March 2024–February 2027
Rigorous research on developmental education reform, including multiple measures assessment, math pathways, and corequisite remediation, has shown positive impacts for all groups, creating a “rising tide lifts all boats” result. But disparities in persistence and completion continue to disadvantage racially and ethnically minoritized students and low-income students compared with others assigned to developmental education. The field lacks information on the interventions that can be implemented with proven reforms that generate larger and longer-lasting effects for students from underserved groups.
This project is beginning to address this gap and advance racial and economic equity within developmental education reform and generally in college attainment. First, researchers are conducting a literature review and practice scan to identify the most promising equity-centered approaches that can be integrated into proven developmental education reforms. Then researchers and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will work with selected community colleges in a one-year professional learning community to develop or refine interventions aligned with these approaches. Finally, researchers will evaluate the implementation and outcomes of equity-centered interventions at one institution. Findings from this project will help institutions and the field develop and enact more intentional policies, practices, and programs that address existing disparities by race and income within developmental education reform, as well as broader equity-centered institutional transformation efforts.
This project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
