Trevor Aaronson was running errands when he heard about yesterday's bombings at the Boston Marathon. The news coming across the radio caught his attention, maybe more than the rest of us, and he soon found himself forgetting about his dry cleaning and going to Twitter for clues.
Credit Sagette Van Embden / Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Wendy Pedroso did well in math classes -- until her first algebra course. Twice as many students at Florida colleges took a remedial math course than took a remedial writing or reading course.
Wendy Pedroso has never liked math, but for most of elementary school and middle school she got B’s in the subject. It wasn’t until ninth grade at Miami Southwest Senior High School, when Pedroso took algebra, that she hit a wall. In particular, she struggled with understanding fractions.
“I kept getting stuck in the same place,” Pedroso, 20, recalled recently. She failed the class, and worried that she’d never get to go to college. Pedroso sought help from tutors, took algebra again over the summer and passed. She went on to graduate from high school in 2011.
English teacher Vallet Tucker teaches 10th grade honors students. She says she's not surprised that more than half the students who took Florida's college placement exam in the 2010-2011 school year failed at least one subject.
Shakira Lockett was a pretty good student in elementary, middle and high school. The Miami-Dade County native says she typically earned As and Bs in English classes.
Math was always something of a struggle for Lockett. Still, she got through her high school exit exam with a passing grade and went on to graduate from Coral Gables Senior High School in 2008.
She went straight to Miami Dade College. Then, something unexpected happened: She flunked the college placement exams in all three subjects – reading, writing and math.
Credit Sagette Van Embden / Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Shakira Lockett says in high school she typically earned As and Bs in her English classes. But at Miami Dade College, she had to take remedial courses in math, reading and writing.
The series on remedial education exposed what some in the public school system at the secondary and college level already knew: that many students are graduating from high school unprepared for college.
Remedial courses cost students and schools money. And the need for remedial courses makes it less likely students complete their studies -- and likely boost their earnings.
