Jobs for the Future (JFF) is leading an effort to explore how competency-based education (CBE) can be adapted to meet the needs of underprepared adult learners, in order to help members of this large and economically vulnerable group earn college credentials and advance in the U.S. workforce. With support from the ECMC Foundation, JFF is reaching…

Competency-based education (CBE) is widely viewed as an innovative alternative to traditional higher education, yet most programs serve only a narrow slice of the postsecondary population. Few are intended for adults who need to boost basic skills in order to succeed in college coursework. However, if designed with the needs of a broader range of…

Competency-based education (CBE) is widely viewed as an innovative alternative to traditional higher education, yet most programs serve only a narrow slice of the postsecondary population. Few are intended for adults who need to boost basic skills in order to succeed in college coursework. However, if designed with the needs of a broader range of…

More and more young people are enrolling in postsecondary education, particularly in community colleges, with the goal of preparing for jobs that provide access to middle-class wages. Unfortunately, too few students succeed. There are many reasons for this, but one of the biggest is the large number of students who lack the academic skills to do…

For years, colleges have used placement exams to determine whether to deem incoming students "college ready" or assign them to developmental education. Emerging information reveals the tests have little correlation to students' future success, casting doubt on their use even as the high stakes for students of taking remedial courses become clear.…

As a result of new research and promising practice, we have more clarity than ever about how we can fundamentally transform our developmental education system to improve success for all students. To propel the movement forward, this statement offers a set of clear and actionable principles that, although not the final word on remedial education…

For years, colleges have used placement exams to determine whether to deem incoming students "college ready" or assign them to developmental education. But emerging information reveals the tests have little correlation to students' future success, casting doubt on their use even as the high stakes for students of taking remedial courses…

LifeLink is an innovative college bridge and retention program, developed and run by Good Shepherd Services, a nonprofit community agency providing youth development, education, and family services. Good Shepherd Services partners with the New York City Department of Education to help students who have struggled in school, or who have dropped out…

From Washington to Connecticut, Arkansas to Indiana, state policymakers and community college leaders are focused on building completion pathways to ensure that more students succeed in postsecondary education and make smooth transitions to careers. Financial aid is both an effective and a necessary policy lever to promote this goal. Not only do…

Building on their work through Achieving the Dream, six states and 15 community colleges joined the Developmental Education Initiative (DEI) in 2009 to take on one of higher education's most daunting challenges: improving the success of students who enter community college academically underprepared. The states and Jobs for the Future, which…

Less than 25 percent of college students who take any developmental education courses earn a credential within eight years. Over the past three years, the six states in the Developmental Education Initiative have developed and enacted unprecedented changes in policy and practice in an effort to reverse these dismal outcomes. "Ahead of the…

In 2010, Jobs for the Future (JFF) contracted BTW "informing change" (BTW) to conduct a study on developmental education (DevEd) practices and policies in the state of Florida. This study was undertaken with two purposes. First, JFF wanted to see what common threads could be identified among the strategies and approaches of community…

Across the nation, early college schools are creating a path to college success for young people underrepresented in higher education. For a decade, these innovative public schools blending high school and college have proven that, with the right support, all high school students can tackle college work. Now, a Texas school district near the…

For over 17 years, Boston Day and Evening Academy has served a population of young people often left behind: those who are off track to high school graduation or who have dropped out altogether. Through its competency-based approach, BDEA has tackled one of the toughest education conundrums of our time: how to recover low-skilled students two or…

"As educators, we have to make the commitment to a very simple proposition: if we admit students to college, we should do everything possible to make sure they succeed. These remarks are not an indictment but a rallying call. We can do much better." With these words, Dr. Raymund Paredes, Texas commissioner of higher education, opened the…