Remedial courses have been part of the college landscape in the United States since at least the 1800s when nearly 250,000 students were placed into remedial courses. Traditionally, students who enrolled in remedial courses were placed into that course solely based on one test score. Students who enrolled in traditional remedial courses were more…

In 2015, Tennessee community colleges initiated a wave of national reform that reimagined academic support and accelerated student success. Through innovations in the delivery of targeted learning support, such as the corequisite support model, students are more likely to achieve key milestones of success in their first year of college. Now, after…

Placement exams are high-stakes assessments that determine many students' college trajectories. More than half of entering students at community colleges are placed into developmental education in at least one subject, based primarily on scores from these assessments, yet recent research fails to find evidence that placement into remediation…

Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges (SPECC) is a multi-site action-research project, focused on teaching and learning in pre-collegiate mathematics and English language arts courses at 11 California community colleges. In this report, the author discusses the data gathered over the course of the SPECC project and reflects…

Remediation is the most common approach to preparing students academically and socially during their early stages of college. However, despite its profound importance and its significant costs, there is very little rigorous research analyzing its effectiveness. The goal of this article is to provide a conceptual framework for the evaluation of…

Various aspects of the goals and processes of the evaluation of remedial programs are discussed in this paper. The first section discussses assumptions related to remedial program evaluation in California's community colleges and highlights two perspectives, based on whether the remedial programs satisfy internal and/or external criteria. Next, a…

Remediation is the most common policy designed to prepare students academically and socially during their early stages of college. But despite its profound importance and its significant costs, there is very little rigorous research analyzing its effectiveness. The goal of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for evaluation of remedial…

Makes a distinction between developmental and remedial programs and suggests reasons for the difficulty in evaluating these programs. Identifies basic limitations in educational research, factors found in successful programs, questions to be considered in selecting and formulating the evaluation design, and five useful educational research…

A comparison of the reading skills assessment programs at three community colleges in Virginia and New Jersey is presented as part of an examination of the kinds of placement decisions that are made from assessment test data. Introductory comments focus on the controversy surrounding the growing emphasis on skills assessment in open-door community…

Discusses the goal of assessment in developmental writing classes. Stresses the need for instructors to be aware of the impact of their comments on student progress. Asserts that, in developmental classes, students may lack a number of skills, but the instructor needs to emphasize what students can offer and encourage them to move beyond their…

This study evaluates how various colleges across the country determine the effectiveness of their remedial/developmental programs. The author sectioned the country into 4 quadrants and solicited participation from 80 randomly selected colleges. A total of 50 colleges (63%) responded from over 30 states. Using personal interviews, case studies,…

A description is provided of a pilot study conducted at Butte College to develop and test evaluation procedures for the college's remedial and developmental reading, English, and math programs. Part I of the report includes five sections: (1) a description of the remedial reading, English, and mathematics programs as they existed at Butte College…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the developmental education program of the Eastern Campus of Cuyahoga Community College. An evaluative model was constructed by accepting the performance standards and program guidelines that Roueche and Kirk listed in "Catching Up; Remedial Education" (1973), after their study of five successful…

The process of determining the effectiveness of developmental programs in two-year colleges was the focus of this study. It was limited to New York State, and designed in response to a request for proposals issued by Bureau of Grants Administration, New York State Education Department. The need for systematic review of developmental programs and…

A study was conducted at Walters State Community College (WSCC) using a "base rate" approach to evaluate developmental mathematics and English courses. The study involved the collection of data on students' success rates in developmental courses and later in college-level courses; on developmental students' success rates compared with…