Search

Corequisite remediation involves placing students who have been designated as underprepared directly into college-level courses with concurrent supports--such as in-class tutoring, online learning labs, or a supplemental class--rather than making them take non-credit-bearing developmental courses first. Despite the growing number of studies on corequisite remediation, there are still questions about which practices can address the needs of and advance equity for diverse groups of students, particularly students who struggle with basic math or English skills. CAPR researchers partnered with the Charles A. Dana Center to study and offer formative feedback about the implementation of corequisite course models at four colleges participating in the Corequisite Research Design Collaborative, the Dana Center's initiative for implementing equity-minded, holistic corequisite course models. CAPR researchers partnered with the Charles A. Dana Center to study and offer formative feedback about the implementation of corequisite course models at four colleges participating in the Corequisite Research Design Collaborative, the Dana Center's initiative for implementing equity-minded, holistic corequisite course models. This research brief and the supplement highlight the findings on the design and implementation of corequisite courses at the four colleges, as well as findings from a survey administered to students who were enrolled in these courses in fall 2021 and spring 2022. The researchers found that the implementation of corequisite support courses helped students understand course content and increased their engagement with their coursework. In general, students appeared more comfortable engaging in support courses than in the paired college-level courses. This suggests that support courses can play an important role in improving student engagement by providing an additional space for students to interact with the course content, their peers, and faculty. [This report was written with Ellen Wasserman. For the supplement, see ED631329.]

Corequisite remediation involves placing students who have been designated as underprepared directly into college-level courses with concurrent supports--such as in-class tutoring, online learning labs, or a supplemental class--rather than making them take non-credit-bearing developmental courses first. There are multiple corequisite course models; the Corequisite Research Design Collaborative (CRDC) colleges used a support corequisite model and an embedded corequisite model. The support corequisite model involved enrolling corequisite students in a college-level math or English course that also included students who placed out of developmental education; the corequisite students were also enrolled in a separate, supplementary support course that was offered before, after, or on different days than the college-level course. Students conceptualized these as two courses paired together. The support courses had smaller class sizes and they provided students additional time to become familiar with the content taught in their paired college-level courses. The embedded corequisite model involved enrolling the same group of students (or a cohort) in a college-level course and a developmental course that were taught back to back; this combination of courses is referred to as an "embedded course" in this supplement. Students conceptualized these back-to-back courses as a single course. During the fall 2021 and spring 2022 semesters, a student survey was distributed to every CRDC college except Houston Community College, which is located in Texas.2 The other three CRDC colleges--Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC), St. Cloud Technical and Community College (SCTCC), and St. Cloud State University (SCSU)--are located in Minnesota. The survey was intended to evaluate students' experiences in their corequisite courses. [This report was written with Ellen Wasserman. For the full report, see ED631328.]

Over the past decade, policymakers, educators, and administrators in community colleges and other broad-access postsecondary institutions have focused on reforming developmental education practices, including how students are assessed as needing additional academic support. Concurrent with widespread changes in practice, researchers have engaged in efforts to study and evaluate interventions that colleges have undertaken to improve outcomes of students traditionally referred to developmental education. In this report, the authors review both impact and implementation studies published between 2010 and 2022 in order to summarize the current understanding of how innovations to developmental education can improve student outcomes. Relying primarily on 17 experimental and quasi-experimental studies of innovative developmental education interventions that meet rigorous research standards, they outline five principles with embedded implementation lessons that are key for colleges that want to engage in developmental education reform. The authors also consider how well developmental education reforms are working for students traditionally underserved in higher education, including students who are Black, Latinx, and from low-income backgrounds, and students with greater academic needs. The five principles are as follows: (1) Grant students access to college-level math and English courses; (2) Provide targeted and tiered supports to address students' academic and nonacademic needs; (3) Employ contextualized curriculum and student-centered pedagogy; (4) Use equity-minded approaches for design and implementation; and (5) Implement developmental education reforms alongside comprehensive, sustained supports to improve long-term outcomes. The authors also use this review to identify areas in which stronger evidence is needed for guiding reform efforts. They argue that future research should aim to uncover specific policies and practices in institutions and classrooms that serve as barriers to racially minoritized students, and they note that more knowledge is required on how to support students with greater academic and nonacademic needs. They also discuss the costs of various reforms and note that more cost-effectiveness research is needed on interventions and strategies such as corequisite support courses and granting students direct access to college-level courses without support. To supplement the findings and recommendations, CAPR invited four individuals knowledgeable about developmental education to respond to the report based on their own experiences and perspectives. These take the form of short essays found in the companion document "Four Responses to the Report." [For "Four Responses to CAPR's "Five Principles for Reforming Developmental Education: A Review of the Evidence," see ED625165.]

