Developmental mathematics is often a barrier to student progress and success in college. As a result and for this reason, this research study describes the redesign of a developmental mathematics course at a U.S. East Coast university to decrease the amount of time it takes for students to complete their developmental requirement and increase the…

What matters most when it comes to increasing achievement and student success in the developmental classroom? Recent reform efforts in developmental education have brought sweeping changes in some states. New curricular pathways, redesigned courses, and a handful of new instructional delivery methodologies have been the result. Although these are…

Learning Expectations and Academic Preparation (LEAP) was a two-year pilot offering a cohort (20 students) of our lowest scoring English and mathematics developmental students an intensive cross-disciplinary semester to accelerate through their developmental courses. Blending learning community and summer bridge best practices, LEAP incorporated…

Community colleges have been challenged to increase their graduation, transfer, and general success rates. Because they serve the largest proportion of nontraditional students and students of color, their participation in programs to enhance the number of college graduates contributes to social equity and justice. One of the biggest obstacles has…

The corequisite model is a promising developmental education reform effort that is helping students transition into college-level coursework more quickly. The purpose of this Brief is to offer recommendations to college leaders, faculty, and staff involved with implementing the corequisite model at their institution. Our recommendations are from a…

The problem investigated in this study was the low completion rates of students in mandated developmental education courses at a local community college in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine factors that may contribute to the persistence of community college students who have completed mandated…

With the increasing adoption of accelerated models of learning comes the necessary step of adapting these models to fit the unique needs of the student population at each individual institution. One such college adapted the ALP (Accelerated Learning Program) model and made specific changes to the target population, structure and scheduling, and…

Objective: We investigate whether performance funding--an increasingly prevalent state policy that allocates appropriations based on outcomes that prioritize retention and completion--places minority-serving institutions (MSIs) at a financial disadvantage due to these institutions serving a greater proportion of historically underrepresented…

Tutoring is an important form of academic support for developmental education students. A comparison study was conducted to investigate the benefits of tutoring on the final grades for developmental English students who participated in tutoring versus those students who did not. The final grades for three consecutive semesters were analyzed to…

A large number of community college students are developmental students. One of the most important challenges for community colleges today is to create programs that effectively educate community college developmental students. This study examines the effect of learning assistance centers on the success and persistence of students at a Southern…

Developmental education programs and services have long provided underprepared and unprepared postsecondary students with the academic tools and life-management skills necessary to successfully complete collegelevel coursework. Legislation and policy changes, including implementing statewide minimum admissions requirements and restricting…

This chapter describes a promising new approach to teaching developmental arithmetic and prealgebra, and presents research findings that demonstrate how a faculty support network helped instructors adopt new teaching strategies and gain confidence in teaching the reformed course.

Across the U.S., an estimated 60% of incoming community college students require developmental courses to be ready for college-level work, according to estimates by experts. As these courses act as a gateway to further studies, those who fail are most often lost to higher education: Less than a quarter will earn a degree or certificate within…

Due to poor student success rates in developmental mathematics, many institutions have implemented various forms of redesign into their developmental math curricula. Since the goal of redesign is to increase student success, it is salient to explore all aspects of the redesign process. Many studies have focused on the positive outcomes of redesign…

Teachers of developmental education are familiar with non-traditional students who are balancing innumerate stressors in their lives, in addition to the overwhelming stress of college. Stress relief methods like yoga and meditation are essential life management tools in helping new college students succeed, not only in their education but also in…