We estimate the cost effectiveness of corequisite English developmental education at community colleges compared with a traditional prerequisite pathway. Our context is a previously published randomized controlled trial that estimated the effects of three different approaches to English corequisites implemented in five Texas community colleges.…

Drawing on qualitative data collected in a sample of colleges as part of a larger study on the implementation and impact of AB 705 in California, this paper explores the rollout of corequisite reforms, focusing on the use of embedded tutors in introductory math and English courses as a strategy to meet to the needs of students. This paper…

Developmental Education reform has been a vital topic in the field of higher education for decades. There have been several initiatives to further engage under-prepared college students and move them through gateway courses like freshman-level English and Math. One of the more emergent instructional models is referred to as co-requisite…

For California's community colleges, fall 2019 marked the deadline for implementing the state's historic developmental education legislation, Assembly Bill 705 (Irwin 2017). AB 705 drove transformative changes in community college math and English programs as colleges implemented research-based placement policies designed to maximize students'…

The growing number of underprepared students entering two- and four-year colleges and universities is the number one challenge currently facing the field of higher education. According to the American Association of Community Colleges, 41% of all undergraduates and 39% of first-time freshman consider community college their "go-to"…

Developmental English (DE) has been under fire from critics who think it acts as a barrier rather than as a support to the success of students placing into DE. In Texas, such pressures led to a wave of reforms and changes affecting delivery and structure of DE instruction. This dissertation draws on years of internal data at one community college…

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional, ex-post facto data study was to examine factors related to community college students who enrolled in developmental English and/or enrolled in combined developmental English and reading courses persistence and engagement at urban community colleges. The dependent variables…

Florida State University researchers spent the last year collecting and analyzing data on corequisite developmental education (DE) models in Texas as part of a four-year study that received a $1.5M grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. This study was proposed in response to Texas House Bill (HB) 2223, which…

Supporting Strategic Writers (SSW) is an instructional approach and curriculum for college developmental English and integrated reading and writing courses. SSW is based on strategy instruction integrated with practices common in college English. Students learn strategies for writing and critical reading of sources based on rhetorical analysis and…

This chapter describes and reviews new approaches to revising developmental English, the effectiveness of these approaches, and a synthesis of lessons learned from them.

This qualitative study aims to understand the experiences of students of color who have completed the transfer-level English class taught utilizing the concurrent model set by AB 705 and whether this model affects their academic success. The problem this study focused on was how equitable access to higher education is for community college…

During the last decade, distance learning has developed and become widespread. Many colleges and universities in the United States have accepted distance learning as part of the instructional delivery. In 2017, 33% of students enrolled were in distance learning courses. Out of these, 3.1 million (15.7%) students enrolled exclusively in distance…

This action research study aimed to explore the reasons for low course completion and retention rates for students who take developmental English courses at an open-enrollment private university in New England and develop support methods that address the reasons for these low rates. The problem of low course completion rates and retention rates…

We estimate the societal costs associated with corequisite and traditional pre-requisite English developmental education and compare them to societal benefits. Our context is the randomized controlled trial conducted by Miller et al. (2022) that estimated the effects of three different approaches to English corequisites implemented in 5 Texas…

Research for Action (RFA) in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin is engaged in a five-year mixed-methods study of the reforms associated with California AB 705. Over the course of the study, our team will assess the implementation, impact, and cost effectiveness of reforms associated with the law. This second interim report,…