Developmental Education Reform in Illinois

Developmental Education is coursework students complete “below” the college level. These are often courses that don’t count towards a college degree. Traditionally, students may be required to take two to four developmental courses – especially in English, Reading, or Math – before beginning their college-level courses in English Composition or College Algebra.

In recent years, state legislatures and higher education institutions have tried to shorten the time students spend in developmental courses. Some of the major reasons are that developmental courses don’t contribute to a college degree, yet they extend the student’s time to degree and they increase the amount of student debt. Other reasons are that students get discouraged with the long process, and they end up dropping out without a marketable credential, so traditional developmental programs have low success rates.

I recently gave a presentation to administrators from Illinois community colleges about Developmental Education Reform, and I would like to summarize the requirements and data about these reforms.

Developmental Education Reform Act

The Illinois state legislature passed the Developmental Education Reform Act (110 ILCS 175) in March 2021. The legislation identified a number of problems with traditional developmental education, and required some reforms. Here are the major sections of this law:

Key Findings

• A large number of students (especially minorities) are placed in developmental courses. The legislation identifies that about 50% of full-time community college students are placed in developmental courses; about 71% of Black students and 42% of White student are required to take developmental courses.
• Developmental courses take time and money to complete. Student spend their financial aid, yet they don’t receive college credit.
• Developmental education exacerbates inequities in higher education. Only about 8% of Black students who take developmental courses at community colleges graduate, while about 26% of white students graduate.
• Students are inconsistently placed into developmental courses, and standardized tests place too many students in developmental education.

DERA Recommendations / Requirements

In response to these issues and inequities, the DERA requires higher education institutions to create a “plan for scaling developmental education reforms” so that developmental education “maximizes a student’s likelihood of completing an introductory college-level course within the first two semesters.”

One of the specific requirements is to use “multiple measures” for identifying placement into college-level courses. The DERA points out that many schools use a single standardized assessment when determining which course students are eligible to take. Instead, the DERA requires that schools use several other measures, including the high school GPA, completion of a Transitional Math or Transitional English course, completion of a developmental course, and standardized test scores.

The DERA also allows students to use a single measure that places them into the college-level course, even if other measures show placement in a developmental course. For example, a student who has a low score on a Math placement exam (such as Accuplacer) or the SAT exam, but has a high GPA, can be placed into a college-level course on the basis of the GPA.

Another requirement is that each institution submit a plan for reforming developmental education. The plan should include a description of current developmental courses, a description of new developmental courses, data and benchmarks, and plans for reform and improvement. This report was due in May 2022.

IBHE and ICCB were also required to report on the status of developmental education in the universities and community colleges.

ICCB Report for Developmental Education

ICCB is the governing body for community colleges in Illinois, and it was tasked by the DERA to produce a report about developmental education. ICCB produced its report on Feb. 15, 2023.

The report describes different models of developmental education:

• Traditional – The Dev Ed course is a separate stand-alone course that students must complete before taking college-level courses.
• Co-Requisite – Students are enrolled in a college-level course and simultaneously in a Dev Ed course or supplementary tutoring program.
• Compressed – The Dev Ed course is shorter than the traditional semester-long course. Examples include an 8-week course or a summer bridge program.
• Modularized – The Dev Ed course is broken apart into stand-alone components, and students complete only the components they need. For example, the traditional 3-credit course could be split into three one-credit courses, and each one-credit course focuses on a specific component the student needs help with.
• Emporium – Students complete individualized learning resources through online or technology platforms, either individually online or in a college computer lab. Students do not attend class, and there is no class instruction, though students may have a lab monitor or tutor who provides extra support.
• Contextualized – Dev Ed content that is embedded in another academic program, such as STEM or Business.
• Stretch – Dev Ed coursework that extends beyond a single semester; students may need two semesters to complete a single Dev Ed course.
• Studio – Students in a college-level course receive supplemental Dev Ed support through tutoring as needed.

