Stakes for Students: Agenda-Setting and Remedial Education

This paper examines the enactment and early implementation of remedial education policies in Massachusetts and Oklahoma. Remediation reforms are part of a larger group of policies that seek to motivate students by raising the stakes for their academic performance. This study's findings suggest that efforts to end or restrict remediation are driven largely by status attainment concerns--the desire by policy makers and administrators to create "competitive advantage" for certain public higher education institutions.