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…

In 2015, Bergen Community College (BCC) received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education First in the World Grant Program. The grant entitled Alternatives to Mathematics Education: An Unprecedented Program (AMP-UP), was awarded to conduct a randomized control trial on a corequisite approach to developmental math education. This study was…

Early alert systems have promised to be an integral component of a student success solution. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between the use of the early alert system and persistence for students taking developmental education courses and students taking college-level courses in the Virginia Community College…

Using intrusive advising principles and the four Cs framework, the Strong-Start Program was developed and implemented to improve student outcomes in developmental math, reading, and writing courses. An intrusive advising protocol was used to help students recognize, adopt, and engage in the behaviors needed to complete instructor-assigned…

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…

North Carolina's community colleges redesigned developmental math programs in 2011. The overall effectiveness of the redesign has not yet been evaluated. A concurrent mixed-methods study was conducted at Mid-Atlantic Community College (MACC) for a formative and summative evaluation of the redesigned program. Mezirow's transformative learning…

The Ascender program was created in 2012 by Catch the Next Inc., to address the challenges of increasing community college retention and transfer rates, especially among Latinx students in developmental education. This study looks at the experiences of participants in this program and how it provided validating experiences and fostered their…

This longitudinal study examines community college students' evolving perceptions on the value of developmental education. Through a series of semi-structured interviews, students described what they perceived of the advantages of beginning their college careers in developmental reading and writing classes. These advantages included becoming more…

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…

This two-year case study summarizes the views of students, instructors, and administrators toward a learning community program that served first-year developmental reading students at a public two-year college. One-on-one interviews and focus groups revealed that semester-long learning communities helped students overcome obstacles toward academic…

Research has consistently shown that community college students lack the necessary skills to achieve successful academic performance and are highly likely to drop out of their studies prior to degree attainment. Community colleges have introduced developmental courses to prepare students for their transition into college-level courses.…

Many students who enter community college are deemed underprepared for college-level courses and are referred to developmental (remedial) education courses to build their math, reading, or writing skills. These students often struggle in developmental courses and in college more broadly. To help them, the City University of New York (CUNY)…

Historically, the low degree attainment of Latinx students has been an issue of concern. The Title V Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program was implemented to address this issue. This quantitative study examines the effect of participation in a Title V program's accelerated developmental English and English as a Second Languages paths on…

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.…

California's community colleges are in the midst of numerous reforms to improve developmental (also known as remedial or basic skills) education. Developmental education is supposed to help prepare students for college work, but it has long been an obstacle to student success: most students in developmental courses never go on to complete a…