developmental education

Thursday August 9, 2012

Debating the Value of Placement Exams: Where to Begin?

by Lara Couturier
For many years, community colleges have in good faith administered placement exams to incoming students. The philosophy behind placement testing is that we can best serve our students by accurately assessing their skills and then placing them into courses that provide them with the academic supports they need to be successful—be that college-level...

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Monday April 23, 2012

Rewarding Completion: States Step Up

by Richard Kazis
The national spotlight on improving college completion has never been stronger. The United States needs more college graduates to keep the economy healthy and expand opportunity for those struggling in America today, as nearly any educator and lawmaker will tell you. Campaigns to improve student completion are particularly concerned about the...

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Monday March 12, 2012

Better Student Placement

by Cecilia Le
You may have seen the news last week that huge numbers of community college students are being required to take remedial courses they don’t need. Two studies from the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College found that more than a quarter of students who place into developmental education based on their Compass...

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