Scaling Developmental Education Reforms: A National Picture of the Implementation and Scale of Developmental Education Reform in Open-Access Colleges

• In Event: Developmental Education Reforms on Assessment, Instruction, and Math Pathways

Abstract

Purpose: This paper will present findings from a nationally representative survey of developmental education practices and policies at nonselective, open access public two-year and four-year colleges and private nonprofit four-year colleges along with interviews with postsecondary leaders. Its primary aim is to understand the scope and scale of colleges’ implementation of reforms to the assessment, placement, and instructional practices in developmental education.

Theoretical Framework: Previous research has shown that colleges have relied heavily on standardized tests to assess students’ college readiness and place them into courses; however, recent studies have shown that students placed by these methods are often required to take more developmental courses than they need (Fields and Parsad, 2012; Valentine, Konstantopoulos, and Goldrick-Rab, 2017 ). Similarly, research has shown that few students successfully complete their developmental courses, and that the courses are often poorly aligned with college-level content (Chen, 2016; Givvens, Stigler, and Thompson, 2011). Given this, many policymakers and states are now mandating reforms to these practices (Education Commission of the States, 2018). However, little is known about how widely these practices are being implemented at individual institutions and for how many students.

Methods and Data: This study is based on a nationally representative, random sample of 1,055 open access two-year and four-year colleges and postsecondary systems and 127 qualitative interviews with faculty, staff, administrators, and state leaders. The survey and interviews asked college leaders about the implementation of commonly known developmental education reforms and the factors driving these practices. Disseminated in spring and fall 2016, the survey achieved an 80% response rate. Interviews were undertaken using semi-structured protocols, coded, and analyzed for emerging themes.

Results: Results from the survey reveal that most institutions continue to use traditional approaches. Over 85% of public colleges and 50% of private four-year colleges use standardized tests to assess college readiness, and 40 – 76% of colleges offered developmental courses as multi-semester, pre-requisite sequences. However, a growing number of public colleges are also implementing reforms. Over half of public colleges report using additional measures, such as high school performance, to assess readiness– a 30% increase since 2011. Many colleges are also experimenting with instructional reforms, with the compression of developmental courses into shorter time periods, diversification of math courses, and integration of reading and writing courses among the most popular interventions. However, reforms were offered at a relatively limited scale, with most offering them to less than half their students. College leaders name a variety of factors driving their instructional reforms, including faculty input, research, practices at other colleges, the availability of resources, and state policies, though state policy appears to have heavy influence on colleges’ scaling of reforms.

Significance: This study reveals that reforms to developmental education are occurring at a rapid pace, but they tend not to be offered to large segments of the student population. Additionally, the implementation of these reforms is often outstripping the evidence available on their effectiveness at increasing student outcomes, posing potential problems for policymakers and practitioners alike.

Author

• Elizabeth Zachry Rutschow, American Institutes for Research