This study used student record data from all six City University of New York (CUNY) community colleges to examine developmental assessment and placement policies, programmatic interventions, and the impact of each on students, particularly low-income young adults. CUNY provides an excellent setting to examine the effectiveness of remedial placement policies because, unlike many other college systems, it tracks students’ initial placement exam scores, remedial placement recommendations, developmental course enrollments, and exit exam scores. Individual CUNY community colleges have also implemented a wide variety of innovations to improve outcomes for developmental students, including acceleration, nonacademic preparation, and contextualization.
This project was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.