1. DEVELOPMENTAL
EDUCATION TASKFORCE
- COLORADO
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
SYSTEM

2. Presentation outline
 Developmental education nationally
 Colorado context
 Current innovation examples in Colorado

3. Nationally, most fail to begin DE
sequence
Progress on remedial sequence after 1 academic
year
Completed Sequence
Partially completed
sequence
Did not begin sequence
Clery, Data Notes, 2008

4. The goal
Move students as quickly and effectively through
their first college level course.

5. THE REMEDIAL EDUCATION
SEQUENCE
Assessment Placement Enrollment Completion

6. TRADITIONAL
DEVELOPMENTAL
SEQUENCE
Assessment
• Take single
standardized
exam
Placement
• Cut score
determines
placement in
one or more
levels of
remedial
education
Enrollment
• Students
take 1 or
more
courses
consecutivel
y before
enrolling in
gateway
courses
Completion
• Success is
defined as
completion
of remedial
course

7. ACCELERATED REMEDIAL
SEQUENCE
Assessment
• Use of multiple
tools to include
HS curriculum,
HS GPA and
diagnostic
academic
assessment
Placement
• Placement is
based on student
motivation and
precise
diagnosis of
deficiencies
• Range of cut
scores, rather
than a precise
cut score
enables flexibility
Enrollment
• Co-Enrollment in
Remedial and
College-Level
Course
• Offer single
semester
remedial option
for students in
need of more
intense
academic
preparation
Completion
• Success is
defined as
completion of
gateway course

8. CCCS is…
 One system
 Thirteen colleges
 117,000 students served annually

9. Percent of 09-10 Enrollment in
DE
27%
73%
Enrollment
Students enrolled in at
least one DE course
All other students

10. CCCS Students
61.6
25.3
13.1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Students who
place into Dev
MAT
Students who
place into Dev
ENG
Students who
place into Dev
REA
Percent of total remedial enrollment
Percent of total
remedial enrollment

11. Colorado course pipeline
MAT 030
MAT 060
MAT 090
MAT 099
ENG 030
ENG 060
ENG 090
REA 030
REA 060
REA 090

12. Colorado pipeline
63.6%
Complete030 65%
Complete060 61.8%
Complete090
Completion % based on 09-10 system average completion.

13. Colorado pipeline
63.6%
Complete030 65%
Complete060 61.8%
Complete090
Completion % based on 09-10 system average completion.
.636 * .65 * .618

14. Colorado pipeline
63.6%
Complete030 65%
Complete060 61.8%
Complete090
Completion % based on 09-10 system average completion.
.636*.65*.618 = 25.54%

15. Colorado 3 year graduation for DE
students
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Fall 07 Cohort in Remedial Graduation Rate

16. Colorado 3 year graduation for DE
students based on course level
0
20
40
60
80
100
Fall 07 Cohort in Remedial Graduation Rate
Graduation rate for level 030
Graduation rate for level 060
Graduation rate for level 090 or 099

17. Three year graduation for DE
versus all students
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Fall 07 Cohort in Remedial Graduation Rate
Overall 2007 cohort graduation

18. Themes
 Key metric – success in college courses
 Time, not student learning, is the greatest
barrier to success
 Use evidence based practice
 Continuous improvement is essential to long-
term success

19. Complete College America
 Transforming remediation
 Co-requisite models
 Modular offerings
 Customized education
 Funding for performance
 Still enrolled, certificate or degree completion
 Align state policies to facilitate completion

20. Remedial redesign
 Reduce time to completion – accelerate
students’ from developmental to college work
 Acceleration
 Compressed
 Mainstreaming
 Modular
 Contextualization

21. Colorado assessment and
placement
 Accuplacer
 Message about test?
 Student retest options?
 Cost for test?
 Non-cognitive questions?
 Colorado specific?

22. College projects
Open entry-
exit Math lab
Mainstreaming
Higher-level
courses
+academic
support
Accelerated
and
compressed DE
courses
Contextualized
learning with
ECE program
Online or
hybrid format
DE courses
with STAR
Diagnostic
assessments
Modular math
DE courses
ACC x
CCA x
CCConline x
CCD x x
FRCC x
LCC x
MCC x x
NJC x x
PCC x
OJC x
TSJC x

23. Aurora
 Elimination of the lowest level DE courses in
English, math, and reading
 Careful placement of students in higher level
courses
 Academic support systems that foster faster
course completion
 Academic coaching, advising, supplemental
tutoring

24. Traditional placement picture
MAT030 MAT060

25. CCA test placement
MAT060

26. Denver
 Fast Start
 Contextualization
 MAT030 and Early Childhood cohort
 Tutors in classroom
 Learning communities
 Team teaching with contextualized learning
 ENG090/ POS105
 REA090/ COM125

27. Pueblo
 Diagnostic assessments
 Individualized course competencies developed
 Modular coursework
 MAT 077 – self-paced for a semester
 Earn up to 13 credits of coursework
 Students who score at any developmental math
level qualify

28. FOR MORE INFORMATION
Casey Sacks
Casey.sacks@cccs.edu
www.cccs.edu

29. CREATIVE COMMONS
ATTRIBUTION
Unless otherwise specified, this work by the Colorado Community College System http://www.cccs.edu is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License. The material was created with funds from the Trade
Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant awarded to the Colorado Online Energy Training
Consortium (COETC).