Many recent high school graduates who enter community college are required to take remedial or developmental education courses before enrolling in college-level courses. Developmental courses essentially reteach high school- and junior high school-level content in reading, writing, and math. In some cases, students are referred to two or even three courses of developmental education in a single subject area. The annual cost of providing remediation to community college students nationwide has been estimated at approximately $7 billion. Only 28 percent of community college students who take a developmental education course go on to earn a degree within eight years, and many students assigned to developmental courses drop out before completing their sequence and enrolling in college-level courses. A number of rigorous studies have been undertaken to assess the extent to which the traditional system of developmental education helps students into and through college-level coursework. These studies are discussed in this report.