Though a large percentage of U.S. students enter higher education with mathematics deficiencies, many institutions allow these students to decide the timing of their enrollment in developmental mathematics courses. This study of 3476 first-time-in-college students entailed the review of student outcomes (Fall GPA, Fall-to-Spring retention,…

Drawing on critical multicultural education scholarship, this article discusses an alternative assessment of academic support programs. It highlights the importance and value of supplementing traditional assessments with direct student participation. Through a discussion of data from a summer bridge program at a large research university, the…

In the last three columns the authors introduced the concept and provided several examples of critical thinking competency standards that target the cultivation of intellectual traits. In this column the authors continue the discussion of these competency standards that are essential to teaching and learning because they go beyond the development…

Developmental education has increasingly become part of the national debate in higher education. This is particularly true for developmental mathematics courses which, in general, have the highest rates of failure and noncompletion of any developmental subject area. This manuscript describes the current state of the art in developmental…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the effectiveness of incorporating study strategies in a developmental mathematics/college algebra program. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a quasiexperimental methodology. Results show that students reported increases on the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI)…

This article presents an interview with Dr. Paul Nolting, a national expert in assessing individual math learning problems, developing effective student learning strategies, and assessing institutional variables that affect math success. Since his dissertation in 1986 on improving math success with study skills Dr. Nolting has consulted with over…

Developmental education is a pedagogical challenge, especially since students are grappling with academic material they have seen before (some recently). In this article, the author discusses developmental mathematics and describes the typical developmental mathematics sequence. She also proposes to build new pathways for developmental…

Every year tens of thousands of students step foot on community college campuses, many for the first time. These students all have one thing in common: hope. They enter these institutions with lofty goals and a fervent expectation that the educative experience they are about to embark upon will fundamentally improve their lives. Yet, their hopes…

Postsecondary literacy instruction--the teaching of basic writing and transitional, or developmental, reading in community colleges and 4-year colleges--is an important and growing field, but also one still developing in key areas. In this article, we discuss three of these areas within which postsecondary literacy instruction can continue to…

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the perceptions of underprepared college students who had participated in a first-year learning community at an urban, culturally diverse, commuter campus in the southeastern United States. Perceptions of graduates and those who earned at least 30 college-level credit hours were compared to…

In the last two columns the authors introduced the idea of ethical reasoning and discussed its importance to education. They dealt with the problem of egocentric thinking as a barrier to ethical reasoning. And they focused on the importance of distinguishing ethics from other modes of thought with which it is often confused, namely social…

Techtalk in Volume 33 has been addressing the digital divide in technology, first through the use of mobile phones and then through the development of digital literacies with digital storytelling. This third and final column in the series looks at bridging both the hardware/software divide and the digital literacies divide through the educational…

This article addresses conflicting perspectives regarding research in developmental education. Subsequent to examining opinions regarding the rigor of research in the field to date, recommendations for a research agenda are proposed. The study's review of research strengths and weaknesses suggests multiple types of evidence, potentially pointing…

Colleges are facing an increasing population of students who begin their college experience in developmental education classes in reading, math, and/or English. Many of these students are unsuccessful in attaining a degree, sometimes because they are deterred by their lack of preparation and the delay of two or more semesters before they begin…

In this article the author has used 19th-century arithmetic and algebra textbooks as a way to reflect on current practices in developmental mathematics education. Five areas of special interest were found: motivation, relevance, depth, pedagogy, and textbooks. Philosophic and practical statements from vintage textbook authors remind educators of a…