Here are the major findings from the ICCB report and some data points I found interesting:

• 90% of community colleges have adopted the use of multiple measures.
• Nearly 90% of community colleges are actively implementing Dev Ed reforms.
• Nearly 65% of community colleges have a plan to address equity gaps, but less than half have a specific plan for addressing outcomes of Black students (which was a specific requirement by DERA).
• The most common Dev Ed models for Math are Traditional, Co-Requisite, and Compressed. 45 colleges have Traditional Dev Math courses, 22 colleges have Co-Requisite Dev Math courses, and 10 colleges have Compressed Dev Math courses. In total, nearly 20,000 students are taking Traditional Dev Math courses, about 2400 students are taking Co-Requisite Dev Math courses, and nearly 1000 students are taking Compressed Dev Math courses.
• The most common Dev Ed models for English are Traditional and Co-requisite. 41 colleges have Traditional Dev English, 35 have Co-Requisite Dev English, and only 9 have Compressed Dev English. About 9,600 students are in Traditional Dev English and nearly 6,000 students are in Co-Requisite Dev English; a little more than 400 students are in Compressed Dev English courses.
• Completion Rates (with a C or higher) for first-time, full-time Dev Math students in Fall 2021 were 12.6% for Traditional, 59.4% for Co-Requisite, and 15.4% for Compressed. Students are clearly succeeding much more in Co-Requisite courses. Meanwhile, Persistence and Retention for all three Dev Math models was about 60%.
• Completion in Dev English was 36.8% for Traditional and 49.4% for Co-Requisite. Persistence and Retention was in the high 50s for both models.
• In all Dev Ed models in both Math and English, Black students have lower outcomes than Hispanic and White students. In Traditional Math, White students have 18% success, and Black students have 11%. In Co-Requisite Math, White students have 24% success, while Black students have 12.6% success. In Traditional English, White students have 15% success, while Black students have 9%. In Co-Requisite English, White students have 19% success, while Black students have 14.5% success.

IBHE Report for Developmental Education

IBHE is the governing body for four-year colleges and universities in Illinois. IBHE released its report about Developmental Education in response to DERA in Feb. 2023. Here is a summary of key findings and data points I found interesting.

• Public four-year institutions have very little Developmental Education. For Dev English, only 2% of first-time, full-time students were placed into Traditional Dev English, and only 6% were placed into a Co-Requisite Dev English course. In Math, about 7% were placed into Traditional Dev Math, and about 6.5% were placed into a Co-Requisite Dev Math course.
• Four-Year institutions have only the Traditional and the Co-Requisite Dev Ed model, but the Co-Requisite model is defined more broadly and can include several other models identified by ICCB.
• 2 of 12 (16%) institutions don’t have any Dev Math, and 6 of 12 (50%) don’t have any Dev English. 7 of 12 (58%) have Traditional Dev Math, 8 of 12 (67%) have Co-Requisite Dev Math, 5 of 12 (41.5%) have Traditional Dev English, and 4 of 12 (33%) have Co-Requisite Dev English.
• Most Dev Ed students are in the Co-Requisite model. From a total of 3,100 Dev Ed students, 1,900 are in the Co-Req model, and 1,200 are in the Traditional. In English, almost 1000 are in Co-Req Dev English, and less than 300 are in Traditional Dev English. In Math, both the Co-Req and the Traditional model have about 950 students each.
• In Traditional Dev English, 31% of students are Latino, 27% are African-American, and 15% are White. 63% of Latino students in Traditional Dev English enter a college-level English course and 50% earn a passing grade, 50% African-American students enter college-level English and 39% pass it, 67% of White students enter a college English course and 58% pass it.
• In Co-Requisite Dev English, 41% are African-American, 29% are White, and 17% are Latino. Over 85% of White and Latino students enter a college English course, and over 85% continue to the next semester. About 68% of African-American students enter a college English course, and 80% continue to the next semester.
• The success outcomes are much lower in Math. In Traditional Dev Math, 25% are African-American, 33% are White, and 33% are Latino. Of these, 37% to 41% enter a college Math course, and 18-23% pass college Math; African-American students have the lowest outcomes, White students have the highest. But the outcomes in Traditional Dev Math are low for all student groups.
• For Co-Requisite Dev Math, 35% are African-American, 35% are White, and 19% are Latino. 41.5% of African-American students pass a college Math course, 71% of White students, and 75% of Latino students. Clearly, student success outcomes are much higher with the co-requisite model.

Summary

There is still much to do with Developmental Education Reform. As the two reports show, many schools still have the traditional model as the most common Dev Ed method, and many schools don’t use any of the alternative (or innovative?) methods.

Additionally, the two reports show opportunities for improving the student success rate and for closing the equity gap.

Colleges like my own are actively reviewing their options and data for Developmental Education, and they are also collaborating with state-wide organizations who are helping them create review teams, ask interrogating questions of the data, and consider alternative options.

What is your school doing with Developmental Education?

Lirim Neziroski, Ph.D., MBA, MSIS is a higher education administrator, education consultant, and previous faculty member with expertise in higher education leadership, instructional technology, curriculum development, academic assessment, and leadership of academic and online programs. Contact Lirim for consulting, individual mentoring, assistance with writing and editing, and public speaking services.