This chapter explores the characteristics and features of remedial education at community colleges, examines participation in these courses, and reviews findings on the effects of remediation on student decisions and outcomes. NEW DIRECTIONS FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES, no. 129, Spring 2005 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 17 2 Remediation at the Community College: Student Participation and Outcomes Eric P. Bettinger, Bridget Terry Long Community colleges play an important role in remediation; over 40 percent of first-year students at public two-year colleges take remedial courses (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). Furthermore, recent developments suggest that many states are moving toward concentrating all remediation in their community college systems. For example, in 1999 the City University of New York (CUNY) passed a resolution to phase out most remedial educa- tion at the system’s four-year institutions and move it to the community col- leges. Likewise, California encourages students to complete their remediation at a two-year college before entering the four-year system. Several other states, including Arizona, Florida, Montana, South Carolina, and Virginia, prohibit public four-year universities from offering remedial education. Despite the growing numbers of underprepared students who enroll in remedial courses at community colleges each year, little is known about the causal effects of remediation on student outcomes. Most of the studies on the topic are descriptive and provide only simple comparisons between remediated and nonremediated students. For example, a 1996 national study suggests that freshmen enrolled in remedial classes are less likely to The authors thank the members of the Ohio Board of Regents for their support during this research project. Rod Chu, Darrell Glenn, Robert Sheehan, and Andy Lechler pro- vided invaluable help with the data. In addition, the Lumina Foundation provided cru- cial funding to aid in this research. Erin Riley, Cathy Wegmann, and Karen Singer Smith provided excellent research assistance.