Faced with many applicants with very low math skills, community colleges are responding with a variety of reforms, including restricting developmental courses to students with high-school-level skills. This brief provides context for the policy changes and describes the alternatives two colleges offer to those who don't make the cut. [This brief…

A difficult issue for tutoring programs is low participation, especially at commuter campuses. At the University of Houston-Downtown, this problem seems particularly acute for developmental education (DE) courses. This paper describes the Supplemental Instruction (SI) program at the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) with focus on the role of…

Texas is taking a multipronged approach to improving developmental education delivery and increasing student success rates by aggressively pursuing programmatic, research, and instructional strategies that will boost college completion and help reach labor market goals. Texas higher education has committed itself to providing improved and more…

This study examines whether community college developmental summer bridge programs (DSBPs) can help students acquire the academic and college knowledge needed to attend and succeed at a four-year higher education institution. In-depth interviews with 14 participants at nine four-year institutions in Texas were conducted two years after their…

Large numbers of students entering community colleges are deemed not academically prepared for college-level math. These students have historically been assigned to one or more non-credit-bearing courses for remedial, often called developmental, math instruction before they can take college-level courses. Research has found that most students…

Following up on a previous impact and cost study of the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) model, which used an individual-level randomized controlled trial, this study assesses the costs and cost-effectiveness of the program on longer-term college progress and college attainment. The version of DCMP included in this study diversified the…

Developmental summer bridge programs are designed to reduce the need for developmental education in college by providing students with accelerated instruction in areas where additional knowledge and skills are needed to help them succeed in higher education. The WWC identified one study of developmental summer bridge programs that meets WWC…

This paper outlines the results of a pilot study conducted to determine the impact on grade outcomes and self-efficacy from the incorporation of preparation-homework (pre-hw) in a developmental mathematics classroom. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. This study found that those students who reported doing pre-hw significantly…

This project examined the effects of a state-wide curricular shift in developmental education course offerings on student success in college-level courses at public community colleges in Texas. Specifically, it evaluated the efficacy of accelerated developmental integrated reading and writing (INRW) courses compared to non-accelerated, separate…

Though developmental education has long been part of American post-secondary education, reliable evidence of its benefits, especially for ethnic minorities in reading, is lacking (Swail, Cabrera, Lee, & Williams, 2005). Developmental education has costs, however, in added tuition, time-to-completion, and discouragement (Bailey, 2009). Since…

Analyses of literacy and numeracy levels worldwide by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development suggest that the U.S. population has one of the lowest numeracy levels among developed nations. Sixty-four percent of American adults are unable to use math and interpret math problems that most higher-level jobs require, and a full 30…

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of student success in developmental mathematics classes because of their instructional delivery mode at a North Texas suburban community college. The developmental mathematics courses for this study will include Beginning Algebra, Pre-Algebra and Intermediate Algebra. Classes will be offered…

Community colleges continue to increase their efforts to better serve students who enter their institutions with limited basic math, reading, or writing skills. In 2015, MDRC partnered with the Texas Coordinating Higher Education Board on a study to examine how colleges implemented state guidelines for students scoring below ninth-grade…

Community colleges are a large sector of postsecondary education. In 2016-2017, the United States had nearly 1,000 public 2-year postsecondary institutions (community colleges), serving almost nine million students, representing 39% of all undergraduates. The majority of entering community college students require developmental (or remedial) math.…

Colleges attempt to identify students who are underprepared for college-level courses and then place them into developmental courses intended to help them succeed. These courses are usually offered on a non-credit basis and do not count toward graduation. As a result, students enrolled in developmental education can take longer to graduate than…