League for Innovation in the Community College January 2019 | Page 34
“
Innovation in developmental education is key because it
is the means by which we give any student, regardless of
the challenges faced, the best chance to be successful.
2. It’s not about placement; it’s about support. A more
The corequisite movement, first through institutional
holistic model of assessment and placement is crucial experimentation and increasingly through state policy, has
because determining which course a student should take gained widespread adoption (Complete College America,
is only one part of the on-ramp to student success. n.d.). Innovative instructional delivery, such as emporium
models, has changed the pace of remediation at many
In the aforementioned study by the Community College institutions. Certainly, developmental education, as it
Research Center (2012), the holistic placement model was stands today, is a far different system than the one that
able to identify some students who were placed into a stood ten years ago.
college-level course based on a test score alone, but were
likely to fail that course based on other indicators. The The reason these innovations are so important is that they
author referred to these students as “over-placed,” yet I change the intervention that is designed to remediate
would argue that these students were under-supported. It students’ academic needs. We’ve long known that
would seem that the challenge these students faced was students who are placed into developmental education
not the level of content, but rather the strategies used to have little chance of completing those courses and,
pass the course. ultimately, completing a degree (Bailey & Cho, 2010).
While we have maligned placement tests, secondary
Placement should be considered as a moment curricula, and a host of other factors, one of the key
of determining support in both the academic and issues was that our primary existing intervention—that
cocurricular domains. Based on proficiency in math or is, providing additional semesters of coursework—was
English, a student may require academic support (e.g., not demonstrably effective in achieving that goal of
tutoring or a corequisite course), but holistic assessment remediation (Burdman, 2012).
might also identify the need for advising, counseling, or
other interventions that could support success beyond Community colleges have long been a gateway to higher
those gateway courses. education and a lever of economic change for our citizens
and our nation. Innovation in developmental education is
Multiple measures placement is an advantage for students key because it is the means by which we give any student,
whose success may be misrepresented by a placement regardless of the challenges faced, the best chance to be
test, allowing them to forgo a semester (or more, in some successful. Holistic assessment, placement, and support—
cases) of developmental education. Yet as a placement coupled with effective pedagogy—is simply the next logical
system more capably identifies students who are likely to step in achieving that goal.
succeed, it better predicts those who will likely fail. Thus,
it is not just placement, but support, that is critical in these
Visit www.league.org/node/18888 for the reference list.
early conversations with students.
3. The next step is innovative pedagogy. Placement is just
one of many innovations in developmental education.
34
League for Innovation in the Community College Innovatus
Ross Markle is an independent assessment and data
use consultant.