Mandatory FAFSA has shown the ability to improve minority and low-income student registration in college. | Morguefile
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) approved an amendment to the Texas Success Initiative (TSI), a program meant to gauge college readiness and support students who need help completing college courses, at a board meeting earlier this month.
The amendment was made to the Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Part 1, Chapter 4, Sub-chapter C, §§4.56, 4.57, and 4.62. The update was made to an assessment tool, first developed in 2013, that determines college readiness; R. Jerel Brooker, assistant commissioner for college readiness and success, said in an Oct. 23 article from the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) that the amendment makes the tool "better aligned with current academic benchmarks," and was developed with help of Texas faculty input.
Brooker stated that the metrics of the assessment "will continue to be used to determine college readiness but that this tool will be useful in identifying students who are on or near the readiness line."
THECB also made a rule change that will now require all developmental education students to take co-requisites starting in the Fall 2021 semester. Traditionally, those students would take non-credit developmental courses and not for-credit co-requisite courses.
"The board approved this change despite concerns that the rule may create barriers for non-traditional students seeking higher education," said Texas AFT in the article. "Many researchers and educators in higher education, including the Community College Research Center (CCRC), have spoken out to say that the co-requisite model has not been studied thoroughly enough to justify its increased level of implementation. Given that not every student enters college with the same needs or resources, a one-size-fits-all co-requisite requirement is not sensitive to the circumstances of individual students and may have the unintended consequence of limiting access or alienating certain student populations."
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