Unlocking the Gate: What We Know About Improving Developmental Education

“Emphasizing results from experimental and quasi-experimental studies, this literature review identifies the most promising approaches for revising the structure, curriculum, or delivery of developmental education and suggests areas for future innovations in developmental education practice and research. This analysis focuses on four different types of interventions for improving students’ progress through remedial education and into college-level courses, including (1) strategies that help students avoid developmental education by shoring up their skills before they enter college; (2) interventions that accelerate students’ progress through developmental education by shortening the timing or content of their courses; (3) programs that provide contextualized basic skills together with occupational or college-content coursework; and (4) programs that enhance the supports for developmental level learners, such as advising or tutoring” (p.iii). (Abstractor: Author)

“Few developmental education reform efforts have been evaluated rigorously, thereby limiting the number of programs that can be causally linked to improved student achievement. Moreover, experimental evaluations of student support interventions and learning communities reveal that these strategies may have only modest effects on students’ achievement. Interestingly, earlier quasi-experimental research on some of these programs –– learning communities and student success courses –– showed more promising results. The differing findings further underscore the need for more rigorous analyses of developmental education reforms, as they suggest that other characteristics, such as students’ motivation and self-selection into these programs, may have accounted for the more positive results seen in the quasi-experimental studies. Though more rigorous, experimental analysis is needed, quasi-experimental research on other approaches — such as several acceleration and avoidance strategies and contextualized instructional models — have shown great promise for increasing developmental education students’ overall achievement, including their progress through developmental education and success in credit-bearing courses. The most promising of these models have focused on integrating developmental education students more quickly into mainstream college programs and providing clear opportunities for them to link their skill development with their field of interest. Models that help students avoid developmental education before entering college as well as strategies to mainstream students into college-level courses have also demonstrated promise for improving students’ achievement. When looking to expand or replicate these program models, practitioners and policymakers should pay careful attention to how students with lower-level skills or multiple developmental needs can be better assisted, as these students are the ones most at risk of failure.” (p.56-58) (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2011
• Author(s): Rutschow, Elizabeth Zachry; Schneider, Emily
• Organizational Author(s): MDRC
• Funding Source: National Center for Postsecondary Research (NCPR), U.S. Department of Education, Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Melissa Mack
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies