From Pilots to Pathways: Situating Developmental Education
Research in the Context of Completion Reform
2015 Connections Conference - Orlando, Florida
May 14, 2015
Michael Lawrence Collins, Jobs for the Future
Andrea Juncos, Jobs for the Future
EDUCATION FOR ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
ABOUT JOBS FOR THE FUTURE
Jobs for the Future works to ensure economic opportunity for all. Our
innovative college and career pathway models give everyone struggling
to succeed access to needed education and credentials. We partner
with education, workforce, and business leaders to help ensure that
employers have workers with the right skills. We advocate with
policymakers for the state and federal policies needed to sustain this
work.
POSTSECONDARY STATE POLICY NETWORK
13 States
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
A growing pathways movement…
COMPLETION HAS NOT IMPROVED
Why? What have we learned?...
PROBLEMS OF SCALE:
PILOTS WON’T MEET THE CHALLENGE
We have learned the hard way.
“’We’re piloting ourselves to death and not really thinking
about how we do long-term shifts.”
—College administrator, Inside Higher Ed
“We have implemented a lot of these strategies, but isolated
reforms do not add up to transformative change.”
—Engineering faculty member, site visit
PROGRAM STRUCTURE AND EARLY CONNECTION TO
PROGRAMS OF STUDY
The Shapeless River: Does
Lack of Structure Inhibit
Student Success?
By Judith Scott-Clayton
• The observational evidence is
very strong that community
college students are often
overwhelmed by the complexity
of navigating their community
college experience
Get with the Program
By Davis Jenkins (CCRC)
• Over 50% of students who
entered a program of study in
first or second term earned a
certificate, degree, or
transferred to a 4-year
institution without a credential
Source: CCRC Working Paper No. 32 April 2011
ASSESSMENT AND PLACEMENT
One Shot Deal: Students’
Perceptions of Assessment
and Course Placement in
California’s Community
Colleges
By Andrea Venezia (West Ed)
Finding:
Students perceive assessment
tests to be a high stakes “one
shot deal” that can place them in
remedial courses for a long time
but has little connection to what
students studied in high school
Do High Stakes Exams Predict
College Success?
By Judith Scott-Clayton (CCRC)
Finding:
Using multiple measures could reduce
the remediation rate by 8 to 12
percentage points while maintaining or
increasing success rates in college
level courses
ACCELERATION: Eliminate points of attrition
Course Completion/Enrollment for Students Referred
to Lower Level Remedial Math
KEY EVIDENCE INFLUENCING DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION
REFORM
RESEARCH
FINDINGS
Quantitative Studies:
• Calcagno & Long 2008
• Martorell & McFarlin
2007/2011
• Dadgar, 2012
• Scott-Clayton & Rodriquez,
2012
-Generally little positive effects for
developmental education for
students near “cut score” point
ACCELERATION
Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) at Community College of
Baltimore County (CCBC)
• Mainstreams underprepared students into college level-writing
• Students who test into upper dev. ed. writing take ENG101
• ENG 101: at least half college-ready, 8 to 10 ALP students
• ALP cohorts take ENG 052 – meet after w/same professor
• Companion course: writing workshop, focus on college success
• Goal: maximize likelihood of passing ENG 101
ACCELERATION
Outcomes of ALP and Non-ALP Students
through Fall 2011
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
75%
64%
48%
39%
38%
ALP
Non-ALP
17%
ENG 101
Completion
ENG 102
Completion
Persist to Next Year
Note: All differences are statistically significant.
Source: Cho, Kopko, Jenkins, and Jaggers, 2012. Community College Research Center, Working Paper No. 53.
ACCELERATION
Outcomes of ALP and Non-ALP Students through Fall 2011 (cont.):
By Fall 2011
ALP Students Non-ALP Students
Courses completed 4.33
3.31
Credits earned
9.79
12.91
Note: All differences are statistically significant.
Cost:
• ALP: more cost-effective pathway to completing ENG 101 and ENG
102 than traditional developmental sequence.
• Benefits of ALP are more than 2x the costs
Source: Cho, et al., 2012. Community College Research Center, Working Paper No. 53.
ACCELERATION
FastStart at the Community College of Denver
• Combines different levels of dev. ed. courses into paired courses multiple courses in 1 semester. Ex: Math 30/60, Math 60/90
• Also pairs dev. ed. courses with college-level courses
• Courses taught in extended time blocks
• Students meet with case manager
• Students encouraged to take student success course
• Offers tutoring, financial aid advising, other wrap-around services
ACCELERATION
Outcome Differences Between FastStart & Non-FastStart Students
Outcome
Difference at 1 Year
Difference at 3 Years
Gatekeeper math
completion
15 percentage points* 11 percentage points*
Gatekeeper math
enrollment
20 percentage points* 14 percentage points*
Gatekeeper math
pass rate
13 percentage points
4 percentage points
College-level
credits earned
-0.2 credits
0.3 credits
* = statistically significant
Source: Jaggars, et al., 2015. Three Accelerated Developmental Education Programs: Features, Student Outcomes, and
Implications. Community College Review, 43: 3-26.
