Do we need developmental education?

You may have seen the news story about Connecticut considering a law that would eliminate all developmental education in the state … except for imbedded remediation and an ‘intensive college readiness program’. General story: http://communitycollegespotlight.org/content/connecticut-may-end-remedial-requirement_8674/ and more details http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/04/04/connecticut-legislature-mulls-elimination-remedial-courses

I see two basic issues raised by this.  An obvious issue is a statement about the perceived value of developmental education.  In the case of mathematics, some developmental programs have 4 courses before the first college-level math class; a logical analysis of this system can easily show that there is a basic design flaw … a two-year ‘getting ready for college’ track is enough credits for a major, but these are courses that do not have value in themselves.  A rejection of this design is basic in our development of the New Life model, where we reduce that pre-college work to 1 or 2 courses, depending on the student’s program.  Does a rejection of the 2-year developmental math program imply that it can be replaced by a ‘just in time’ remediation model, combined with a boot-camp experience?

The other basic issue raised is the change process.  We appear to be in a period when politicians are policy makers in broad areas of education.  It’s not like the state said ‘We are spending way too much money … and not getting enough benefit; we are appointing a task force of experts who are charged with creating a model that meets the needs of our communities in a process that is much more efficient’.  Whatever the process was, the lawmakers believe that they have a solution that can be legislated.  Have we done such a poor job of articulating the power of a good developmental program that lawmakers believe that this is a solution? 

I have no doubt that some students — even many students — would be well served by the ‘imbedded + boot camp’ model; historically, we have underestimated the capabilities of students to cope with challenges … if they have a little more support.  However, I believe that this model will leave many students defeated; these will be the types of students for whom community colleges were created — the ‘first generation college’, the un-empowered and vulnerable, and those for whom the K-12 system did not ‘work’ … as well as the returning adult. 

We need to do a better job of articulating the power of what we do everyday.  Our courses are not just about some collection of basic skills, that our goals include developing learning and thinking in our students; we need to tell people in authority that we have expertise and methods that produce results.

We also need to be willing to ‘take the criticism’ … that our developmental programs have become entrenched and stagnant systems that do not serve enough students nor well enough for all students, that we can develop models that better serve our students with dramatically reduced credits and costs.  If we continue to insist on the same-old programs, or even if we fail to recognize this problem, then we deserve to have others (like politicians) determine a better system.  I believe that we are wise enough to do the right thing.

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