Test-only placement systems are associated with inaccurate placement determinations that can perpetuate college achievement gaps by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES). In response to the pitfalls of traditional, test-only placement systems, colleges across the country are increasingly experimenting with and adopting alternative placement strategies that reduce the number of students assigned to prerequisite developmental education and increase access to college-level courses. These reforms benefit underserved students but by themselves are not enough to eradicate long-standing disparities by race/ethnicity and SES in outcomes such as introductory college-level (or gateway) course completion and credential attainment. For placement reform to be both effective and equitable, it is best coupled with additional related reforms, including improvements to curriculum, instruction, and student supports. Aimed at practitioners, this brief provides guidance to institutions seeking to design and implement placement systems that redress limitations of test-only systems and that work in conjunction with other reforms to generate more equitable outcomes. It draws on research literature as well as examples from the field to highlight promising strategies for addressing barriers to equitable access to and success in college-level courses, including barriers that may persist after broad placement reform has been implemented.

In response to research raising concerns about developmental placement, new placement systems and curricular models designed to increase the number of students placed into entry-level college courses have emerged in recent years. These systems aim to more accurately identify students who may benefit from some type of developmental instruction and those who are ready for entry-level college courses. This brief presents the findings of CAPR's exploratory study of informed self-placement (ISP), a placement system in which colleges provide information about placement policies, available courses, and other relevant topics to engage students as active participants in their own placement. ISP, which is also called guided self-placement or directed self-placement, is of interest because it does not rely solely, if at all, on standardized test scores, which research shows are not reliable predictors of performance in college. Moreover, many colleges adopted ISP during the COVID-19 pandemic, when this study began, because they experienced difficulty administering standardized tests and were seeking placement methods that could be easily used in a virtual setting. The study examined course enrollment and completion trends among students placed using ISP practices and sought to document varied approaches to ISP. The researchers collected demographic and outcome data on students' math and English course enrollments and completions over the last five academic years at three Nevada colleges offering associate and bachelor's degrees. They also interviewed assessment and placement scholars and representatives of higher education systems and institutions currently implementing some form of ISP. This brief provides a taxonomy of various placement systems, shares descriptive data on course enrollment and completion, and identifies important equity and access considerations for states and institutions interested in implementing ISP. Although more research is needed to understand the causal impacts of ISP on student outcomes, the data suggest that ISP has the potential to improve students' access to college-level coursework.

Despite evidence suggesting that standardized tests are an imperfect measure of academic readiness, many community colleges across the country rely on them alone to determine student course placement. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced campuses to transition to remote operations in spring 2020, proctoring in-person placement tests became all but impossible. Though some institutions may have continued to administer the tests remotely, in many cases, the capacity to do so was significantly reduced. In response, systems and colleges sought out innovative ways to determine whether students need developmental education, with many adopting multiple measures assessment and placement systems that take into account factors such as high school GPA and noncognitive assessment results. Based on interviews with system leaders and college administrators, faculty, and staff, this brief presents four short case studies on how community college state systems changed placement policies and supported new placement practices in the midst of the pandemic. The case studies--which focus on Indiana, Virginia, Texas, and Washington--address common multiple measures assessment implementation challenges such as facilitating buy-in, providing implementation support, combatting initiative fatigue, and establishing data-informed evaluation processes.

Analyses of literacy and numeracy levels worldwide by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development suggest that the U.S. population has one of the lowest numeracy levels among developed nations. Sixty-four percent of American adults are unable to use math and interpret math problems that most higher-level jobs require, and a full 30 percent can perform only basic mathematical computations such as arithmetic or solve simple one-step operations such as counting. These findings reveal the critical need to improve American adults' math skills. Even in the U.S. educational context, many people continue to struggle with learning math, and college preparatory math classes, also known as developmental or remedial math, present a particular challenge. This report presents the findings of a study of a popular math pathways innovation, the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP, formerly the New Mathways Project). It examines the effects of the implementation of the DCMP's curricular models, which entail changes in both math content and instructional methods in developmental education and college-level courses while also accelerating developmental students' progress into college-level math. Using a randomized controlled trial, this evaluation examines how four Texas community colleges implemented the DCMP at their institutions in developmental and college-level classrooms and looks at the differences in instruction between these courses and colleges' standard math courses. Additionally, the study analyzes the impact of the DCMP on students' academic outcomes for up to four semesters and compares the costs of the initiative with colleges' standard course pathways. Following an introduction in chapter one, the remainder of the report is divided into five chapters. Chapter 2 discusses in more detail the DCMP model and expectations for its implementation. Chapter 3 discusses the implementation of the DCMP at the four colleges, and the fidelity and contrast between the DCMP and the colleges' standard math courses. Chapter 4 analyzes the DCMP's impact on students' outcomes. Chapter 5 examines the costs of the DCMP. Finally, Chapter 6 provides concluding thoughts and recommendations for next steps in research and practice. [For the Executive Summary, see ED600651.]