ACCELERATION
Developmental Math Redesign Implemented at the
Virginia Community College System in Spring 2012:
• Restructured developmental math into 9 modules
• Each delivered through a 1-credit, 4-week course
• Students only take modules they need - determined by
new placement test and program of study
ACCELERATION
STEM and
Business
Placement
and
Diagnostic
Precollege
Units 1-5
Liberal Arts
Precollege
Units 1-5
CTE
Curriculumspecific
units
Source: Virginia Community College System
Precollege
Units 6-9
Curriculumspecific
credit
courses
ACCELERATION
Student Outcome
Initial Impact
Number of students enrolling in dev. ed. math
Number of students completing math dev. ed.
requirements within 1 year
Number of students successfully completing math
college-level gatekeeper course
Number of students persisting, graduating, or
transferring
Source: Initial Review of the Impact of the Developmental Education Redesign at Virginia’s Community Colleges,
Dec. 2014, VCCS.
INTEGRATION
STATWAY® is a year-long course that allows students to complete
developmental math and college-level statistics.
Population
• Seventy-eight percent of students placed 2+ levels below college math
• Almost 50 percent placed into developmental reading
• Twenty-four percent African American; 29 percent Caucasian; and 33 percent
Hispanic
Results
• 49% success rate after 1 year vs. 6% of Dev Ed math students earning
college-level credit in 1 year.
Source: Van Campen, J., Sowers, N., & Srother, S. (2013
INTEGRATION
QUANTWAY®
Population
• Fifty-six percent of students placed 2+ below college math
• Thirty-nine percent placed into developmental reading
• Forty-one percent African American; 42 percent Caucasian; and 11 percent
Hispanic
Results
• 59 percent completed Dev Ed sequence in a single semester vs. 21% who
complete traditional Dev Ed math in 1 year
Source: Van Campen, J., Sowers, N., & Srother, S. (2013)
INTEGRATION
Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (IBEST)
• Integrates basic skills and technical content to accelerate basic skills
students’ transition into and through a college-level occupational field of
study.
• Limited choice, highly structured, robust supports
Results:
• Basic-skills occupational students in colleges that adopted I-BEST
were about 10% points more likely to earn college-level credits and
7% more likely to earn a certificate within 3 years than peers in
colleges without I-BEST.
Source: Wachen, Jenkins, Belfield. & Van Noy (2012)
INTEGRATION
Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) at CUNY
• Comprehensive, long-term program designed to help students
earn associate’s degree within three years
• Started in 2007 at six community colleges in CUNY system
• Requires students to study full-time and offers a range of supports
designed to address multiple barriers to student success
• Targets low-income students with some developmental need
INTEGRATION
Financial Supports
• Tuition waivers
• MetroCards
• Textbooks
Course Enrollment
• ASAP seminar – college
success
• Block scheduling
• Cohort model
Student Supports
• High-touch advising
• Tutoring services
• Career counseling
Requirements/Messages
• Study full-time in ASAP major
• Take dev. ed. courses early
• Graduate within three years
INTEGRATION
Summary of Student Outcomes
Outcome after Three Years
ASAP Group
Control
Group
Earned degree from any
college
40%
22%
Enrolled in 4-year college
25%
17%
Total credits earned
48
39
Completed dev. ed.
requirements
74%
55%
Enrollment: ASAP boosted enrollment, esp. during
intersessions: In year 1, 54% of ASAP students enrolled in
summer session vs. 29% of control group.
Source: Scrivener et al., 2015. Doubling Graduation Rates, Three-Year Effects of CUNY’s Accelerated
Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for Developmental Education Students, MDRC.
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGES
State Appropriations
Enrollments
Underprepared Students
A STATE POLICY AGENDA FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE
1) Streamline program requirements and create highly structured
programs of study.
2) Encourage colleges to redesign developmental education into
accelerated on-ramps to programs of study.
3) Support colleges in implementing wrap-around student supports.
4) Ensure that structured pathways lead to valuable credentials and
durable competencies.
5) Support colleges’ strategic use of data.
6) Create financial incentives to encourage success-oriented
institutional and student behaviors.
7) Invest professional development to create intensive, authentic
faculty engagement and create a deeper focus on teaching and
learning.
MICHAEL LAWRENCE COLLINS
mcollins@jff.org
ANDREA JUNCOS
ajuncos@jff.org
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