In May 2013, the governor of Florida signed into law Senate Bill 1720, which fundamentally changed how institutions of higher education manage remedial programs. Institutions seemed to be responding to the high demand for education by channeling large percentages of incoming first-year students to remedial classes based on assessment test scores,…

Poor completion outcomes in community colleges' developmental education programs have spurred reforms in developmental education policies and practices in order to increase students' chances of success. In the case of developmental math, the focus of this article, such changes include revisions to testing and placement policies, amendments to the…

The effectiveness of the Mathematical Skills Foundation Programme at Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada), a program that evaluates the mathematical knowledge of each student to individualize instruction, was studied with data from 304 students. Results suggest that the remedial program did not have a positive measurable effect on students…

Describes the results of a study that tracked college algebra students who had previously completed an Academic Assistance mathematics course that facilitated collaborative learning. Only 53% of all students who enrolled in college algebra in fall 1994 earned grades of C or higher, but 95% of students who had previously participated in the…

In 1995, Prince George's Community College made at-risk student retention an institutional priority. Studies conducted that year found that 70% of new students tested for placement needed remediation in at least one area, and that the pass rate in developmental mathematics was approximately 50%. A two-part intervention program was initiated to…