Dear Commons Community,

Entering college freshmen in Florida needing remediation will soon have the option of bypassing basic skills courses if they wish.   Florida state lawmakers voted in May to make such courses optional for most students. Starting next year, recent high-school graduates and active-duty military members in Florida will have the choice of whether to take the courses or even the tests meant to gauge students’ readiness for college-level work.  According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required):

“…the prospect has sent a wave of anxiety across the state’s 28 community and state colleges, which all have open admissions. Their fear: that an influx of unprepared students could destabilize introductory courses and set those who will struggle up for failure. The colleges have become ground zero in a national battle over remedial education, a field whose current models aren’t working, say even its most ardent supporters. Several organizations—including Complete College America and Jobs for the Future, both backed by groups including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lumina Foundation—have been pushing to reduce the number of students who end up in noncredit remedial courses. Based on the argument that remedial education, as currently delivered, is ineffective, the groups have persuaded lawmakers in Connecticut, Tennessee, and other states to pass laws channeling more students directly into credit-bearing courses…

…Colleges have until March to present the state with a plan for how they’ll overhaul remedial education, offering new options to support less-prepared students. Those plans must take effect by the fall of 2014, but colleges will start rolling them out next spring.

Across Florida, colleges are struggling with the new mandate. William D. Law Jr., president of St. Petersburg College, concedes that remedial education hasn’t been working but thinks that allowing students to place themselves is asking for trouble.

“When you ask an 18-year-old student, ‘Would you like to opt out of developmental math?’ I’m guessing I know the answer more often than not,” he says. “I’m really worried about what this is going to look like two to three weeks into the semester, when students have that ‘aha!’ moment and say, ‘I should have chosen a different level.”

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

It was a special night at Yankee Stadium when baseball’s most acclaimed relief pitcher, Mariano Rivera,  made an emotional exit in his final appearance at the big ballpark in the South Bronx.  Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte came to the mound to remove him with two outs in the ninth inning on Thursday night.

“It’s time to go,” Jeter appeared to tell Rivera.

For Yankee fans, it was a heart-fluttering moment!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Democrat Wendy Davis, the state senator who catapulted to national prominence last summer with a filibuster over access to abortion, is running for Texas governor.

Two Democrats with knowledge of her decision told The Associated Press yesterday that Davis would announce her candidacy next week. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to pre-empt her official campaign launch on Oct. 3, which will take place in her home district of Fort Worth.

A Davis campaign had been widely expected, but she has held off making her decision public. Davis campaign spokesman Hector Nieto would not confirm that she is running.

“As Sen. Davis told grass-roots supporters last week via email, she’s made a decision and she looks forward to making her decision public on Oct. 3,” Nieto said.

Good luck to Senator Davis!

Tony