State community college systems and their two-year colleges have spent the 2010s reexamining and redesigning decades-old developmental education tracks to ensure students get what they need--and only what they need--with an eye toward moving them more quickly into college-level courses and, eventually, the degree or certificate they want.…

Guttman Community College (GCC), a newly-established, urban community college, part of the City University of New York (CUNY), enrolls a largely traditional student body which is also predominantly minority. Students enter the college with an average high-school grade-point average of 75% (C average), and are required to enroll in three first-year…

In the past decade, a variety of political and economic issues have contributed to changing the landscape of American higher education. Among these issues is a shortfall of college educated laborers for the workforce, the increasing costs of college attendance, and the subsequent expansion of student debt. State politicians and decision makers…

Students who arrive on campuses unprepared for college-level work find that it costs them potentially extra time and money to complete developmental courses they would not have needed had they arrived fully prepared in all subjects. Institutions of higher education face their own costs and capacity challenges when trying to teach students the…

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…

The college completion agenda, in concert with recent research, has brought scrutiny to the shortcomings of community college remedial programs. Remedial, or developmental, education has come to be seen as a hindrance to student progress and attainment rather than as a support. In this chapter, the authors describe new approaches to help students…

Colleges and postsecondary systems across the nation have demonstrated remarkable progress since "Core Principles for Transforming Remediation" was published in 2012. States and institutions are phasing out stand alone or multi-course remediation sequences, resulting in tens of thousands of students more quickly enrolling in and…

As scholars continue to debate over the specific skills underprepared students need in order to complete their course of study, perhaps the focus should be on how to tap into students' independent thought processes and encourage students to utilize independent thought to contribute to interdependent groups. Placing value on students' independent…

This report, issued by the Connecticut Department of Higher Education, reports on trends in higher education for the year 2011. Six goals are presented, each with at least two indicators. Each indicator is broken down into the following subsections: About This Indicator; Highlights; and In the Future. Most indicators also include statistical…

This paper summarizes themes arising from a symposium on the future of developmental education in the United States. In recent years, public financial support of developmental education has been declining and is projected to decline further. Participants in a symposium on developmental education agreed on some trends that are emerging.…

Describes major program elements of the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP)--a developmental education program at St. Edward's University, Texas, serving a population of migrant and seasonal farmworker families. Outlines steps necessary to receive funding and legislative support for developmental education programs. (DR)

Presents elements of a reading improvement program at Indiana University designed to assist science students. The program uses college-level textbooks, redefines reading as the reception of ideas rather than the calling of words, seeks to increase reading speed, and stresses pragmatic study skills. (DR)

The role of tutoring services in special programs designed to meet the needs of non-traditional community college students was studied through a review of the literature on history of tutoring programs, the development of special programs to meet the remedial, developmental, and compensatory education needs of underprepared students, special…

Discusses attrition rate in community colleges and orientation and admission procedures that contribute to attrition. Describes a developmental studies program at Western Piedmont Community College (WPCC) designed to retain high-risk students through career development efforts as well as remedial education. (DR)

This paper describes support programs and services at the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) designed to provide alternatives for the nontraditional student. All entering students scoring below the 20th percentile on the reading section of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills are advised to enter a program named Project II, a block…