An earlier version of a report by the same committee claimed that the students in the college concepts course had tested at a 4th-6th grade math level even though the placement test wasn’t testing such concepts. So I’d take the comparison to middle school level with a grain of salt, the characterization could be more rhetorical than actual.
Anyone have any evidence that these kids are unable to get up to speed and successfully graduate? If not why not? Is the theory here that the students can’t succeed in college? Or that they don’t deserve to be accepted?