UW Promised to Cut Remedial Math by a Third. Eleven Years Later, It Barely Moved
In 2014, the UW System set a goal to cut the share of new freshmen who need remedial math by one-third, from 21% to 14%. It said Wisconsin needed this to “reach its full economic potential.”i More than a decade later, 17% of new UW freshmen from Wisconsin high schools start college in a math […]
In 2014, the UW System set a goal to cut the share of new freshmen who need remedial math by one-third, from 21% to 14%. It said Wisconsin needed this to “reach its full economic potential.”i More than a decade later, 17% of new UW freshmen from Wisconsin high schools start college in a math class that does not count toward their degree.
Employers see the same gap. In a winter 2026 survey by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, 64% of employers said they have employees who struggle to read or do math.ii The 2025 UW Remedial Course Report shows where that problem starts: in Wisconsin’s K-12 schools.iii In fall 2025, freshmen from Wisconsin’s high schools filled 6,532 seats in remedial math and English courses at UW campuses.
Under Wisconsin law, the Universities of Wisconsin must report each year on how many new freshmen are required to take remedial math and English. The report breaks the numbers down by high school, showing which schools send the most students to college unprepared. Students are placed in remedial courses based on their placement test scores. It is worth noting that three universities (UW-Green Bay, UW-La Crosse, and UW-Parkside) are missing data altogether, so it is possible that the numbers are even higher than reported. Table 1 shows the percentage of fall 2025 new freshmen required to take a remedial course at each UW campus.Table 1.
Percentage of Fall 2025 New Freshmen Required to Take Remedial Courses by UW Campus
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Seventy years of unlearnable mathematics.
2009 (!) University of Wisconsin-Madison Placement Office study of “reform vs traditional math” outcomes came to mind when reading Corrinne Hess’s 7 July 2026 article: “Fewer than half of Wisconsin students are proficient at math“.
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