This post describes several developmental education reform efforts underway at colleges around the country. It highlights innovations including CUNY Start and Lesson Study.
Developmental education is not one-size-fits-all, and researchers across the country are examining the effectiveness of a variety of innovative approaches to remedial learning. These recent reports provide a snapshot of the latest major trends in developmental education reform and policy.
Alexandra Logue, a research professor at the City University of New York, discusses three curricular innovations taking place at community colleges and how they can be used together to provide comprehensive reform that maximizes student success.
Alexander Mayer, deputy director for postsecondary education at MDRC and co-principal investigator at CAPR, describes the potential of comprehensive programs such as CUNY's Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) to improve outcomes for developmental education students. This post is adapted from testimony given before the New Jersey State Assembly Higher Education Committee on May 7, 2018.
Nancy Shapiro, associate vice chancellor for education and outreach for the University System of Maryland, describes Maryland's math pathways initiative, how the reform's leaders took advantage of a First in the World grant from the U.S. Department of Education, and lessons learned from the work.
Lindsay Daugherty, a policy researcher at RAND Corporation, discusses five reasons why corequisite models of developmental education may be successful, based on the perspectives of faculty, administrators, and students in Texas.
Christopher Mullin shares three lessons from Florida's experience with state-mandated developmental education reforms that made remediation optional for the vast majority of students.
Susan Bickerstaff describes the Lesson Study model of professional development for instructors and a new research study examining how this model can be used in developmental mathematics.
Elizabeth Zachry Rutschow discusses findings from a just-released CAPR brief documenting how developmental education programs have evolved over the last several years.
Rebecca Natow, Vikash Reddy, and Markeisha Grant provide a window into the findings from their recent CAPR working paper, How and Why Higher Education Institutions Use Technology in Developmental Education Programming. They describe the types of technology institutions use in developmental education, common challenges they encounter, and recommendations for improving the use of technology.