Adult learners from the Caribbean diaspora continue to enroll in American colleges as they seek to improve their academic ambitions. As they do, they utilize varying instructional strategies to assist in achieving their educational goals, one of which is cooperative learning. While cooperative learning is widely used across different age groups…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of developmental math, English, and reading courses by evaluating the success of students in the corresponding college-level math, English, and reading course. This study analyzed select student characteristics (sex, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status) or student developmental education status as predictors…

For the past 10 years, government reports have documented an increase in college developmental reading courses. However, a community college in the southeastern United States has experienced a decline in enrollment and attendance in these courses since they began in 1999. The purpose of this study was to determine (a) the impact of taking a…

Mounting evidence suggests that the traditional sequence of developmental education courses hinders community college students from entering college-level coursework and ultimately earning a credential. For example, using data from colleges participating in the Achieving the Dream initiative, an analysis by Bailey, Jeong, and Cho (2010) found that…

The purpose of this multicase study was to explore with five students perceptions of their learning experiences and challenges faced while enrolled in a dental assisting course that is integrated with reading. The study was rooted in a constructivist framework both as a research paradigm and as a theoretical perspective regarding adult learning.…

This study explored relationships between placement decisions in English and reading courses and measures of college achievement and persistence for first-time degree- and certificate-seeking community college students enrolled at a large, public, suburban-serving community college in Maryland. Archived records were examined for students who had…

This Brief summarizes a study that addresses the impact of remedial and developmental courses on students with a range of levels of preparedness. Using longitudinal data from Tennessee, the authors estimate the effects of placement into varying levels of mathematics, reading, and writing courses for students attending public two- and four-year…

This paper presents new evidence on the effect of remediation using a large longitudinal dataset of Texas students. The authors study the effect of being in any remediation, regardless of subject, and also investigate the effect of remediation in different subjects. In particular, they examine whether remediation in math improves student outcomes.…

Rural community colleges often face the problem of having to cancel classes due to low enrollment. To eliminate this problem one western community college developed several presentation modes for College Reading I (CR1) to combine low-enrollment classes. This study was a program evaluation on non-equivalent groups to determine which presentation…

Each year, thousands of American students enter postsecondary institutions unprepared for college-level work and are subsequently placed in remedial or developmental courses. Several recent studies have examined the impact of these courses on student outcomes, but such studies focus exclusively on students who need just one or two classes; the…

The Asian Commanding English (CE) program at the General College, University of Minnesota, which provides coursework in reading, writing, and oral communication to students from Southeast Asia, is described. The program was selected as a model for the development of a retention package specifically directed to the Southeast Asian student…