Studies show that a good educational foundation and preparation for higher education are major predictors of college success. Yet, more than half of students joining public two- and four-year colleges are underprepared. The result is a glaring gap in America’s education and social system. To reduce the gap, some public institutions of higher learning spend resources and time on developmental education, bringing underprepared students up to par.
Developmental education is an initiative for improving college-bound students’ academic readiness. It’s designed to raise underprepared students' reading, writing, or math abilities by immersing them in non-examinable courses. It also targets a broad range of students, including those who have been out of school for a long time and could use a refresher course, first-generation students, and those who did not receive a strong foundation in high school.
Besides being a tool for improving students’ readiness for college-level courses, developmental education also improves completion rates and prepares students for life outside of the educational system. Additionally, it levels the playing field, resulting in a more equitable education system.
Studies show that a student’s race, gender, and socio-economic background disproportionally affect their educational attainment and college completion rates. Policymakers cannot influence such student-level factors. They could, however, eliminate the disparities in outcomes, giving underprepared learners a chance to catch up with their gifted or privileged counterparts. This is where developmental education comes in handy. It helps stakeholders close the racial/ethnic gaps in college completion.
Learning disabilities are major barriers to college completion, with lifelong implications. Immersing learners with developmental disabilities in developmental eliminates or lowers barriers that would otherwise lock such learners out of higher education.
To ignore the challenges of unpreparedness by pairing ill-prepared students with college-ready ones promotes inequality. This disproportionately affects the latter’s learning outcomes. The disparity is likely to play out even beyond college, with the unprepared students being disfavored in the labor market.
The link between college completion and job placement is well-documented. Studies show that those with higher levels of educational attainment land better-paying jobs. Developmental education, therefore, is the bridge that empowers less-prepared students to do well in college, graduate, and be gainfully employed.
The job market is evolving. Employers are more likely to go for the widely knowledgeable applicant than that with a limited skill set. Consequently, one may have to return to school to attain more knowledge to meet the growing demands. Non-traditional students, those who return to college to improve their workforce skills, look to developmental education to attain the missing skills.
Some colleges have altered their admission criteria to accept more students. Florida, for instance, has exempted some students from placement tests, effectively lowering the admission bar. Such students are then immersed in a contextualized course, pairing a remedial course, say, math, with a student’s major. This approach serves the same purpose as traditional semester-long remedial courses, but it takes fewer weeks.
Failure to tackle the underlying problem - unpreparedness for college-level courses, is a half-measure that produces half-baked graduates at best and higher dropout rates at worst. Developmental education, therefore, is seen as a tool for improving retention rates. Community colleges that provide remedial courses retain more students. What’s more, underprepared students get to graduate college, not for the sake of it, but with job-relevant skills.
