Student supports: Developmental education and other academic programs

Future of Children

Volumn 23, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 93-115

  Bettinger, Eric P ^a   Boatman, Angela ^a   Terry Long, Bridget ^b  

^a STANFORD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; CURRICULUM; EDUCATION; EDUCATIONAL STATUS; FORECASTING; HUMAN; ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT; RISK FACTOR; SOCIAL SUPPORT; STUDENT; TEACHING; TRENDS; UNITED STATES; VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE; YOUNG ADULT;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; CURRICULUM; EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT; EDUCATIONAL STATUS; FORECASTING; HUMANS; REMEDIAL TEACHING; RISK FACTORS; SOCIAL SUPPORT; STUDENT DROPOUTS; TRAINING SUPPORT; UNITED STATES; VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84877761668     PISSN: 10548289     EISSN: 15501558     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/foc.2013.0003     Document Type: Article

References (105)

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3. Andrea Venezia, Michael Kirst, and Anthony Antonio, Betraying the College Dream: How Disconnected K-12 and Postsecondary Education Systems Undermine Student Aspirations (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Institute for Higher Education Research, 2003).
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5. Eric Bettinger and Bridget Terry Long, "Addressing the Needs of Under-Prepared College Students: Does College Remediation Work?" Journal of Human Resources 44, no. 3 (2009).
6. Brian Jacob and Lars Lefgren, "Remedial Education and Student Achievement: A Regression-Discontinuity Analysis, " Review of Economics and Statistics 86, no. 1 (2004): 226-44.
7. To avoid possible negative connotations associated with the term "remedial, " practitioners tend to use the term "developmental education" to describe the courses and services offered to students below collegelevel; see Thomas Bailey, Dong Wook Jeong, and Sung-Woo Cho, "Referral, Enrollment, and Completion in Developmental Education Sequences in Community Colleges, " Economics of Education Review 29, no. 2 (2010): 255-70. The terms "remedial" and "developmental, " however, are often used interchangeably in the literature, and as such, throughout this article.
8. National Center for Education Statistics, Remedial Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions in Fall 2000 (Washington: U.S. Department of Education, 2003).
9. Thomas Bailey, "Challenge and Opportunity: Rethinking the Role and Function of Developmental Education in Community College, " New Directions for Community Colleges 145 (2009): 11-30.
10. Eric Bettinger and Bridget Terry Long, "Addressing the Needs of Under-Prepared College Students: Does College Remediation Work?" Journal of Human Resources 44, no. 3 (2009).
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15. Clifford Adelman, The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion From High School Through College (Washington: U.S. Department of Education, 2006).
16. Eric Bettinger and Bridget Terry Long, "Addressing the Needs of Under-Prepared College Students: Does College Remediation Work?" Journal of Human Resources 44, no. 3 (2009).
17. College readiness may differ fundamentally from high school competence. See David T. Conley, Redefining College Readiness (Eugene, Ore.: Educational Policy Improvement Center, March 2007).
18. See Ohio Board of Regents, Making the Transition from High School to College in Ohio 2002 (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Board of Regents, 2002).
19. For more information on postsecondary readiness, including a discussion of the role of the Common Core State Standards in preparing students for college-level material, see Andrea Venezia and Laura Jaeger, "Transitions from High School to College, " Future of Children 23, no. 1 (2013).
20. Angela Boatman and Bridget Terry Long, "Does Remediation Work for All Students? How the Effects of Postsecondary Remedial and Developmental Courses Vary by Level of Academic Preparation, " National Center for Postsecondary Research Working Paper (New York: National Center for Postsecondary Research, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2010).
21. National Center for Education Statistics, Remedial Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions in Fall 2000 (Washington: U.S. Department of Education, 2003).
22. Thomas Bailey, Dong Wook Jeong, and Sung-Woo Chu, "Referral, Enrollment, and Completion in Developmental Education Sequences in Community Colleges, " Economics of Education Review 29, no. 2: 255-70.
23. Davis Jenkins and Sung-Woo Cho, "Get with the Program: Accelerating Community College Students' Entry into and Completion of Programs of Study, " Working Paper 32 (New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2012).
