September 18–21, 2024
Baltimore, MD
The Long-Term Effectiveness of Multiple Measures Assessment: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial
September 20, Time TBD
Two-thirds of students who attend community colleges and two-fifths of students who attend public four-year colleges enroll in one or more remedial courses (Chen, 2016). Remedial courses require students to invest time and money that could be applied to college-level coursework, and studies suggest that the effects of remedial courses on student outcomes are mixed for students on the cusp of needing additional academic support (Jaggars & Stacey, 2014). Further, students who start college in remediation are less likely to graduate (Attewell et al., 2006). Most students who participate in remediation in math and/or English are referred to these programs based on scores they earn on standardized placement tests.
Research shows that some students assigned to remediation would likely pass a college-level course in the same subject area if given that opportunity; it also suggests that using multiple measures of students’ skills and performance, including high school GPA, may be useful in assessing college readiness (Scott-Clayton, 2012). An increasing number of colleges are exploring or beginning to use multiple measures assessment (MMA) to place incoming students (Rutschow & Mayer, 2018).
The researchers will present final impact results for three cohorts of students who went through intake at a participating college between fall 2016 and fall 2017. Our analytic sample consists of 12,796 students who took a placement test, of which about 88% enrolled in at least one remedial or college-level course of any kind during the study period.
Presenters
Elizabeth Kopko, Senior Research Associate, CCRC
Long-Term Effects of Developmental Education Programs: Evidence from Three States
September 20, 9–10 a.m. ET
There has been increasing scrutiny over the effectiveness of traditional developmental coursework, wherein students deemed underprepared are encouraged or required to participate in remedial coursework before beginning college-level courses. Traditional developmental programs demand significant time and financial commitment from students and a disproportionate percentage of these students come from minoritized backgrounds, yet many who begin with such coursework fail to attain a college credential (Chen, 2016; Bailey et al., 2010).
In response, colleges and universities throughout the U.S. are enacting bold reforms to improve their developmental education programs. Some states no longer require developmental education courses at all and many others are pushing colleges to enroll students with developmental needs directly into college-level courses with simultaneous academic supports (Whinnery & Odekar, 2021). Colleges have changed how they place students into courses, with many moving away from standardized tests to assess students’ college readiness and instead using alternative measures of students’ performance, such as high school grades or GPA (Rutschow & Mayer, 2018). Colleges have also worked to better align developmental course content with program-specific college-level courses (particularly in math) to ensure students are motivated and prepared for subsequent instruction (Ganga & Mazzariello, 2018).
This proposed symposium brings together a diverse panel of researchers from different universities and research centers as well as a practitioner from a community college to discuss the long-term effects of three developmental education reforms. All three studies use longitudinal data to explore impacts on more distal student outcomes, including degree attainment, allowing for a much deeper understanding of developmental education reform effectiveness than is typically seen in postsecondary research.
Presenters
Nikki Edgecombe, Senior Research Scholar, CCRC
