These are challenging times for developmental education. As noted here frequently, Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes has called for its complete overhaul in Texas, expressing dissatisfaction with the low percentage of students who complete developmental courses and go on to get a degree or certificate. Most don't make it.
In a recent "Issue Brief," Thomas Bailey and Sung-Woo Cho of the Community College Research Center, at Teachers College, Columbia University, report on contemporary evidence of the effectiveness of developmental education and provide current data about the progression of students through the sequence of developmental courses. The authors then describe three initiatives designed to improve the performance of remedial services, based on promising research.
The report was prepared for the October 5th White House Summit on Community Colleges.
Here are the three initiatives worthy of exploring further, according to the authors:
Accelerated Learning Program (ALP)
Description: In Accelerated Learning Programs, or ALPs, students placed into upper- level developmental courses are “mainstreamed” into college-level courses in that subject, and are simultaneously enrolled in a companion ALP course (taught by the same instructor) that meets in the class period immediately following the college-level class. The aim of the ALP course, which has a small number of students, is to help students maximize the likelihood of success in their first college-level course and to speed up their progress through the developmental sequence.
Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST)
Description: In the I-BEST model, basic skills instructors and professional-technical faculty jointly teach college-level occupational classes that admit basic skills students. The objective is to accelerate the rate at which adult basic skills students advance to college-level programs that lead to career-path employment. The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) has implemented I-BEST since the 2005-06 academic year, when 10 colleges piloted the program. In 2007-08, I-BEST was expanded to all 34 colleges in the system.
Learning Communities
Description: Many community colleges operate learning communities to improve low rates of student success. Basic learning communities co-enroll a cohort of students into several classes together. More comprehensive versions include integrated curricula, collaboration among instructors, and student services such as enhanced advising and tutoring which are embedded into the course.
Here's a link to the entire report.
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