Akron Beacon Journal
Defining ‘college ready
January 3, 2013 

Slowly, Ohio’s public colleges and universities are raising the expectations bar, spelling out more precisely the minimum preparation they require for incoming students. This week, the college presidents unveiled a uniform set of standards to serve as a measure of the ability of freshmen to handle postsecondary coursework. The step is a critical part of a sharper focus on performance and accountability in higher education. 

If anything has become clear in recent decades, it is that personal and public investments in postsecondary education are crucial to drive economic growth in the state. With estimates that nearly 80 percent of current and future jobs require some level of postsecondary education or training, Ohio is pushing to increase college completion, and enrollment has risen. 

The troubling truth is that many students are not well enough prepared to complete college programs without extensive additional academic help, 41 percent of Ohio freshmen requiring remedial classes before they can tackle coursework for academic credit. Besides the financial expense (in 2010, Ohio spent $146 million on such courses, on top of the cost of secondary education), studies show students who begin with remedial classes generally take longer, and are less likely, to complete their program… 

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