Developmental Education Reform in Florida: The Evolution of Implementation

• In Event: Policy Implementation Considerations in Higher Education

Abstract

Since 2013, the Florida College System has been working to successfully reform developmental education in accordance with the mandates of Senate Bill 1720. Here, we ask how seven of the system’s 28 colleges implemented reform and how their implementation efforts changed over time. The research findings we present emerged from several qualitative data sources including implementation plans and annual reports produced by college administrators, in addition to focus group and interview data gathered from 646 participants. The resulting framework of developmental education reform implementation comprises four phases: Preparation, Execution, Modification, and Expansion. Each phase represents a distinct, yet overlapping, period of time where institutions planned for, implemented, revised, and then moved beyond developmental education reform to new student success initiatives.

Authors

• Amanda N Nix, Florida State University

• Tamara Bertrand Jones, Florida State University

• Jingyi You, Florida State University

• Hollie Daniels, Florida State University

• Xinye Hu, Florida State University

• Pei Hu, Florida State University

• Shouping Hu, Florida State University