I blame this on Bush's No Child Left Behind plan, which began in Texas and English as a Second Language (ESL). Import more visa holders and forget about our children.

Dixie
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Nov 7, 2007 6:10 pm US/Central

Half Of TX College Students Take Remedial Classes
Steve Pickett
Reporting

(CBS 11 News) DALLAS The education your child is receiving in Texas may not be good enough. According to a state report, outlining education deficiencies when students enter college, thousands of Texas students aren't making the grade.

You can graduate from high school; pass all the required TAKS Tests, meet state standards, and still find yourself struggling in college.

Walking into the room you see students enrolled in their first year of college, after graduating high school. But the writing class, at Dallas' Richland College, is not what William Hernandez expected - it's a repeat of what he should've learned in high school. "You know, it's kind of hard when you have to take that test and then you see that you don't pass, and you have to take these kind of classes," he said.

One out of two Texas students entering college today must take similar remedial classes. They're called 'Developmental Courses'; essentially, a repeat of high school reading, writing or arithmetic.

The Commission for a College Ready Texas reports a wide divide between students who pass required tests to complete high school, but can't handle college level work.

Writing instructor Doug Wilson says he sees the divide daily. "More and more students are coming to us academically unprepared to complete a rigorous college curriculum."

In the Tarrant County college system thousands of students fail the college entrance assessment exams. Fifty percent of students fail the math portion, 32-percent fail in reading, and 27-percent fail the writing section.

In Dallas County, 70-percent of enrollees coming from high school must take a remedial class. Jade Holmes was surprised to find herself in that group. "The school standards are probably different from like what we learn in high school," she said.

"Everything we see here at the community college level tells us that something in the system is broken," Wilson said.

The commission says the standard for passing graduation exams is too low and that stronger, more rigorous work is need at the high school level.

http://cbs11tv.com/local/local_story_311191124.html