ERIC Number: ED676937
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Oct
Pages: 62
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Gaining Ground: A Decade of Student Success with Corequisite Learning Support at Tennessee Community Colleges
Tennessee Board of Regents - The College System of Tennessee
In 2015, Tennessee community colleges initiated a wave of national reform that reimagined academic support and accelerated student success. Through innovations in the delivery of targeted learning support, such as the corequisite support model, students are more likely to achieve key milestones of success in their first year of college. Now, after a decade of experience with these reforms, the evidence is clear--the share of community college students completing gateway courses in their first year of college has doubled over the past decade. Yet, gaps in student outcomes remain, and evidence from the past decade suggests the need for further improvement in the decade ahead. Since 2020, Tennessee community colleges have embarked upon a second wave of reform designed to help each student succeed. These reforms included refinements to the assessment methods that connect students with learning support, policy modernization to improve alignment of learning support with students' program of study and career pathways, and investments in college-led innovations, such as the Tennessee Coaching Project, to improve long-term outcomes for students who received learning support. This report describes how Tennessee community colleges have reformed learning support to strengthen students' academic preparation and support student success. It explores outcomes from the past decade and points toward ways to continue boosting student success in the first year and beyond. This report is divided into three main sections: (1) Gaining Momentum: This section describes how student outcomes improved after the implementation of corequisite support in 2015 and how improved outcomes were sustained in the decade since; (2) Gaining Ground: This section explores an era of reform and continuous improvement in corequisite support at Tennessee community colleges from 2020 to 2025; and (3) Accelerating Success: This section reviews early evidence about the impact of reforms adopted from 2020 to 2025.
Descriptors: Required Courses, Community Colleges, Educational Change, Academic Achievement, Outcomes of Education, Educational Improvement, Remedial Programs, Developmental Studies Programs, Community College Students, Educational Innovation, College Freshmen, Evaluation Methods, Educational Policy, Career Pathways, Coaching (Performance), Student Placement, Introductory Courses, Student Evaluation
Tennessee Board of Regents - The College System of Tennessee. 1 Bridgestone Park, Third Floor, Nashville, TN 37214. Tel: 615-366-4400; Fax: 615-366-3903; Web site: https://www.tbr.edu
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative; Numerical/Quantitative Data
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR)
Identifiers - Location: Tennessee
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A


