The value of the National Association for Developmental Education (NADE) accreditation process is far-reaching. Not only do students and programs benefit from the process, but also the entire institution. Through data collection of student performance, analysis, and resulting action plans, faculty and administrators can work cohesively towards…

Learning Expectations and Academic Preparation (LEAP) was a two-year pilot offering a cohort (20 students) of our lowest scoring English and mathematics developmental students an intensive cross-disciplinary semester to accelerate through their developmental courses. Blending learning community and summer bridge best practices, LEAP incorporated…

The current trend in postsecondary literacy is to offer developmental reading and writing coursework in an integrated, (and in most cases) accelerated, format. This move toward integration and acceleration is definitely in line with the research literature; however, many of these new courses do not reflect the curricular and pedagogical reforms…

In 2007, the president of Shelton State Community College in Alabama announced that with more than 60% of incoming freshmen placing into developmental courses, the college had a moral and ethical obligation to provide top-quality opportunities for underprepared students. He appointed a team to investigate options for improving services and…

When evaluating the effectiveness of their program, members of the Brooklyn College SEEK Department, a higher education opportunity program, decided to make their pedagogy more student-centered. They created a method of reading instruction, which they named critical inquiry. Its goals are to build community through teaching students to annotate,…

Developmental educators are often familiar with the benefits of learning communities and with the importance of incorporating research-based best practices into their developmental studies courses. Faculty may be less familiar with the educational applications based on the concepts of emotional intelligence (EI). Faculty at College of the Mainland…

This manuscript describes five of the most common mistakes made in developmental education programs based on the author's experiences, which include consulting at over 200 community colleges. These mistakes include failing to create a seamless transition, failing to train adjunct instructors, failing to coordinate developmental programs, failing…

Research suggests that student enrollment in developmental level courses at the postsecondary education level increases annually. This is occurring because underprepared and/or nontraditional students' reading, writing, or math skills are inadequate to meet the challenges of college-level work. This article focuses on self-explanations as an…

Described as "tough love," Louisiana State University at Eunice's "Pathways to Success" program experienced success in its first two years by implementing mandatory placement, attendance, tutoring, and advising policies. Selected student successes and retention data are discussed, along with policies and some practical advice…

This article is designed to present an overview of critical theory, research, and evaluation for the developmental mathematics educator. Students caught in the gap between high school mathematics preparation and entry-level college mathematics expectations--developmental mathematics education students--need to have their personal narratives told…

Anyone who has ever taught developmental mathematics knows there is a problem in course placement. Some students test well and place clearly above their level, while other students place below their real capability because they either have been away from math for a number of years, or did not prepare for the assessment test. In either case, they…

Developmental programs exist throughout postsecondary education institutions. The CHANCE program at Northern Illinois University targets the needs of inner city students to support them in becoming successful college students. This study sought to understand the reasons that CHANCE students who had failed a required reading course returned to the…

From the assumption that matching a student's learning style with the learning method best suited for the student, it follows that developing courses that correlate learning method with learning style would be more successful for students. Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute (TVI) in New Mexico has attempted to provide students with more…

Many developmental educators have been assigned increased responsibilities for campus-wide enrollment management activities. A new system is needed for educators to more accurately sort through the rapidly growing database of information related to student retention. This will enable the reader to more quickly identify promising practices for…