Publications

This report for The Century Foundation's College Completion Series lays out the open questions on how to reform developmental education.

This paper discusses the implementation of modularized developmental mathematics reforms in North Carolina and Virginia, presents student outcomes for two distinct course structures, and considers the opportunities and challenges they present.

This brief examines the corequisite remediation model as it was implemented in Tennessee community colleges in fall 2015 and finds that it is more cost-effective than the prerequisite remediation model the colleges formerly used.

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.

This article uses qualitative data from a multi-campus study of instructional reform in developmental education to present a typology of questions raised by community college faculty teaching in reformed contexts.

This practitioner packet summarizes CCRC’s research on remedial placement at community colleges and considers how including students’ high school transcript information in the assignment process could improve placement accuracy.

This report provides an overview of the developmental education redesigns in Virginia and North Carolina, presents preliminary findings, and discusses lessons for states, districts, and colleges pursuing developmental education reforms.

This publication presents findings on the costs of remedial placement testing at three colleges, and it provides guidance on how other colleges could undertake similar analyses.

This study examines three developmental acceleration programs—two in English and one in math—and finds that accelerated students were more likely to complete the relevant college-level course within 3 years.

This chapter describes a promising approach to teaching developmental arithmetic and prealgebra and presents findings on a faculty support network that helped instructors adopt new teaching strategies.

Using detailed data from three community colleges, the authors of this study employ the ingredients method to estimate the costs to colleges and students of remedial placement systems at community college.

This paper uses administrative data and a rich predictive model to examine the accuracy of remedial screening tests, used either with or instead of high school transcript data to determine remedial assignment.

This study uses a difference-in-differences approach to identify the impact of ESL compared with developmental writing at an urban community college system.

Based on interview data, this discussion paper explores whether faculty and college leaders are considering or undertaking reforms of developmental education informed by the Common Core State Standards.

This paper compares the academic outcomes of students at Chabot College who participated in an accelerated, one-semester developmental English course and those who enrolled in a two-semester sequence.

This brief examines changes in entry-level college math enrollment and completion rates in Virginia's community colleges after the introduction of a new math placement test and placement policy.

This journal article examines the impact of acceleration on access, performance, credit accumulation, and degree attainment at CUNY.

This practitioner packet provides tools to help community college administrators effectively implement reforms to developmental education at their colleges.

This issue of Inside Out identifies and explores the implications of three faculty orientations toward reform that consistently manifest when an innovation is introduced: ready to act, ambivalent, and reluctant to change.

Based on survey and focus group data from four community colleges, this research brief discusses why many students who go on to enroll in developmental math are unlikely to prepare for the math placement exam.

This journal article reviews the evidence for contextualization, an instructional approach that connects foundational skills and college-level content.

This issue of Inside Out describes how community college faculty are working to increase rigor within reformed developmental education classrooms.

This CAPSEE working paper reviews current research on the effectiveness of interventions and reforms that seek to improve the math preparedness and success of high school students entering college.

Drawing on a scan of remedial reform efforts and fieldwork at 11 colleges, this paper examines trends in reform implementation and provides a framework for strengthening reform efforts and institutional capacity.

This article reviews studies published from 2000 to 2012 on the literacy skills of underprepared postsecondary students and identifies reading and writing processes that have been overlooked in the literature.

This introduction summarizes the purpose and key findings of the four articles in a special edition of the Community College Review.

This publication compares how long it takes students to reach important progression milestones based on their level of academic readiness upon entry.

Based on a case study of the City University of New York's six community colleges, this publication identifies the conflicting motivations that shape developmental education reform efforts.

In response to a journal article questioning CCRC’s claims about the effectiveness of developmental education, this essay discusses methodological concerns and other issues that may be a source of confusion.

This NCPR working paper outlines the development of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the CCSS-aligned assessments and argues that they can be used to support the mission of community colleges.

This report discusses the development of FastStart, its program features, and student perspectives, and it presents findings from a quantitative analysis of the FastStart math program.

The Developmental Education Initiative provided funding to 15 colleges to implement or scale up developmental reform strategies. This report examines the implementation of these strategies.

This issue of Inside Out explores how developmental education reforms can create opportunities for faculty to engage in professional learning related to instruction.

This report seeks to understand those aspects of the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program that best support student learning, progression, and completion.

This paper presents the findings from a follow-up quantitative analysis of the Community College of Baltimore County’s Accelerated Learning Program (ALP).

This paper describes a range of approaches to improving poor course placement accuracy and inconsistent standards associated with traditional assessment and placement practices at community colleges.

This chapter discusses instructional approaches intended to prepare initially low-skilled college entrants for the reading, writing, and mathematics skills they need to learn from the postsecondary curriculum.

This paper finds that remediation does little to develop students' skills but does not discourage initial enrollment or persistence, except among students identified as potentially misassigned.

This edition of Inside Out, a publication of CCRC's Scaling Innovation project, outlines a three-part framework for colleges looking to adopt and adapt a developmental education reform.

This paper uses student-level data from a statewide community college system to examine the validity of placement tests and high school information in predicting course grades and college performance.

This paper analyzes the predictive validity of one of the most commonly used placement exams using data on over 42,000 first-time entrants in a large, urban community college system.

This inaugural edition of Inside Out, a publication of CCRC's Scaling Innovation project, provides an introduction to the project and its partners.

This paper examines the role of entry assessment and its implementation, the validity of common assessments, and emerging directions in assessment policy and practice.

This literature review explores the evidence on the effects of acceleration on student outcomes and describes the various acceleration models that are used with developmental education students.

The I-BEST program at Washington State's community and technical colleges integrates basic skills education with vocational training and has increased completion rates for participating students.

This paper reviews the evidence base for pedagogical reforms in the developmental mathematics classroom, examining the theoretical and empirical evidence on six innovative instructional approaches.

This paper provides evidence on the potential efficacy of a contextualized approach in helping students develop an important academic skill, written summarization.

Prepared for the 2010 White House Summit on Community College, this brief discusses developmental education challenges and describes initiatives designed to improve remedial services.

This paper presents findings from a quantitative analysis of the Community College of Baltimore County's Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) for upper level developmental writing students.

This paper analyzes patterns of student progression through sequences of developmental education starting from initial referral.