TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bettinger,Eric P.
AU  - Long,Bridget Terry
TI  - Addressing the Needs of Under-Prepared Students in Higher Education: Does College Remediation Work?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 11325
PY  - 2005
Y2  - May 2005
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11325
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11325.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Eric Bettinger
Stanford School of Education
CERAS 522, 520 Galvez Mall
Stanford, CA 94305
Tel: 650/736-7727
Fax: 650/723-9931
E-Mail: ebettinger@stanford.edu

Bridget T. Long
Harvard University
Graduate School of Education
Gutman Library 465
6 Appian Way
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/496-4355
Fax: 617/496-3095
E-Mail: longbr@gse.harvard.edu
AB  - Each year, thousands of students graduate high school academically unprepared for college. As a result, approximately one-third of entering postsecondary students require remedial or developmental work before entering college-level courses. However, little is known about the causal impact of remediation on student outcomes. At an annual cost of over $1 billion at public colleges alone, there is a growing debate about its effectiveness. Who should be placed in remediation, and how does it affect their educational progress? This project addresses these critical questions by examining the effects of math and English remediation using a unique dataset of approximately 28,000 students. To account for selection biases, the paper uses variation in remedial placement policies across institutions and the importance of proximity in college choice. The results suggest that students in remediation are more likely to persist in college in comparison to students with similar test scores and backgrounds who were not required to take the courses. They are also more likely to transfer to a higher-level college and to complete a bachelor's degree.
ER  -