Comprehensive developmental education programs should be an institutional priority.
Placement services, advising, mentoring and tutoring are part of a comprehensive developmental education program.
Colleges can improve the rate of full-time, tenure track faculty teaching developmental education courses.
Colleges can provide incentives and rewards for instructors who
make developmental education a specialty.
Developmental Education courses can encourage cohort learning.
Studies indicate that students who receive support from and study with peers improve their udnerstanding of course material.
Community colleges can make placement testing mandatory for all students.
Students who enroll at the appriate course level are more likely to gain new skills and succeed in college-level courses.
Community colleges can link developmental courswork in reading, writing, and mathematics more effectively linked to college-level ourcomes in general education courses.
Students will gain skills which will help them succeed across the curriculum.
SOURCES:
Adelman, C. (2005). Moving into town -and moving on: the community college in the lives of traditional-age students. Office of Vocational and Adult Education: U.S. Department of Education.
Lee, V. E. and Frank, K.A. Students' characteristics that facilitate the transfer from two-year to four-year colleges. Sociology of Education, 63 (3), 178-193.
Perin, D. (2004). Remediation beyond developmental education: the use of learning assistance centers to increase academic preparedness in community colleges. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 28, 559-582.