24. National Center for Education Statistics, Remedial Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions in Fall 2000 (Washington: U.S. Department of Education, 2003).
25. Thomas Bailey, Dong Wook Jeong, and Sung-Woo Chu, "Referral, Enrollment, and Completion in Developmental Education Sequences in Community Colleges, " Economics of Education Review 29, no. 2: 255-70.
26. Alliance for Excellent Education, Saving Now and Saving Later: How High School Reform Can Reduce the Nation's Wasted Remediation Dollars, issue brief (May 2011) (www.all4ed.org/files/ SavingNowSavingLaterRemediation.pdf).
27. Strong American Schools, Diploma to Nowhere (Washington: Strong American Schools, 2008).
28. Office of Program Policy and Government Accountability, Steps Can Be Taken to Reduce Remediation Rates, Report 06-40 (Tallahassee, Fla.: Florida Legislature, 2006).
29. Ronald Phipps, College Remediation: What It Is, What It Costs, What's at Stake (Washington: Institute for Higher Education Policy, 1998).
30. Ohio Board of Regents, Costs and Consequences of Remedial Course Enrollment in Ohio Public Higher Education: Six-Year Outcomes for Fall 1998 Cohort (Ohio Board of Regents, 2006) (http://regents.ohio. gov/perfrpt/special_reports/Remediation_Consequences_2006.pdf).
31. Jane Wellman, "Financial Characteristics of Broad-Access Public Institutions, " background paper prepared for the Stanford Conference on Mapping Broad-Access Higher Education (December 2011).
32. Christopher Hammons, The Education Deficit in the Lone Star State: The Financial Impact on Texas When Students Fail to Learn Basic Skills (Austin, Texas: Texas Public Policy Foundation, March 2005) (www. texaspolicy.com/pdf/2005-03-remedial-ed.pdf).
33. Eric Bettinger and Bridget Terry Long, "Addressing the Needs of Under-Prepared College Students: Does College Remediation Work?" Journal of Human Resources 44, no. 3 (2009).
34. The commonly used regression discontinuity (RD) research design compares students who are placed just above and below the cutoff for remedial courses. In RD designs, students scoring below the specified cutoff score are assigned to a remedial-level course, while students scoring above this cutoff score are assigned to a college-level course. Assuming that students who score just above and below the placement cutoff have similar ability, one can obtain a causal estimate of the effects of remedial placement on subsequent outcomes for those students at the margins of passing. For more information on RD designs see William R. Shadish, Thomas D. Cook, and Donald T. Campbell, Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002).
35. Guido Imbens and Thomas Lemieux, "Regression Discontinuity Designs: A Guide to Practice, " Journal of Econometrics 142, no. 2 (2008): 615-35.
36. Eric Bettinger and Bridget Terry Long, "Addressing the Needs of Under-Prepared College Students: Does College Remediation Work?" Journal of Human Resources 44, no. 3 (2009).
37. Juan Carlos Calcagno and Bridget Terry Long, "The Impact of Postsecondary Remediation Using a Regression Discontinuity Design: Addressing Endogenous Sorting and Noncompliance, " Working Paper 14194 (Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research, July 2008).
38. Paco Martorell and Isaac McFarlin, "Help or Hindrance? The Effects of College Remediation on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes, " Review of Economics and Statistics 93, no. 2 (2011): 436-54.
39. Paul Attewell and others, "New Evidence on College Remediation, " Journal of Higher Education 77, no. 5 (2006): 886-924.
40. Bridget Terry Long and Juan Carlos Calcagno, "Does Remediation Help All Students? The Heterogeneous Effects of Postsecondary Developmental Courses, " Harvard University, June 2010.
41. Xianglei Chen and others, Academic Preparation for College in the High School Senior Class of 2003-04: Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002), Base-year, 2002, First Follow-up, 2004, and High School Transcript Study, 2004 (Washington: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, January 2010).
42. Angela Boatman and Bridget Terry Long, "Does Remediation Work for All Students? How the Effects of Postsecondary Remedial and Developmental Courses Vary by Level of Academic Preparation, " National Center for Postsecondary Research Working Paper (New York: National Center for Postsecondary Research, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2010).
