The challenge of who does remedial work for students, and when it is done, exists in our hierarchical grade system of education. Each part of the system wants students that are ready to enter the hierarchy at the appropriate level, but that only happens with a certain % of students who for whatever reason have gotten to the starting point “on time”.
For the rest of the students, it’s catch up (and fall behind) all the way along, and remediation by each level is required. Yes, this seems somehow poorly designed!
This is especially important for kindergarten…as those born just after the deadline get “held back”, and those just before the deadline must compete with students nearly a year older, who garner more teacher attention and support and do better all the rest of the way. This was pointed out by Malcolm Gladwell, as an example of how aspects of our systems don’t get fully examined, and we just continue on doing them.
One mission to help solve the remediation needs of higher education, including Jr. Colleges, is the early college high school model of advanced placement. Story below discusses how this has become a trend, and for various reasons could be a positive trend if students manage to not drop out of HS, and to enroll in higher learning, ready to succeed.
Twenty Percent of Community College Students Are in High School. Now What?