WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01), member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, introduced the Remedial Education Improvement Act to make remedial – commonly called developmental – education programs more effective, fair and less expensive. The Act would improve or develop programs based on five reform models that have a proven track record. It would implement these reforms, establish a competitive grant program and allow for the use of federal student aid dollars to support up to two years of developmental education.

“Students that require extra training are not offered a fair shot right now and this bill provides a comprehensive strategy to change that,” said Congressman Donald Norcross. “My bill aims to make developmental education more effective and less expensive. Every student learns differently – for me, it was a technical training program that shaped my career. We’re all different types of learners and, as lawmakers, we must ensure we’re providing fair opportunities for all students to learn, succeed and end up with a degree and good-paying job.”

Developmental education programs provide pre-requisite skills needed to complete college courses and progress toward a degree. Although necessary, these programs makes college take longer – and is therefore more costly. Remediation increases student debt load, while lessening the chance of degree completion. In the 2013-2014 school year, remedial education cost students and their families about $1.3 billion in out-of-pocket expenses.

“Developmental education provides the foundations for successful performance in college,” said Don Borden, President of Camden County College. “By encouraging educators to redesign their course offerings, with a focus on student achievement, we can provide individualized instruction leading to greater retention and completion rates for all students.  A bill that supports teachers utilizing research-based strategies to improve student learning can only result in positive outcomes.”

The Remedial Education Improvement Act is part of the House Democrats’ Aim Higher initiative that would improve higher education across-the-board for working families.

“Too many obstacles still stand in the way of students and their ability to complete a higher education program,” said Rep. Bobby Scott, Ranking Member on the Committee on Education and the Workforce. “This bill will help us identify and fund effective remediation strategies and will be particularly helpful for the most under-resourced institutions where many of our low-income students and students of color enroll. Congress must pass this bills so that we can enable more students to go to college and complete their degree programs in an affordable way.”

Rep. Norcross was joined by Reps. Seth Moulton (MA-06), and Tim Walz (MN-01) in introducing this bill.

“The Remedial Education Act devotes needed resources to new and scalable programs to reform remediation,” said J. Noah Brown, President and CEO of the Association of Community College Trustees. “Supporting these evidence-based reforms will help community colleges as they strive to serve the needs of a diverse student population. We thank Representatives Norcross, Moulton, and Walz for their support of this important issue.”

Click here to read a section-by-section summary of the Act.

Click here to read a full fact sheet about the Act, a portion of which follows below.

About the Remedial Education Improvement Act

The Remedial Education Improvement Act would provide competitive grants to a geographically diverse set of colleges and universities of various sizes to develop or improve remedial education based on five models that have shown success during small-scale implementation. Aside from implementing evidence-based models to improve remediation, students in programs funded under this grant may also use federal student aid dollars to support up to two years of remediation, removing another barrier to on-time completion for remedial students. The legislation would also require evaluation of program effectiveness in order to determine the best systems of support that lead to college degree completion. Funds can also be used to provide early assessments to students on their college readiness and intervene before the students enter college. 

• Accelerated Coursework: courses are revised to allow either short, intensive remediation or enrollment in more than one sequential course per term.
• Modular Instruction: focuses remediation on specific skills needed to be successful in college coursework and provides targeted interventions rather than course sequences. 
• Co-requisite Enrollment: provides concurrent classes that are offered to support students while enrolled in credit-bearing courses. 
• Systemic Reform: enables colleges and universities to implement comprehensive, integrated, evidence-based support programs across the institution that enable students enrolled in remedial education to reach completion and graduation. 

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Contact: Ally Kehoe, Communications Director
ally.kehoe@mail.house.gov