43. Mina Dadger, "Essays on the Economics of Community College Students' Academic and Labor Market Success" (Ph.D. diss., Teachers College, Columbia University, 2012).
44. Judy Scott-Clayton and Olga Rodriguez, "Detour, Diversion, or Discouragement? New Evidence on the Effects of College Remediation, " Working Paper 18328 (Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research, August 2012).
45. Six states are currently participating in the Developmental Education Initiative, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lumina Foundation to provide incentives for redesigning and assessing alternative approaches to how they offer developmental education. The majority of strategies have targeted higher-level remedial students over lower-level students. Shanna S. Jaggars and others, Scaling up Is Hard to Do: Progress and Challenges during the First Year of the Achieving the Dream Developmental Education Initiative (New York: MDRC, May 2011).
46. Elizabeth Zachry and Emily Schneider, Unlocking the Gate: What We Know About Improving Developmental Education (New York: MDRC, June 2011).
47. Katie Hern and Nikki Edgecombe, "The Accelerated Alternative: Findings from an Analysis of Chabot College's One-Semester Integrated Reading and Writing Course, " presentation at the fourth annual Conference on Acceleration in Developmental Education (Baltimore, June 8, 2012).
48. Shanna Jaggars, "Acceleration Research, " presentation at the National Center for Postsecondary Research Conference on Developmental Education (New York, June 21, 2012).
49. Davis Jenkins, Matthew Zeidenberg, and Gregory S. Kienzl, "Building Bridges to Postsecondary Training for Low-Skill Adults: Outcomes of Washington State's I-BEST Program, " Brief No. 42 (New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2009).
50. Rhonda M. Epper and Elaine Baker, Technology Solutions for Developmental Math: An Overview of Current and Emerging Practices (William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2009).
51. Bradford S. Bell and Jessica E. Federman, "E-learning in Postsecondary Education, " Future of Children 23, no. 1 (2013).
52. For more information on the Developmental Studies Redesign Project, see http://tnredesign.org/about.html#.
53. Austin Peay State University (mathematics), Cleveland State Community College (mathematics), Jackson State Community College (mathematics), Chattanooga State Community College (mathematics not fully implemented in first semester), Columbia State Community College (reading/writing not fully implemented in first semester), and Northeast State Community College (reading).
54. Carol Twigg, "Developmental Courses: An Oxymoron?" (Saratoga Spring, N.Y.: National Center for Academic Transformation, 2009).
55. Angela Boatman, "Evaluating Institutional Efforts to Streamline Postsecondary Remediation: The Causal Effects of the Tennessee Developmental-Course Redesign Initiative on Early Student Academic Success, " (Ph.D. diss., Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2012).
56. David Jenkins and others, "A Model for Accelerating Academic Success of Community College Remedial English Students: Is the Accelerated Learning Program Effective and Affordable?" Working Paper 21 (New York: National Center for Postsecondary Research, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2010).
57. Rose Asera, Innovation at Scale: How Virginia Community Colleges Are Collaborating to Improve Developmental Education and Increase Student Success (Jobs for the Future and Achieving the Dream, October 2011).
58. Patrick T. Terenzini and others, "First-Generation College Students: Characteristics, Experiences, and Cognitive Development, " Research in Higher Education 37, no. 1 (1996): 1-22.
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60. Jennifer Engle, Adolfo Bermeo, and Colleen O'Brien, Straight from the Source: What Works for First-Generation College Students (Washington: Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, 2007).
61. Heather D. Wathington and others, Getting Ready for College: An Implementation and Early Impacts Study of Eight Texas Developmental Summer Bridge Programs (New York: MDRC, October 2011).
62. Elisabeth A. Barnett and others, Bridging the Gap: An Impact Study of Eight Developmental Summer Bridge Programs in Texas (New York: National Center for Postsecondary Research, Teachers College, Columbia University, June 2012).
63. Betsy O. Barefoot, Second National Survey of First-Year Academic Practices (Brevard, N.C.: Policy Center on the First Year of College [now Gardner Institute], 2002).
