The Impact of Math and Science Remedial Education on Engineering Major Choice, Degree Attainment, and Time to Degree

Despite limited and mixed evidence regarding its efficacy, the use of postsecondary remedial education is widespread. Remedial education is often provided as an intervention that could potentially promote the success of students with lower academic preparation. In this study, we examine the impact of remedial education on students' engineering pathways and influence on graduation probability. In particular, engineering programs may offer remedial courses to students who may not have had opportunities to take more advanced mathematics and science courses during high school. Our data come from a selective engineering program at a top Midwestern university that requires first-year engineering to complete remedial classes in chemistry, math, and physics if their high school background did not provide them with the preparation to begin the traditional engineering course sequence. Although this is a singleinstitution study, this setting allows us to examine the impact of remedial courses on students at a four-year institution. This focus extends the literature on remedial education, which tends to focus on two-year colleges and less-selective four-year settings.