This paper analyzes how weekly study plans can increase student achievement in developmental mathematics courses at a four-year public institution of higher education. Quantitative data were collected regarding student completion of weekly study plans through an experimental methodology. Results show that students in the experimental group earned…

The low success rate of developmental (or remedial) mathematics courses has been a great concern at the higher education level. In this research, student success is considered in terms of final grade, D/F percentage, and withdrawal percentage. The study examines student success at a Midwestern university as it relates to instructional delivery…

In the Emporium Model (EM), students work toward mastery thresholds using commercial instructional software in a computer lab staffed with instructors. This qualitative case study uses classroom observations and interviews to describe instruction and student behavior in EM classrooms for developmental mathematics at one college in the Virginia…

Drop-in peer tutoring is the most popular model on college campuses, but a high student-tutor ratio suggests that students will spend the majority of their lab time working without the aid of a tutor. This study observed students in a drop-in tutoring center serving developmental math students and explored what they do in that independent time.…

As noted in the literature, students struggle to learn developmental mathematics. A positive experience with developmental mathematics has been shown to increase students' confidence in learning mathematics (Duranczyk, 2008). Additionally, students who have a successful developmental experience are more likely to experience success in subsequent…

The acceleration of developmental mathematics instruction is a current trend in the field of developmental education. This report on a survey of practitioners reveals the challenges in teaching accelerated models of developmental mathematics courses and garners recommendations for improving the practice. Responses were elicited from faculty…

Failures of developmental mathematics education are no secret. As a response to improve the success of students enrolled in these courses, different redesign efforts have been implemented across the country. This study reports on one redesign effort that began in Fall 2012. The new design consisted of mastery learning in computer-based…

This study examined whether a correlation was present between demographic variables and academic success at a two-year institution in Alabama. Developmental status, gender, and race were compared with pass/fail status in the first college-level math class and graduation status. Results indicated that the developmental math classes were effective…

The purpose of this project was two-fold. First, it would provide an opportunity for students to complete the developmental math course sequence more quickly, thereby enabling students to proceed to a college-level mathematics course sooner. To accomplish this, the classroom was designed with computer-assisted homework courses that blended…

Many students must take remedial or developmental mathematics coursework to gain skills and knowledge necessary to satisfy college-level quantitative literacy requirements; however, large numbers of those students struggle to complete such coursework and are consequently unable to graduate. This issue implies the need to reform developmental…

Nationally, developmental mathematics courses have some of the highest failure and withdrawal rates of postsecondary courses. A wide range of factors may be contributing to students' struggles in these courses. In order to help identify these factors, we asked students enrolled in developmental mathematics to identify factors interfering with…

Community colleges are facing increased pressure to accelerate students through their developmental mathematics sequence. However, many individuals feel that some state legislatures and college leaders are frequently bypassing developmental math faculty expertise when implementing acceleration and compression initiatives. This qualitative study…

After many years of extremely low success rates, a radical new design of the first semester arithmetic remedial course was implemented and studied. Students at a large urban community college could take a traditional semester-long traditional lecture-based remedial arithmetic course or a new accelerated 4-week 20-hour problem-solving based…

This is the second iteration of the Developmental Education Radar Screen project. As with the first iteration, in 2011, the author uses a "radar screen" metaphor to discuss trends in developmental education based on responses to a series of topics and categories provided by a group of leaders in the educational field. The purpose of this…

Researchers investigated the use of two mentoring programs for students who were part of a support component of Fundamentals of Conceptual Understanding and Success (FOCUS), a comprehensive intervention grant for students enrolled in developmental mathematics coursework at a large public Texas university. The technology-based mentoring program,…