It costs the state's community college system about $12 million a year to give remedial training in math and English to its incoming freshmen, according to a study by the legislature's watchdog agency.
About 56 percent of the freshmen require remedial instruction — about the same percentage as in other states, Aris Bearse an analyst with the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, said Monday.
The General Assembly 10 years ago placed the responsibility of remedial training on the 23 community colleges.
JLARC said only two four-year colleges, the University of Virginia at Wise and Virginia Commonwealth University, offer remedial instruction — the latter mostly for foreign students taking English as a second language.
Bearse also said that while the number of students graduating from high school and going to colleges in Virginia has increased greatly, the college completion rate is not much better than it was in the 1924-1933 period. The completion rate today is about 56 percent. It was 50 percent in the 1924-33 period. It peaked at 59 percent in the 1954-63 decade, Bearse said.
"When I graduated from high school, everyone could read and write and do math," said Del. Johnny S. Joannou, D-Portsmouth, who graduated from Portsmouth's Woodrow Wilson High School in 1958 and went on to become a lawyer.
But a teacher on the panel, Del. M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, said socio-economic factors, including single-parent households and classroom discipline, are holding back some students.
"We can't be simplistic about it — it is hard," he said.
Another teacher, Del. Robert D. Orrock Sr., R-Caroline, agreed.
Bearse cited a Virginia Employment Commission report that said 64 percent of all jobs in Virginia will require postsecondary education or training. In addition, 24 of the 30 fast-growing occupations require a vocational certificate or academic degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A 2010 General Assembly resolution directed JLARC to study the role of the Secretary of Education in improving coordination between K-12, community colleges and four-year colleges and universities.
Bearse said the three entities do a generally good job of coordinating their activities but that there is room for improvement.
"No single entity is accountable for the education system as a whole," Bearse concluded. "Coordination is currently dependent on the willingness of staff in the agencies."
He noted that then-Gov. Mark R. Warner set up an education coordinating council by executive order in 2005, but it stopped meeting in 2009 and expired on July 1 of this year.
The report, which was adopted by the General Assembly commission, said the Assembly should re-establish the council, to be chaired by the Secretary of Education.
It recommended that the Secretary of Education issue a report every two years on the status of coordinating efforts. The report should include "measurable objectives and qualitative indicators of success," JLARC concluded.
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