Strategies for Dealing with Remediation in Community Colleges

1
Strategies for Dealing with Remediation in
Community Colleges

• Dolores Perin
• Community College Research Center
• Teachers College, Columbia University
• NCCTE Webcast
• November 5, 2003

2
Remediation Definition and Forms

• a class or activity intended to meet the needs
  of students who initially do not have the skills,
  experience or orientation necessary to perform at
  a level that the institutions or instructors
  recognize as regular for those students (Grubb
  et al. 1999, p. 174)
• Distinction between learning skills for the first
  time and brush-up
• Examples of remediation developmental education,
  services in academic learning centers

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How well prepared are community college students
for college-level work?

• One-third to 90 underprepared
• Recent high school graduates at special risk
• Across all age groups, approx. 40 of cc entrants
  enroll in developmental education
• Highest demand for math, but considerable need
  for reading and writing remediation
• Remediation as cc contribution to equity and
  access within higher education

4
Academic Need Recommendations

• Analyze and communicate institutional research
  data on reading, writing and math performance
• Work closely with high schools to boost
  preparedness

5
Should community colleges mandate assessment?

• 58-69 of community colleges mandate assessment
  of incoming students
• Assessment measures vary widely, include
  standardized tests, local tests and
  self-assessment
• Scores vary in accuracy

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Assessment Recommendations

• Assessment is essential
• - Select instruments that are standardized,
  normed and where possible, directly related to
  curriculum
• Include English language proficiency in
  assessment
• Administer tests at both entry and exit make
  standards visible

7
Should remedial placement be required?

• Difficult to require remedial completion prior to
  college-level enrollment
• Problems with developmental education as a
  graduation requirement
• Use of prerequisites to require developmental
  education enrollment
• If developmental education voluntary, older
  returning adults more likely than recent high
  school graduates to opt for it

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Placement Policy Recommendations

• Early remediation is essential, but not
  necessarily developmental education
• In its current form, it may not be advisable to
  require developmental education enrollment for
  all academically underprepared students the use
  of academic learning centers may be more
  effective
• Institutions need to evaluate developmental
  education as basis for mandate

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Strategies for developmental education

• Characteristics
• Reading, writing, math courses, 2-4 levels
• Institutional but not college credit
• Goal preparation for college English and math
• Organization
• Mainstreamed, partially mainstreamed, centralized
• Mainstream organization most prevalent nationally
• Instructors many part-time adjuncts

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Developmental education curriculum and
instruction

• Standard generic materials, not aligned to
  content courses
• Adaptations CCRC sample modified developmental
  education in various ways, including
• Open-entry, open-exit, self-paced, computer-based
  math courses
• Individualized tutoring in reading and writing
  for students within ten points of passing
  placement exam
• Accelerated developmental education e.g. half and
  full semester options
• Contextualization

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Curriculum and Instruction Recommendations

• Evaluate different forms of curriculum and
  instruction
• Find ways to connect developmental education
  curriculum and instruction to content area study.
  
• Examples
• learning communities (developmental education
  involvement currently rare)
• supplementary contextualized materials

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Strategies beyond developmental education

• Use of services in academic learning centers
• Learning centers vary re connection to
  developmental education
• Tutoring for specific purpose e.g. completion of
  content area assignment
• Reducing course demands
• Remediation within degree-credit content courses.
  Example writing across the curriculum

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Remediation beyond developmental education
Recommendations

• Evaluate effectiveness of tutoring in learning
  centers
• Study remedial opportunities within degree-credit
  courses to bring remediation and content-area
  study closer together
• Provide professional development in
  contextualized learning foster interdisciplinary
  collaboration