CAPR Publications
Is Early Start a Better Start? Evaluating California State University’s Early Start Remediation Policy
Michal Kurlaender, Lester Lusher, and Matthew Case | October 2019
In this working paper released by the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, the authors estimate the impact of Early Start summer remediation relative to both traditional fall remediation and relative to no remediation at all.
Early Outcomes of Texas Community College Students Enrolled in Dana Center Mathematics Pathways Prerequisite Developmental Courses
Lauren Schudde and Akiva Yonah Meiselman | August 2019
This study examines whether students participating in Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) developmental courses enroll in and pass college-level math courses at higher rates than students who take traditional developmental math courses.
Modernizing College Course Placement by Using Multiple Measures
Elizabeth Ganga and Amy Mazzariello | April 2019
This brief, written in conjunction with the Education Commission of the States, describes the evidence for multiple measures placement and offers an overview of the types of multiple measures placement systems used across the country.
Math Pathways: Expanding Options for Success in College Math
By Elizabeth Ganga and Amy Mazzariello | October 2018
This brief, written in collaboration with the Education Commission of the States, describes three math pathways models, lays out the evidence for their effectiveness, and gives recommendations for the effective implementation of math pathways.
Multiple Measures Placement Using Data Analytics: An Implementation and Early Impacts Report
By Elisabeth A. Barnett, Peter Bergman, Elizabeth Kopko, Vikash Reddy, Clive R. Belfield, and Susha Roy, with Dan Cullinan | September 2018
This report examines the implementation of a multiple measures placement system at seven State University of New York colleges and presents results on first-term impacts.
Making It Through: Interim Findings on Developmental Students’ Progress to College Math with the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways
By Elizabeth Zachry Rutschow | July 2018
This brief provides a preliminary look at the experimental results of the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) model, developed by the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Program group students made strides in both enrolling in and passing college-level math during their second and third semesters, indicating that the DCMP is helping students reach a critical college milestone.
Early Findings from a National Survey of Developmental Education Practices
By Elizabeth Zachry Rutschow and Alexander K. Mayer | February 2018
This brief presents early findings from CAPR’s nationally representative survey of nearly 1,000 open-access and nonselective postsecondary institutions.
Developmental Education: An Introduction for Policymakers
By Elizabeth Ganga, Amy Mazzariello, and Nikki Edgecombe | February 2018
This brief, written in collaboration with the Education Commission of the States, discusses the importance of and challenges surrounding developmental education and suggests ways in which policymakers can address these challenges.
How and Why Higher Education Institutions Use Technology in Developmental Education Programming
By Rebecca Natow, Vikash Reddy, and Markeisha Grant | September 2017
Drawing from semi-structured interviews with key personnel at several colleges, this paper explores how technology is integrated into developmental education programming, what challenges institutions have encountered relating to the technology, and what considerations institutional leaders take into account when deciding whether and how to integrate technology in developmental education. A version of this paper was published in the Community College Journal of Research and Practice.
Math in the Real World: Early Findings from a Study of the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways
By Elizabeth Zachry Rutschow, John Diamond, and Elena Serna-Wallender | May 2017
A promising new community college intervention—the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways—involves a revised developmental math course that emphasizes statistical and quantitative reasoning skills to align with students’ fields of study. In a random assignment evaluation at four colleges in Texas, students report a qualitatively different experience with math instruction.