Many college students are required to take at least one developmental math course, but as many as half of them fail to complete their developmental math requirements and never matriculate into college-level courses. To address this issue, the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin created the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) to help colleges implement math pathways aligned with students' programs of study in both developmental and college-level courses, accelerate students' progress to and through college-level math, develop strategies to support students as learners, and integrate evidence-based practices in instruction. The Dana Center also created curricula the colleges used for three course pathways (focused on statistical reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and algebra/calculus). This CAPR study looks at how four Texas community colleges implemented DCMP and how instruction in DCMP courses compares with traditional developmental and college-level math courses. Through a randomized controlled trial involving 1,422 students who entered the study from fall 2015 through spring 2017, the researchers examined the impact of DCMP on student outcomes for up to four semesters. The study also considers student perspectives on the reforms and the start-up and ongoing costs of DCMP to the colleges. Researchers found that the colleges were successful in revising pre-existing policies, curricula, and pedagogy in order to launch and then scale DCMP courses to reach more students. They also found that instruction in DCMP courses looked very different from that in colleges' standard developmental course offerings and college-level algebra courses. Finally, researchers found that DCMP students enrolled in and passed college-level math at higher rates than non-DCMP students, indicating that DCMP played a part in helping them overcome some of the pitfalls of developmental education and reach a crucial milestone. Key findings include the following: (1) DCMP had a positive impact on students' completion of the developmental math sequence and their likelihood of taking and passing college-level math; (2) The impacts of DCMP appear to be greater for part-time students and students assessed as needing multiple developmental courses; and (3) Start-up and net ongoing direct costs to the colleges to implement and maintain DCMP were fairly low. [For the main report, see ED600649.]

The City University of New York's (CUNY) Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) provides wraparound services for eligible students, including financial, academic, and personal support. First piloted in 2007, ASAP has been shown to substantially increase three-year completion rates at CUNY's community colleges. To build on the program's early success, in 2011 CUNY began an initiative to expand its ASAP enrollment from around 1,300 students to 25,000 students in the 2018-19 academic year. CUNY selected Bronx Community College (BCC) for an especially ambitious project: BCC would become an "ASAP college," increasing its program enrollment to around 5,000 students, or half of its student population, by 2018-19. This brief examines the expansion of ASAP and how the program was adapted in the process, using BCC as an illustrative case study. It highlights three implementation priorities underlying the expansion of ASAP at BCC for which adaptations were necessary: (1) meeting enrollment targets; (2) maintaining the student-advisor relationship component of ASAP; and (3) staffing the program at scale. The brief documents how student recruitment and registration processes, advising and advisor training, and program staffing were adapted to meet these priorities. [Funding for this research was provided by The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation.]

Demographic and postsecondary enrollment data suggest that the proportion of community college students who need support to access curricula in English is large and will continue to grow in the coming years. Yet there is limited research on the postsecondary experiences and outcomes of these English learners (ELs), and most of the studies that are available focus exclusively on the subset of ELs who enroll in ESL courses. Informed by relevant research literature, this paper examines factors within the community college context that affect the experiences and academic outcomes of the EL population broadly, and, given that they can be more easily identified and have been the subject of much more study, students who enroll in ESL courses in particular. We describe ELs and their academic needs and strengths, and we provide a brief discussion of the national and state policy landscape regarding EL students. We then provide perspectives from the research literature on ESL assessment and placement, instructional delivery, and student identity. We conclude with a brief discussion of the implications of these findings for policy, practice, and future research.