64. Mary Visher and others, Scaling up Learning Communities: The Experience of Six Community Colleges (New York: MDRC, March 2010).
65. Cathy McHugh Engstrom and Vincent Tinto, "Learning Better Together: The Impact of Learning Communities on the Persistence of Low-Income Students, " Opportunity Matters 1 (2008): 5-21.
66. Vincent R. Waldron and Stephen C. Yungbluth, "Assessing Student Outcomes in Communication-Intensive Learning Communities: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study of Academic Performance and Retention, " Southern Communication Journal 72, no. 3 (2007): 285-302.
67. Colleen Sommo and others, Commencement Day: Six-Year Effects of a Freshman Learning Community Program at Kingsborough Community College (New York: MDRC, 2012).
68. Mary G. Visher and others, The Effects of Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Education: A Synthesis of Findings from Six Community Colleges, Executive Summary (New York: MDRC, 2012).
69. Alexander Astin, What Matters in College: Four Critical Years Revisited (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993).
70. Vincent Tinto, "Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research, " Review of Educational Research, no. 45 (1975): 89-125
71. Vincent Tinto, Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition, second ed. (University of Chicago Press, 1993)
72. George Kuh, John H. Schuh, Elizabeth J. Whitt, and associates, Involving Colleges (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991).
73. See Margaret Cahalan, Bradford Chaney, and Selma Chen, "National Study of Student Support Services, Interim Report, " vol. 2 (Washington: U.S. Department of Education, 1994).
74. Bradford Chaney and others, National Study of Student Support Services: Third-Year Longitudinal Study of Results and Program Implementation Study Update (Washington: U.S. Department of Education, 1997)
75. Bradford W. Chaney, National Evaluation of Student Support Services: Examination of Student Outcomes after Six Years (Washington: U.S. Department of Education, 2010).
76. Bradford W. Chaney, National Evaluation of Student Support Services: Examination of Student Outcomes after Six Years (Washington: U.S. Department of Education, 2010).
77. Melinda Mechur Karp, "Toward a New Understanding of Non-Academic Student Support: Four Mechanisms Encouraging Positive Student Outcomes in the Community College, " Working Paper 28 (New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2011).
78. Aaron Carlstrom, "NACADA National Survey of Academic Advising, " Monograph No. 25 (Manhattan, Kan.: National Academic Advising Association, forthcoming).
79. Robert Gallagher, "National Survey of Counseling Center Directors" (Alexandria, Va.: International Association of Counseling Services, 2010).
80. Susan Scrivener and Michael Weiss with Jedediah Teres, "More Guidance, Better Results? Three-Year Effects of an Enhanced Student Services Program at Two Community Colleges" (New York: MDRC, 2009).
81. A second MDRC study focused on Chaffey College in California and on community college students who had entered academic probation. Chaffey randomly selected students to participate in a "student success course" designed to help students focus on information, time management, motivation, and study skills. In the short run the program helped students to exit probation and acquire more credits. However, after four years, there did not appear to be any significant improvement in students' academic outcomes. See Michael Weiss and others, Serving Community College Students on Probation: Four-Year Findings from Chaffey College's Opening Doors Program (New York: MDRC, 2011).
82. Mary Visher, Kristen Butcher, and Oscar Cerna, Guiding Developmental Math Students to Campus Services: An Impact Evaluation of the Beacon Program at South Texas College (New York: MDRC, 2010).
83. Peter Bahr, "'Cooling Out' in the Community College: What is the Effect of Academic Advising on Students' Chances of Success?" Research in Higher Education 49, no. 8 (2008): 704-32.
84. Joshua Angrist, Daniel Lang, and Philip Oreopoulos, "Incentives and Services for College Achievement: Evidence from a Randomized Trial, " American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 1, no. 1 (2009): 136-63.
85. Eric Bettinger and Rachel Baker, "The Effects of Student Coaching in College: An Evaluation of a Randomized Experiment in Student Mentoring, " Working Paper 16881 (Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research, March 2011).
86. Bridget Terry Long, "Financial Aid and Older Workers: Supporting the Nontraditional Student, " in Strategies for Improving the Economic Mobility of Workers, edited by Mande Toussaint-Comeau and Bruce D. Meyer (Kalamazoo, Mich.: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, 2009).
