportunities for remediation on the college level is a serious and growing challenge for some students and for those who might address their needs. The Bush administration spoke out against the rise in remediation on August 29, 2002. Colleagues nationwide who serve the needs of special education and developmental students, though, have long noted that one-third of entering college freshmen require at least one course in remediation.

Many states are following the presidential lead. According to Time Magazine, October 14, 2002 eight states now forbid remedial students to attend four-year state colleges and universities. The number of states with such policies appears to be increasing. Additionally, since only approximately one-fourth of two-year college students in remediation advance to the four-year college, the majority may never achieve a college education. The article cites Melodye Wiens, president of the National Association for Developmental Education, as stating that "Some of our most at-risk students will have a longer pipeline to get to the four-year institutions, and, unfortunately, not as many will make it."

Although some states consider requiring students to pay additional fees for remedial classes, other states are beginning to contemplate the abolishment of remedial classes at the two-year colleges as well. There are those who believe that students should have mastered basic English and math classes before college, yet this penalizes students pushed through schools offering them inadequate or no services that might address their basic educational needs. Then, some officials classify both special education and English-as-a-second-language classes as part of the category of remediation.

Earlier, per the Associated Press, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University found that African-American children are three times as likely as whites to receive placement in special education programs. In addition, some remedial teachers note that a disproportionate percentage of their students are African-American or Hispanic. Some believe this indicates a policy of discrimination against African-Americans within the public school system, reportedly influencing the members of the NAACP and others to act against support for these classes. Others believe that whites in the community tend to be more affluent and generally can afford more private care, which may preclude the placement of as many white students in special needs classes.

Please consider contacting members of Congress (http://thomas.loc.gov/), the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, the Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, the NAACP and the media to share your views. If you are uncertain as to whom your representatives in Congress may be, please telephone your local branch of the National Organization for Women (www.now.org) to receive that information. To contact the civil rights organizations and the NAACP, please visit their websites as follows. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, www.civilrights.org; the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, www.law.harvard.edu/civilrights; the Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, www.cccr.org; and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), www.naacp.org.

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