ACC REMEDIATION: SUCCESS RATES, GROWTH TRENDS, AND COSTS

 

A. Success Rates

The obvious measure of success for community-college remediation programs is the percentage of the students who enter the program who succeed in completing remediation requirements. Through FY2003, the THECB required colleges to report a related value: the percentage of students receiving remediation who completed TASP obligations in the fiscal year. ACC and statewide percentages reported (http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/0979.PDF):

FY2000 remediation success: 13.0% at ACC, 9.5% statewide

FY2001 remediation success: 9.1% at ACC, 8.4% statewide

FY2002 remediation success: 9.1% at ACC, 8.2% statewide

FY2003 remediation success: 5.9% at ACC, 7.4% statewide

These data indicate that there was a general decline in Texas community-college success in remediation, with ACC declining even more, from 1.4 times the average down to 0.8 times the average. ACC stopped tracking this statistic once it was no longer required by THECB after the 2003 revisions in the TASP laws, and the college has to date been unable to supply similar information for subsequent years in response to a 5/29/07 open-records request.

Note that the THECB percentage will understate success to the extent that students stay under mandated remediation during more than one fiscal year, since in that case the students are counted again each year. The average number of fiscal years during which ACC developmental students are in mandated remediation is probably between 1.5 and 2.0. These estimated limits give an adjusted FY2003 success rate between 8.9% and 11.8%. This is the number appropriate for comparison to the 90% Capital IDEA success rate.

B. Growth Rates

ACC developmental-mathematics contact hours increased 48% in the five-year period from FY01 to FY06.  By comparison, other ACC contact hours increased by only 14% over the same period, and those for developmental reading and writing decreased by 16% and 5%, respectively.  College-credit mathema­tics contact hours decreased by 8%.  This discrepancy is primarily due to changes in advising and placement procedures that substantially increased the number of students channeled into Intermediate Algebra even when not needed for the program that the student is majoring in.

C. FY2006 costs of ACC developmental programs (overheads based on the ACFB model)

 

Enrollment

Gross Margin

$ Net Margin

$ Fixed Overhead

Total (subsidy)

(Subsidy) per SCH*

Developmental Reading

     2,235

     (322,938)

(1,074,437)

420,976

(1,495,412)

($227.72)

Developmental Writing

     1,415

     (118,355)

(593,789)

266,329

(860,118)

($202.62)

ESL

     1,399

     (282,583)

(887,833)

339,050

(1,226,883)

($292.32)

Mathematics -- developmental

   15,393

   1,795,744

(1,923,655)

2,083,536

(4,007,191)

($87.77)

Total Developmental

   20,442

   1,071,869

(4,479,713)

   3,109,890

    (7,589,603)

($125.10)

*Note: most developmental courses are 3 SCH per student.

The costs shown above reflect the amount of subsidy required from ACC property-tax funds, even after allowing for state reimbursements (about $59/SCH) and student tuition/fees (averaging about $56/SCH). Students also have textbook costs of roughly $100/course.

 

Hunter Ellinger – 6/17/2007