Chicago city colleges considering tougher admission standards, overhauling "open-door" policy, chancellor Gery Chico says
Chicago Sun-Times
August 8, 2010
Leaders at the City Colleges of Chicago are considering overhauling the education system's "open-door" admissions policy, including possibly rejecting high school graduates who don't meet minimum standards to do college work.
Those students, City Colleges' new chancellor and new board chairman say, might be better served through programs run by so-called alternative high schools rather than through "remediation" courses at City College campuses.
"There are too many people coming from schools unprepared in the rigors of math, reading and writing to succeed at the college level," said Chicago attorney Gery Chico, whom Mayor Daley tapped in March to head the City Colleges board.
City Colleges is spending about $30 million a year on "basic remediation" classes, Chico told the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board Thursday. It's an expense that takes away from preparing other students to move on to four-year schools or learn skills that will help them get good jobs. "It's a re-do, if you will," Chico said. "And it's not what we want to be in the business of doing."
