Publication | Closed Access
Too Dumb for Complex Texts
11
Citations
0
References
2011
Year
Postsecondary EducationHigh SchoolEducationSemanticsMathematical LinguisticsUnited StatesStudent OutcomeCorpus LinguisticsElementary EducationApplied LinguisticsStudent RetentionComputational LinguisticsCollege PipelineSeptember 2008Language StudiesUniversity Student RetentionLanguage-based ApproachLearning SciencesStudent SuccessEducational TestingEducational StatisticsHigher EducationCurriculumToo DumbSecondary EducationEducational AssessmentText ProcessingEducation PolicyLinguisticsStudent Affairs
Back in September 2008, some 3 million people in the United States became college freshmen—the largest cohort ever. But the weeks before school started brought a setback. The students took a placement test, and many found that they probably wouldn't be able to handle the work to come. If they were to enroll in a regular calculus or freshman composition course, chances are they would fail. They had graduated from high school, but they didn't have the knowledge and skills to tackle readings, tests, and papers at the next level. So the college assigned these freshmen to a remedial unit in math, reading, or writing—a precollege course for no credit that aimed to send them into spring semester ready to earn grades of C or higher.