Student Services support, including learning skills assistance, can be integral in empowering learners. First-year students are expected to be self-directed in their learning, yet may have neither been challenged nor experienced negative consequences for a lack of perseverance. Academic skills professionals can be partners with teaching faculty in…

Improving the outcomes of students in developmental or remedial math remains a puzzle in higher education. Concerns with low persistence and completion rates have motivated proponents of reform to reconsider the delivery of developmental math. Lengthening the amount of time in math is thought to be an intervention that improves academic…

In 2006, the National Center for Postsecondary Research, of which is MDRC is a partner, launched a demonstration of one-semester learning community programs at six colleges; five of these programs focused on developmental education. This is the executive summary of the final report from the project and includes findings from analyses that pool…

A department of computer information systems at a community college in the southeastern United States was struggling to retain students, a large number of whom often dropped out within the first and second semester of enrollment. Identifying potential solutions to the retention problem is important to department leaders, faculty, and students…

As open-door institutions of higher learning, community colleges should continue to increase their understanding of the characteristics, needs, and satisfaction of underprepared students. Understanding the satisfaction levels of underprepared students provides a foundation upon which to build support for student success and retention for…

This Capstone project studied a pilot of the web-based homework system "Hawkes" in developmental mathematics classes at a mid-sized community college. The purpose of the study was to investigate how three instructors of developmental mathematics courses incorporated "Hawkes" in their classes, what obstacles they encountered,…

Methods and teaching tools have been researched to determine if they prove to be successful in effectively teaching the underprepared. This study was conducted to compare the differences in the utilization of alternative labeling on study guides to determine if the usage affects the outcome on participant's test scores. A quasi-experimental design…

As highlighted in recent series in "The Lancet" (2007, 2011), children from low and middle income countries are more likely to be adversely affected by early biological and psychosocial experiences that have their origins in environments characterized by poverty, violence, nutritional deficiencies, HIV infections, substance abuse, and…

In order to improve student success within developmental programs, we conducted a study of 1st year students taking required, developmental mathematics courses at a large, urban public university. Findings suggest that merely the number of years of mathematics that students take in high school is not a precise indicator of student readiness and…

With the omnipresence of technology in society came the inevitable integration into education. This manuscript provides results of a statewide survey of developmental mathematics instructors' technology preferences and priorities across all levels of developmental mathematics courses. The study was part of a larger project designed to explore the…

In recent years, with support from the Texas Legislature, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has funded various developmental education initiatives, including research and evaluation efforts, to help Texas public institutions of higher education provide more effective programs and services to underprepared students. Based on evaluation…

In an effort to improve developmental education students' outcomes, community colleges have been experimenting with acceleration strategies. Models of acceleration allow students to complete their developmental requirements in a shorter amount of time. However, there has been limited empirical research on the effects of accelerating students'…

In this article, we examined the extant literature regarding college-readiness in math for students entering community colleges. Included in this review are the following topics: (a) the role of community colleges between secondary and postsecondary institutions; (b) national initiatives for college-readiness standards in math; (c) Texas…

Three community colleges--El Paso Community College, Bunker Hill Community College, and Patrick Henry Community College--incorporated technology into the curriculum to support student progress in mathematics through developmental education. Each college took its own path: El Paso developed a self-accelerated emporium-style computer lab, Patrick…

Despite the overrepresentation of students of color in developmental education, there is a lack of research on programs that promote the success and transfer of these students beginning in developmental education, especially Latinx students. Since 2012, the Dream Catchers program in Texas has targeted the recruitment, retention, and completion of…