87. Neil S. Seftor and Sarah E. Turner, "Back to School: Federal Student Aid Policy and Adult College Enrollment, " Journal of Human Resources 37, no. 2 (2002): 336-52.
88. Susan Dynarski and Judith Scott-Clayton, "Financial Aid Policy: Lessons from Research, " Future of Children 22, vol. 1 (2013).
89. Jillian M. Duquaine-Watson, "'Pretty Darned Cold': Single-Mother Students and the Community College Climate in Post-Welfare Reform America, " Equity & Excellence in Education 40, no. 3 (2007): 229-40.
90. Jean Johnson and John Rochkind, With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them: Myths and Realities about Why So Many Students Fail to Finish College, (New York: Public Agenda 2009).
91. Thomas Brock and Lashawn Richburg-Hayes, Paying for Persistence: Early Results of a Louisiana Scholarship Program for Low-Income Parents Attending Community College (New York: MDRC, 2006), p. 43.
92. Sarah Simmons and Sarah E. Turner, "Taking Classes and Taking Care of the Kids: Do Childcare Benefits Increase Educational Attainment" (unpublished manuscript, University of Virginia, 2004.
93. Richard Voorhees and Paul Lingenfelter, "Adult Learners and State Policy" (Denver: SHEEO and CAEL, February 2003).
94. Richard Voorhees and Paul Lingenfelter, "Adult Learners and State Policy" (Denver: SHEEO and CAEL, February 2003).
95. Clive Belfield and Peter Crosta, "Predicting Success in College: The Importance of Placement Tests and High School Transcripts, " Working Paper 42 (New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University, February 2012).
96. Susan Dynarski and Judith Scott-Clayton, "Financial Aid Policy: Lessons from Research, " Future of Children 22, vol. 1 (2013).
97. Angela Boatman and Bridget Terry Long, "Does Remediation Work for All Students? How the Effects of Postsecondary Remedial and Developmental Courses Vary by Level of Academic Preparation, " National Center for Postsecondary Research Working Paper (New York: National Center for Postsecondary Research, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2010).
98. Angela Boatman and Bridget Terry Long, "Does Remediation Work for All Students? How the Effects of Postsecondary Remedial and Developmental Courses Vary by Level of Academic Preparation, " National Center for Postsecondary Research Working Paper (New York: National Center for Postsecondary Research, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2010).
99. Tara Parker, Leticia Tomas Bustillos, and Laurie Behringer, "Remedial and Developmental Education at a Crossroads" (Denver: Education Commission of the States, 2010).
100. In her recent study of student progression through community college, Judith Scott-Clayton concludes that community college students will be more likely to persist and succeed in programs that are tightly structured, with little room for individuals to deviate unintentionally from paths toward completion. Judith Scott-Clayton, "The Shapeless River: Does a Lack of Structure Inhibit Students' Progress at Community Colleges?" (New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University, January 2011).
101. Bridget Terry Long and Erin K. Riley, "Sending Signals to Students: The Role of Early Placement Testing in Improving Academic Preparation, " in Minding the Gap: Why Integrating High School with College Makes Sense and How to Do It, edited by Nancy Hoffman, Joel Vargas, Andrea Venezia and Marc S. Miller (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Education Press and Jobs for the Future, 2007).
102. Jessica S. Howell, Michal Kurlaender, and Eric Grodsky, "Postsecondary Preparation and Remediation: Examining the Effect of the Early Assessment Program at California State University, " Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 29, no. 4 (2010): 726-48.
103. For example, see Mark Dynarski and others, Impacts of Dropout Prevention Programs (Princeton, N.J.: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., 1998).
104. See Jill M. Constantine and others, A Study of the Effect of the Talent Search Program on Secondary and Postsecondary Outcomes in Florida, Indiana, and Texas: Final Report from Phase II of the National Evaluation (Washington: U.S. Department of Education, 2006).
105. Mary Fulton, State Reporting on Remedial Education: Analysis of Findings (Denver: Education Commission of the States, 2010).