The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin, the developer of the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) model, initiated the Mathematics Pathways to Completion (MPC) project to support each of six states in developing a broad statewide vision for mathematics pathways and a plan for institutional implementation of the DCMP model over three years. At institutions offering mathematics pathways, students take an introductory college-level mathematics course that is well matched with their major or program of study. The goal is to align students' mathematics coursework with their academic and career needs, redirecting non-STEM students from lengthy algebraic-intensive course sequences. Importantly, students referred to developmental mathematics take preparatory coursework that is aligned to their particular introductory college-level mathematics course, often using an accelerated approach such as a corequisite model. Mathematics pathways are a promising approach for improving student outcomes, but if implementation happens one college at a time and without statewide policy support, the potential for scaling is diminished. This report describes the structure of the MPC project and the supports that the Dana Center is offering to participating states. In addition, drawing on 33 semi-structured interviews with mathematics faculty, state-level leaders, and technical assistance providers across the six states, this report explores the question: What state-level structures, conditions, and processes facilitate statewide implementation of mathematics pathways? [The research in this report was conducted in association with the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin.]

This paper documents the perceptions and experiences of faculty members in the midst of statewide reform efforts in Virginia and North Carolina to integrate developmental reading and writing courses. Using interview and focus group data from 161 faculty and administrators in both states (combined) as well as three detailed case studies of faculty teaching newly integrated courses, we describe how departments and faculty approached the task of course integration. Findings suggest that while instructors had a generally positive impression of integrating the two disciplines, implementing these new courses was not without challenges. A common approach to course design, which we term "additive," involved combining assignments and activities from the old standalone courses. We identify a range of factors associated with using the additive approach, including conceptions of literacy learning focused on the mastery of discrete skills, professional development aimed at exchanging activities and materials between reading and writing instructors, and lack of a clear framework for an integrated course design. Instructors using the additive approach reported that they could not cover all of the content/activities from the previous courses under the accelerated course structure, and worried they that they were not able to provide students the literacy skills they needed to be successful in college. Yet some faculty used or began to adopt what we call an "integrative" approach to course design in which few standalone components of the previously offered courses remained. Integrative course design tended to emphasize metacognition, extensive text-based writing, and embedded skills and strategy instruction, often offered in a "just-in-time" fashion. Faculty perceived that these more "integrative" course elements were associated with improved literacy learning. The findings presented have implications for creating support resources and professional development for departments and faculty who are new to teaching integrated reading and writing courses. The paper includes several curricular examples which can be adapted and used by faculty teaching integrated developmental courses.

This paper reports findings from a researcher-practitioner partnership that assessed the readiness for postsecondary reading and writing demands of 211 students in developmental reading and English courses in two community colleges. An assessment battery was designed for the study, comprising two standardized tests and five projectdeveloped tasks. The project-developed measures were two text-based writing tasks similar to those typically assigned in college classrooms (a summarization task and a persuasive essay), a self-efficacy scale, a teacher judgment questionnaire, and a qualitative student retrospective report. The text-based writing measures were keyed to high-enrollment, introductory-level general education courses that had significant literacy demands. The results pointed to areas where students needed improvement in order to be ready for literacy tasks at the introductory postsecondary level. There was a discrepancy between the relatively low reading and writing skills as assessed through performance tasks and relatively high student self-efficacy ratings and teacher judgments. This finding suggests the possibility of an unrealistic amount of confidence in students' ability to perform college-level reading and writing tasks. Correlations between assessment measures tended to be moderate, suggesting that the measures were tapping different skills. A series of hierarchical regressions modeling the text-based writing skills suggested that improvement in text-based summarization may require particular attention to reading comprehension skills, while improvement in text-based persuasive essay writing may depend more on developing general writing skills. Students' retrospective reports indicated that although participants had some difficulty stating the requirements of the summarization task, they described appropriate strategies to complete it. Overall, the study's findings point to the need to examine approaches to instruction, curriculum, course structure, and placement policy that may improve students' college readiness. The following are appended: (1) Examples of Student Writing; and (2) Student Self-Efficacy Ratings and Teacher Judgments.

Many community colleges offer a "student success" course--also known as College 101 or Introduction to College--as a means to help incoming students transition to college and become successful. The typical course is meant to provide key information and address important non-cognitive skills and behavioral expectations with the goal of familiarizing students with the college environment and giving them the tools they need to build important competencies, persist in college, and earn a credential. This paper examines the efforts of Bronx Community College in implementing a redesigned student success course called First Year Seminar (FYS), which is intended to better support students than a typical student success course by incorporating academic content, skill-building exercises, and applied teaching pedagogies, among other features, into the course. Based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis, our study finds that FYS participation is associated with positive student outcomes that appear to be sustained for a longer period of time than what is typically found for students taking a traditional student success course. The focus of FYS on student-centered pedagogy and on integrated course content appears to be beneficial. Our findings also suggest that when students have the opportunity to practice student success and basic academic skills within the context of an improved student success course, they are likely to apply those skills in future courses, potentially increasing their long-term educational attainment.