Implementation of a New Developmental Education Policy in the Colorado Community College System: A case study of Street-Level Bureaucrats

• In Event: Instituting Developmental (Remedial) Education Reform: Challenges and Results in New Jersey, Colorado, and New York

Abstract

In 2013, the thirteen colleges in the Colorado Community College System adopted a new state-wide policy for English, Reading, and Math developmental education (DE). This policy was created by a taskforce made up of faculty and administrators representing each of the colleges. The goal of the taskforce and the resultant policy was to accelerate the educational progress of students through DE and into college-level coursework by reducing the amount of time spent in DE, the number of developmental credits, and the number of courses in the developmental sequence. The result was twofold: 1) a new accelerated course sequence, and 2) the adoption of new learning standards and competencies that would better align to student’s interests and the skills needed to compete in the gateway courses for each discipline. Implementation of this policy began in 2014, and from the start varied greatly by college and by classroom. Variances included advising strategies for DE students, decisions around which courses in the sequence were taught, methods of the new teaching, and meaning of the pathways. In many cases, the variances in how the new policy was implemented resulted from choices made by frontline educational staff including faculty and advisors. This paper will explore how faculty and staff, acting as Street-level Bureaucrats, used their discretion to implement this new developmental education policy. After discussing the concept of Street-level Bureaucracy, it will use a case study approach to examine implementation and role of discretion in that implementation at three colleges (Yin, 1994). Lipsky (2010) states that Street-level Bureaucrats are public service workers that have discretion to implement a centralized government policy to suit the needs of the local clientele or environment. He argues that street-level Bureaucrats also implement policy in a way that makes their lives easier and maintains the status quo. This paper will examine the value and dilemmas of discretion and the effect of discretion on DE policy and student progression (Brandon, 2005; Evans, 2012).

Author

• Heather McKay, --