On December 8, 2013, New Mexico Higher Education Department (NM
HED) released a statement introducing performance goals and metrics currently
under consideration by the New Mexico Legislature. These goals and metrics, if adopted, will be
used to apportion a certain amount of funding to New Mexico’s public colleges
and universities. Since New Mexico is a member of Complete College America’s
Alliance of States, goals are based on Complete College America “game
changers,” including remediation reform that favors co-requisites and supported
gateway courses like ALP over traditional remedial courses in reading, writing,
and math.
The December
2013 NM HED statement follows the December 12, 2012 call from NM HED for
reports from colleges indicating current and future plans to align
remedial curriculum with Complete College America’s “Core Principles for Transforming Remedial
Education: A Joint Statement.” Principle 2 calls for aligning gateway courses
with a student’s academic program of study; Principle 4 calls for integrating
co-requisite support with gateway classes instead of requiring developmental
courses as pre-requisites. Consequently,
many New Mexico colleges and universities are moving toward co-requisites and
support/companion courses in reading and writing for remedial students. Information from September, 2013 indicates
that eleven of New Mexico’s twenty-four institutions of higher learning were
already offering co-requisites for remedial courses. Since 51.4% of New Mexico public high school
graduates took remedial classes in New Mexico colleges in 2012, NM HED’s
Complete College America initiative, as it will impact funding, is bound to
have increasing influence on how remedial reading and writing courses are
taught.
NM HED is
also calling for a 5% reduction per year to the average number of credit hours
required for degree completion. Also
endorsed is the developmental of “meta-majors,” academic pathways that narrow
to actual degree majors. Gateway courses
will be aligned with curricula in the majors.
Meta majors are being institutionalized at two and four year colleges
nationwide. This movement will have an
impact on when, how, and where in a degree program English and literature
courses are offered.
Complete
College America (2013) endorses “highly structured degree plans” that are
“enabled by technology,” “not individual courses.” The meta-majors show a clear
trend in this direction, and may soon have a strong impact on how English and
literature are taught in New Mexico public colleges and universities.
http://www.completecollege.org/gameChangers.html
http://www.ecs.org/docs/STATEMENTCorePrinciples.pdf