Developmental Education

1. Developmental Education 2013 Legislative Workshop Dr. Jesse Smith Jones County Junior College Dr. Joan Davis Haynes Mississippi Community College Board

2. Overview • Higher Education National Perspective • State Trends • Policy and statute • Statewide initiatives • Bills from 2013 MS Legislative Session • MS CJC Developmental Education Study • Innovative Approaches • Need for Developmental Education • Core Principles for Transforming Developmental Education

3. National Perspective • Growing economic globalization • Community colleges are critical to address skills and education gap • Stagnant social mobility • Community college open-access mission is pivotal to restore the American Dream • Rising college costs • Affordability of community colleges • Deep demographic change • Community colleges educate nearly half of America’s minority undergraduates Bridging the Higher Education Divide, The Century Foundation, 2013

4. State Trends • Statute/Policy • Connecticut and Florida • Statewide Initiatives • North Carolina and Virginia • Only seen state trends in the last 2 – 3 years • No outcomes data on these trends yet because states have just recently implemented or have plans to implement in 2014

5. State Statute Trends Connecticut • Beginning in 2014 • Assessment - multiple measures of skill level • If likely to succeed in college level work with supplemental support • Embedded developmental education with corresponding college entry level courses • If below skill level • Maximum of one semester intensive developmental education support State of Connecticut, Public Act No. 12-40

6. State Statute Trends Florida • Exemption from developmental education beginning 2014 • active-duty members of all branch of the US armed services • anyone who entered a Florida public school as a ninth grader in 2003-04 or later and who has a standard Florida high-school diploma • Developmental education remaining will be restructured including classes with accelerated schedules

7. Statewide System Initiatives North Carolina (2013) • Redesign of math courses into math “modules” based on competencies • Integration of developmental English and reading • Statewide “cut” scores based on multiple measures (but mainly using high school GPA) • Worked with College Board to develop a Diagnostic Assessment and Placement just for North Carolina www.successnc.org

8. Statewide System Initiatives Virginia (2013) • Developed Virginia Placement Test (VPT) • Free, supplemental on-line resources to prep for VPT • Mathematics reading, and English redesign by community college faculty • Setting a “floor” for placement scores and referring those students to Adult Basic Education programs http://rethink.vccs.edu/progress/redesign-developmental-education/

9. 2013 MS Legislative Session • SB 2056 • Colleges & Universities Committee • Original language to phase out the funding for and delivery of remedial education at the postsecondary level • If remedial education is absolutely necessary, provide in the most efficient means possible • Option 1 – charge back to local school district for graduates not college-ready • Option 2 – financial incentives for local school districts who increase college-ready graduates

10. MS Statewide Survey Graduation Time Percentages (Fall 2006 Entering Full-time Freshman Student Cohort)

11. Innovative Approaches • Accelerated courses • Community College of Denver • FastStart program – two developmental semesters in one • Learning communities • Kingsborough Community College in New York • Freshmen developmental students take three courses together – Developmental English, a college-level course and a student success course • College-level courses with extra student supports • Community College of Baltimore • Accelerated Learning Project – students placing just below college ready • Remedial courses combined with job training • Washington • Integration of Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST)

12. Need for Developmental Education • Reducing the number of recent high school graduates that need developmental education should be a fundamental goal • However, nontraditional adults enrolling in college comprise a significant portion of developmental students • More than 42 million Americans ages 18 to 64 do not hold a postsecondary degree and a great many of them would need remediation if they pursue one

13. Need for Developmental Education • Supports the new Common Core State Standards assessment approach • New standards will allow for college readiness determination in 11th grade • If not college ready, development of transition courses for 12th grade year • Supports our college completion goals • Maintains access to postsecondary education and degrees

14. Core Principles for Transforming Developmental Education • Assessment • Research shows high school GPA is a better indicator than ACT scores • Use of multiple measures • Placement • Research shows a large percentage of students are misplaced into developmental education when they only need some individual “competencies” in English, reading or math • Curriculum and Instruction • Redesign efforts nation wide • Use of Massively Open On-line Courses (MOOC) for developmental education delivery (Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio) • Course Sequencing • Research shows that long course sequencing creates many drop out points for students