BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A new policy adopted by the Louisiana Board of Regents will eliminate remedial coursework in Louisiana public universities and colleges.
The newly revised policy will replace remedial coursework with a proven nationally recognized reform model. Under the new guidelines, college students needing remediation will be placed in for-credit or gateway math/English courses while given additional academic support. This will result in students taking courses with longer time on task instead of a shorter, not-for-credit remedial course.
The new approach is designed to:
- Increase the number of students who can access and successfully complete gateway courses;
- Increase retention and graduation rates of college students; and
- Remove access and outcome barriers for Louisiana students.
“Today’s action by the Board is a great example of putting our Master Plan objectives into play,” said Board of Regents Chair Collis Temple III. “Addressing barriers to student success, like passing college-level math, gets us closer to our goal of doubling the number of credentials in our state by 2030 and at the same time saves our students time and money.”
In its preliminary analysis of data from Academic Year 2020-21, Regents found freshmen participating in co-req math achieved a passage rate of 55%, compared to 11% for those taking remedial math alone.
These results mirror similar work in other states, including Tennessee and Georgia. The approved Gateway Mathematics and English Course Placement Policy is effective statewide for mathematics courses in the fall 2023 and for English courses in the fall 2024 semester.
“For Louisiana to reach its attainment goal of 60% of working adults with a degree or credential by 2030, we have to focus our efforts on both traditional students coming to college right out of high school as well as transfer students, near-completers, adult learners and veterans, who all bring a variety of experience with them when they arrive on campus,” said Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed.
The Governor’s Executive Budget proposes an increase of more than $100 million for higher education, with $15 million of those dollars to be used to drive stronger student outcomes as campuses focus on increasing Louisiana’s education attainment rate to 60% by 2030.