This paper presents a framework for educators, administrators, and researchers to assess distinct facets of developmental education programs. The researchers review the literature on best practices in developmental education with regards to program cost, program structure, and student placement procedures. This paper also identifies seven model…

In education, practitioners are increasingly looking for strategies to bring data and evidence into decisionmaking and to roll out programs in intentional ways that allow for ongoing improvement. This toolkit acts as a guide to improvement strategies for teams of practitioners at colleges, providing them with the knowledge and tools they need to…

Many recent high school graduates who enter community college are required to take remedial or developmental education courses before enrolling in college-level courses. Developmental courses essentially reteach high school- and junior high school-level content in reading, writing, and math. In some cases, students are referred to two or even…

Using a novel design approach, a randomized experiment (RE) was embedded within a regression discontinuity (RD) design (R-RE-D) to evaluate the impact of developmental mathematics at a large midwestern college ("n" = 2,122). Within a region of uncertainty near the cut-score, estimates of benefit from a prospective RE were closely…

In March, 2016, the state of New Mexico established a Remediation Task Force to examine remediation reform efforts across the state's higher education institutions. On March 11, the Task Force met for the "New Mexico Corequisite Remediation at Scale Policy Institute" in order to learn about the results of the latest national reform…

The researcher for this evaluative study investigated the efficacy and impact of the iStartSmart college success course by examining the first-term retention, fall-to-fall persistence, and three-year completion rates of community college students who enrolled in the one- or three-credit course at a community college in Arizona and the rates of…

Following Messick's definition of validity as a multi-faceted construct that includes contextual, substantive, structural, generalizable, external, and consequential dimensions, this study examined an established directed self-placement (DSP) system that had been functioning for ten years at a large university. The goal was to determine the extent…

Kirkwood Community College, with an enrollment of 4,200 full-time students, received Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) funds to address the problems of (1) the lock step nature of most of its occupational programs, (2) an attrition rate of approximately 15%, (3) once-a-year placement of graduates, (4) employer and…

Debates about developmental instruction have prompted postsecondary institutions to justify their developmental courses. This study investigated a method of documenting the benefits of developmental courses that involves using placement test scores to predict college outcomes separately for students who take a developmental course before taking…

The Developmental Program of the Chesapeake Public School Division (Virginia) is designed to provide a year between kindergarten and first grade for the academically able student who is not ready for the structure of the regular first grade because of physical, emotional, or social (developmental) immaturity. It is an all-day, full-year program…

New Mexico's career education development, testing, and demonstration project operated in the Taos Municipal School District had as its objectives to: (1) develop and implement an elementary school program to increase career awareness, (2) improve guidance and counseling services at all grade levels with special emphasis on career orientation and…

The document contains three reports--annual, interim, and evaluation--on a project to organize resources for the planning and implementation of long range improvements in a comprehensive career education program. The report of the placement component describes activities which include an exiting placement program, career counseling, and the…

An evaluation of the developmental first grade, or pre-first grade, program of the Irving Independent School District (Texas) was conducted through four studies. Students are placed in the pre-first grade as a transition between kindergarten and first grade, typically on the basis of some assessment of maturity. The first study examined the…

The success of the Developmental Skills Program offered at Los Angeles Southwest College, a 96% black institution, is indicated by an average student grade equivalent gain of 2.3 years in one semester; a 5 year average accelerated academic growth rate that is 5.9 times the rate of academic growth black inner-city students have experienced in the…

Covering the period of June 1973 to June 1976, this final report describes objectives, activities, results, and accomplishments to date of a career education project serving nearly 10,000 K-12 students in five school districts in Southeastern Idaho. Accomplishments listed for continued implementation in the third operational year include these: An…