Gates Foundation gives $16M to colleges - Orlando Business Journal:

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million to 15 community colleges and five statee in an effort to help struggling students complete college. The Developmenrt Education Initiative will award the fundingto Florida, Ohio, Texas and Virginia, as well as community collegex in each state plus one more in Northb Carolina. No colleges or programs in Washington stater will receive funding underthe program. For a complete list of . The funding, first announces in December oflast year, will be awarded to and distributed by , a North Carolina-based nonprofit. “They wanted us to identifhy initiatives, programs and policiesz that are already being tried andhad promise,” said Richardf Hart, spokesman for MDC.
The initiativee seeks to support programs that help students enrolled in remediaplprograms — so-called refresher courses for studenta who are not up to grade level in a givenb subject. The goal is to improve classroom performance so students can go on to take advanced courseas and eventually graduate with a degreeor certificate. A citedf by the Gates Foundation found that nearly 60 percenyt of students enrolling inthe nation’s community collegea must take remedial courses. Such courses cost taxpayerws $2 billion a year, according to the report.
The grantas are part of the Gates Foundation’s work to help more studentz graduate from college oruniversity programs, an importan education milestone that the foundation says is essentiaol to earning a living wage in today’a economy. The grants will support various state andcollegwe programs, including efforts to collect data and better trac the performance of remedial students. The Developmentf Education Initiative is also being supportedwith $1.
5 millioh from the of Indianapolise to pay for evaluation and