The Impact of Developmental Education on Community College Persistence and Vertical Transfer

Abstract

Developmental education has been cited as one of the most difficult issues facing community colleges. Despite the controversy and changes to educational policy regarding developmental education, there is a notable dearth of rigorous research measuring the causal effect of remediation on community college student outcomes. The present study uses data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS: 04/09) to measure the impact of developmental education on community college students' odds of persistence and vertical transfer after controlling for enrollment in remediation and institutional-level variables. Propensity score matching results reveal that students who enroll in developmental courses are systematically different from community college students who do not remediate in gender, ethnicity, first-generation status, academic preparation and experiences during high school, and delayed college entry. Moreover, postmatching hierarchical generalized linear modeling (HGLM) findings demonstrate that developmental education may overall serve to decrease community college students' odds of successfully transferring to a 4-year institution, with negative impacts on students enrolled in English and mathematics courses. Implications for research, policy, and practice are addressed.

Increasing Success Rates in Developmental Math: The Complementary Role of Individual and Institutional Characteristics

“…Compared to college-level students, students placed into remediation, report lower high school GPAs, earned less college credit during high school, took lower-level math classes in high school, and delayed entry into college (Crisp and Delgado 2014).…”

“…Students placed into developmental education are more likely to be African American or Latino (Attewell et al 2006;Long 2005, 2007;Crisp and Delgado 2014;Grimes and David 1999;Hagedorn et al 1999;Perry et al 2010), older (Calcagno et al 2007), female Long 2005, 2007;Crisp and Delgado 2014;Hagedorn et al 1999), low-income (Hagedorn et al 1999), or first-generation students (Chen 2005;Crisp and Delgado 2014).…”

“…Research has also demonstrated that students enrolled in college-level math courses enter institutions with many advantages over students enrolled in developmental math (Crisp and Delgado 2014;Hagedorn et al 1999). Compared to college-level students, students placed into remediation, report lower high school GPAs, earned less college credit during high school, took lower-level math classes in high school, and delayed entry into college (Crisp and Delgado 2014).…”

“…1 Studies have suggested that some of the negative impacts of remediation may be attributable to selection bias (e.g., Attewell et al 2006;Bettinger and Long 2005;. For example, developmental math students are found to be systematically different from college-level students in terms of gender, ethnicity, first-generation status, academic preparation and experiences in high school, and delayed college entry (Crisp and Delgado 2014). Further, compared to college-level students, developmental students also tend to enroll part-time given financial obligations and their external commitments to their family and work (Hoyt 1999).…”

Faculty Perspectives on Underprepared Students

“…The remaining two-thirds of entering freshman require at least one developmental course in reading, writing, or mathematics. This lack of academic preparedness has resulted in the need for remedial or developmental education at the post-secondary level (Crisp & Delgado, 2014). Because underprepared students often fail to adjust to the rigors of college-level coursework, instructors are sometimes forced to inflate grades, modify and dilute course content, and adjust teaching styles in order to pass students (Bar, Kadiyali & Zussman, 2012;Crumbley, Flinn, & Reichelt, 2012;Howell, 2011;Roselle, 2009;Tucker & Courts, 2010).…”