Does Remediation Work For All Students

Download or read book Does Remediation Work for All Students? written by Angela Boatman and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Brief summarizes a study that addresses the impact of remedial and developmental courses on students with a range of levels of preparedness. Using longitudinal data from Tennessee, the authors estimate the effects of placement into varying levels of mathematics, reading, and writing courses for students attending public two- and four-year colleges and universities. This is possible due to the state's multi-tiered system in which students--based on their scores on the untimed, computer-adaptive COMPASS[R] placement test (developed by ACT, Inc.)--could be assigned into one of four levels of mathematics courses (college level, upper developmental, lower developmental, and remedial) and one of three levels of reading and writing courses (college level, developmental, and remedial). In Tennessee, developmental courses refer to those courses just below college level, while remedial courses contain lower-level material intended for students who are very underprepared. Using a regression discontinuity (RD) research design, the authors provide causal estimates of the effects of placement on a number of short-, medium-, and long-term student outcomes, including persistence, degree completion, and the number of total and college-level credits completed. Results of the study suggest that remedial and developmental courses do differ in their impact by level of student preparation. [For "Does Remediation Work for All Students? How the Effects of Postsecondary Remedial and Developmental Courses Vary by Level of Academic Preparation. An NCPR Working Paper," see ED512610.].