State Policies on Developmental Education

State policies remain an issue in developmental education as budgets continue to decrease and the need continues to rise. In 2006, Attewell, Lavin, Domina, and Levey estimated that "40% of traditional college students enroll in remedial courses" in 76% of postsecondary institutions (NCES, 2003)," (as cited in Parker, Bustillos, & Behringer, 2010, p. 15). tates must develop and align standards to better prepare college-ready students, determine the best placement for developmental education students, and measure the results. listate policies can be better aligned with state K- 1 2 education and postsecondary education requirements, as well as other states, then perhaps students will be better prepared for college and a career.Assessment and Placement of Developmental EducationIn 2005, Prince reported that "Across the nation, fewer than half the states have policies regarding placement in developmental courses" (p. 3). According to my findings, several more (now 35 total) states have since developed policies about placement in developmental classes (see Figure 1). Most of the states listed in Figure 1 as well as other states also have policies on entrance exams that determine if a student needs to be placed in developmental education courses. Many states use suites of diagnostic tests called Accuplacer or another called Compass to assess writing, reading, and math skills. Several states widely use Accuplacer, such as: California, Delaware, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Utah, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Texas (College Board, 2010). All of the states have defined their own set of cutoff scores. Most states allow institutions to further define cutoff scores for implemented assessment instruments. A few states, such as Texas and New York, use these tests as early indicators of students who need to build their reading, writing, and/or math skills. Then, those students may choose to enroll in programs during high school or the summer before college to improve their skills and be more prepared for college.Several states, such as Tennessee, North Dakota, New York, Missouri, Minnesota, Louisiana, Florida, and Colorado have policies precluding four-year institutions from offering developmental or remedial education courses. "Louisiana requires all students who score below a 19 on the ACT to start in the community colleges and complete remediation before transferring to a university" (Jacobs, 2012). Oregon, Nebraska, Indiana, and Virginia recommend that developmental education courses be completed at the community college or two-year college level. Virginia states that "institutions shall make arrangements with community colleges for the remediation of students accepted for admission by the senior institutions" (Virginia, 2000, p. 25). Clear studies of the effectiveness of remedial education at the community college level instead of the university level are limited.Several states have also eliminated the state funding of developmental education from fouryear institutions. Those states are: Nevada, South Carolina, Nebraska, and soon Ohio. Beginning in the 2014-2015 academic year, Ohio will limit the amount of state funding for developmental education. The policies statements do not indicate if these states will require four-year institutions to not offer developmental education courses due to the lack of funding.Trends Among Recent PoliciesOne of President Obama's goals for higher education places "a reliance on community colleges to boost the U. S. economy. At the same time, states and higher education systems have looked to the community colleges to provide remedial instruction as a way to cut costs while improving graduation rates" (Parker, Bustillos, & Behringer, 2010, p. …