Time to Eliminate Prereq Developmental Ed for All Students

"There is a growing public sentiment that the high cost of postsecondary education doesn't yield adequate value for students and their families. Too few students earn postsecondary credentials that result in economic and social mobility to justify the cost. This sentiment persists despite a national movement over the past 15 years to improve postsecondary attainment rates. Great progress has been made at many institutions and in postsecondary systems, but wide-scale adoption of evidence-based reforms remains elusive."

"There is more evidence than ever that eliminating prerequisite developmental education and implementing highly effective reforms is essential to improving student success rates. The Community College Research Center at Columbia University's Teachers College has found that comprehensive student success reforms like improved advising or guided pathways won't reach their full potential without first scaling developmental education reform."

"The nation has made extraordinary progress over the past 15 years in defining the shortcomings of traditional remediation ... and implementing reform at scale. But there has been stagnation and even reversals of promising reforms."

Postsecondary education faces intensified scrutiny as high costs increasingly seem disconnected from student economic and social mobility. Progress toward higher attainment over the last 15 years exists, but widespread adoption of evidence-based reforms remains limited. Developmental education reform sits atop reforms that can lower college costs and boost attainment, yet it has not been scaled nationwide. Strong evidence supports eliminating prerequisite remediation, implementing corequisite math and English, aligning gateway math to programs of study, and using high school GPA for placement to accelerate progress. Other student success reforms depend on first scaling developmental education reform, and reform efforts have shown stagnation and occasional reversals.

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