Florida State University researchers spent the last year collecting and analyzing data on corequisite developmental education (DE) models in Texas as part of a four-year study that received a $1.5M grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. This study was proposed in response to Texas House Bill (HB) 2223, which…

This mixed methods study examined the impact of grit and self-efficacy and the factors of these constructs on the performance of at-risk, developmental placement students, surveying 184 first-year students before the midterm point of their first semester. Following the quantitative portion, six upperclassmen, who had started their careers in the…

This study was conducted to better understand the difficulties faced by underprepared college readers, including those enrolled in Developmental Education (DE) programs. The Reading Systems Framework was used as a theoretical motivation. Participants (n = 258) completed a measure of component reading skills (Study Aid and Reading Assessment, word…

Objective/Research Question: How do student- and school-level factors measured in the final year of high school contribute to the odds of a student being assessed to need remediation in Math during the students' first community college enrollment? Methods: The present study draws on five years of linked secondary and post-secondary administrative…

Universities have been forced to confront the increasing placement of students into developmental courses and the subsequent lack of success students encounter. In an effort to better understand how students' attitudes and dispositions towards mathematics impact this trend, we explored the differences in nine characteristics between students in…

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to compare the effects of new developmental statistics-based courses to traditional algebra-based developmental courses. The study used extant data from eight institutions and a matched sample of 2,041 students (Treatment, N = 748; Comparison, N = 1,293). All students enrolled in a treatment or…

The need to improve student success in community colleges has resulted in a growing interest in developmental mathematics. Yet there remains a need to understand the motivations and beliefs of developmental mathematics students in order to cultivate their success. Self-efficacy has been identified to be a predictor of student success. Little is…

In the context of ongoing discussions about student costs of non-credit developmental writing, this study reports on the affordances of Basic Writing as a traditional, stand-alone course at a career-focused, four-year university. Participants were students who took Basic Writing and Composition 1 between Fall 2011 and Spring 2013 (N = 2,693) in…

The problem of poor writing skills at the postsecondary level is a large and troubling one. This study investigated the writing skills of low-skilled adults attending college developmental education courses by determining whether variables from an automated scoring system were predictive of human scores on writing quality rubrics. The human-scored…

This paper discusses the result of a statewide research effort in California to improve the accuracy of student placement in math and English in the California Community College system. We apply decision tree methods to high school and college transcript data to identify key measures of high school achievement that predict success in ten levels of…

This study examines the relationship between specific high school factors and students' enrollment in a developmental course. Since there is a dearth of research linking high school factors and developmental course enrollment, the theoretical constructs (human, cultural, and social factors) for this study were taken from another study of factors…

This study identifies student characteristics that predict participation in Transition Year, an optional developmental year (Grade 10) offered midway through secondary education in Ireland. One thousand eighty five students (51% female; mean age = 15.4 years) completed a questionnaire in Grade 9, providing information on demographic, attitudinal…

This study examines Latina/o students' remedial math needs and outcomes. Data were drawn from a national sample of Latina/o students. Hierarchical generalized linear modeling techniques were used to predict three successful remediation outcomes. Results highlight the importance of providing financial aid and academic support to Latina/o students,…

This study considered whether delivery modality, student GPA, or time since high school affected whether 290 students who had completed a developmental math series as a community college were able to successfully complete college-level math. The data used in the study was comprised of a 4-year period historical student data from Odessa College…

In this investigation, we analyzed student enrollment data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board accountability website for all Texas community colleges from 2000 through 2011. The numbers and percentages of community college students who were developmental education students were calculated and analyzed to determine changes over…