The problem addressed in this study was that many students in DE have a decrease in academic success and, as a result, never make it to college-level courses nor complete a program and earn a degree, leading to a decrease in academic success. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to provide insight on historically black colleges…

We examine the impact of remedial and developmental courses on college students with varying levels of academic preparedness, thus focusing on a wider range of students than previous studies. Using a regression discontinuity design, we provide causal estimates of the effects of placement in different levels of remedial courses on short-,…

Historically, college students needing additional academic preparation have been assigned to developmental/remedial courses. In 2013 Florida took a drastic departure from this model by passing Senate Bill 1720, which prohibited institutions from requiring placement tests and made developmental education optional for many students, regardless of…

Objective: In 2014, Florida implemented Senate Bill 1720 (SB 1720), which drastically reshaped developmental education practices across the 28 public state colleges. Under the reform, around two-thirds of students became exempt from developmental education. Yet, many students were still required to take the placement test. If they scored below…

Colleges throughout the United States are evaluating the effectiveness of the strategies used to decide whether to place students into college-level or developmental education courses. Developmental, or remedial, courses are designed to develop the reading, writing, or math skills of students deemed underprepared for college-level courses, a…

This report is focused on both introducing corequisite support to institutional leaders looking for new approaches to addressing remediation and offering new insights that can deepen practice for those who are already at work implementing the model. Following previous reports on the corequisite model, "No Room for Doubt" outlines a…

Postsecondary institutions and systems across the nation have demonstrated remarkable progress since the first "Core Principles for Transforming Remediation Within a Comprehensive Student Success Strategy" was published in 2015 (see ED561279). Building on this progress, the Summary Details Education Commission of the States (ECS) has…

Two-year colleges enroll many students every year that are not prepared for college level work. The purpose of this study was to determine what factors contribute to students needing to take remediation as well as what factors lead to successfully exiting developmental education. This study looked at students who began postsecondary education in…

Developmental education is integral to higher education in the United States. In academic year (AY) 2011-12, about one-third of all first-year undergraduates and 40 percent of first-year community college students were enrolled in at least one developmental course (NPSAS:12). Generally, students who fail to achieve adequate scores on placement…

In an effort to improve developmental education students' outcomes, community colleges have been experimenting with acceleration strategies. Models of acceleration allow students to complete their developmental requirements in a shorter amount of time. However, there has been limited empirical research on the effects of accelerating students'…

Only 25% to 38% of secondary education graduates in the United States are proficient readers or writers but many continue to postsecondary education, where they take developmental education courses designed to help them improve their basic academic skills. However, outcomes are poor for this population, and one problem may be that approaches to…

Developmental education sits at the nexus of all things educational, yet developmental education research seems asleep, unaware of the valuable and critical perspectives the field can provide. In that light, this article addresses the developmental education identity crisis addressed by Arendale (2005) in "Terms of Endearment,"…

Christine McPhail formerly served as president at Cypress College in California and is founder and professor emeritus of the Community College Leadership Doctoral Program at Morgan State University in Maryland. She is the Managing Partner for The McPhail Group LLC and currently serves as a Leadership Coach for more than a dozen community colleges…

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…

Developmental education, also termed remedial education, refers to curricula intended to improve the academic skills and knowledge of students who are underprepared for undergraduate coursework, particularly in the areas of mathematics, reading, and writing. Many practitioners and researchers agree that developmental education should be improved,…