There also have been many questions about the proper funding level of schools. In all of our big cities, we can find schools with high poverty rates that also have very high levels of academic achievement on standardized tests and other measures. In general, remedial courses at the university level have not proven very successful. Partly that's because universities are not well organized or equipped to offer these programs. Community colleges have had much greater success in helping students with certain academic deficiencies to strengthen their academic performance.
Community colleges tend to focus on instructional methods.
The community college faculty is more accustomed than university faculty to working with students with a wide range of academic achievements and abilities. And, quite frankly, community colleges have been ahead of universities in developing instructional techniques that address the variation in student preparation and student study skills. As a practical matter, universities probably should not offer extensive programs of remedial coursework because we're not that good at it. On the other hand, there are some areas that do lend themselves to accelerated skill development. This is especially true in English writing courses and some levels of math.