Accommodating the Remedial Student in the Content Class

Increasing numbers of students who are considered to be non-traditional, unde prepared, reading deficient, marginal, and/or remedial are enrolling in institutions of higher education (5, 10, 12). With the advent of equal opportunity laws and open admissions policies, many senior colleges and universities have attempted to ad dress the needs of these students by initiating courses called remedial, basic skills, or developmental educa tion. Mason, Myers and Callaway (8) reported that 64 percent of the colleges and universities responding to their nationwide survey provide reading improvement courses for such students. The Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education found that com prehensive basic skills programs exist in 80 percent of the nation's institutions (13). This is not surprising when one considers that 20 percent of all four-year colleges in the country must accept every high school graduate within the state (1).