Throughout the 21st century, the discipline of developmental education has come under fire for low success rates and has created a great deal of controversy. This has especially been the case for developmental math. Over the years, there have been many initiatives to improve student success and completion in developmental math. Some have succeeded…

The primary purpose of this paper is to emphasize and reiterate the centrality of the faculty role in tutoring and learning centers, where peer-to-peer, discipline-specific collaborative learning is the primary objective. This paper provides a breadth of content for practitioners in the field and also assists those seeking to understand the unique…

This paper is the first issue of the Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) Symposium Collective Works publication, devoted to summaries of the presentations that took place at the 2018 symposium. The guiding topic of the symposium, assessment of student learning, was interwoven in breakout sessions with a great variety of topics such as equity,…

Content standards have been identified in America as a solution to the declining rate of student success in the public education system. But content standards are not a "silver bullet," for a number of reasons. This chapter presents an intersegmental approach to vertical curriculum alignment that returns questions of student readiness to…

The goal of this" Statement on Competencies in Mathematics Expected of Entering College Students" is to provide a clear and coherent message about the mathematics that students need to know and to be able to do to be successful in college. While parts of this Statement were written with certain audiences in mind, the document as a whole…

This practitioner packet is designed to help community college administrators implement reforms to developmental education at their colleges. It reviews common impediments to developmental reform and presents data that supports directions colleges can take to create a system of developmental education that might serve students more effectively.…

In the deconstruction of the California state standards for trigonometry, linear algebra and mathematical analysis for the Cal-PASS (California Partnership for Achieving Student Success) Content Standards Deconstruction projects, it became apparent that terms were used for which no definition was given. The San Diego Central Cal-PASS Math…

In January 2011, the California Community Colleges Board of Governors formed a task force to chart a roadmap for system-wide focus on student success. The task force identified best practices and designed evidence-based recommendations to ensure student success is a driving theme in colleges. This comprehensive plan, known as the Student Success…

Community colleges across the United States face a difficult challenge. On the one hand, they are "open access" institutions, with a mission to serve students from all backgrounds and at varying levels of college readiness. On the other hand, they must uphold high academic standards in order to maintain accreditation and prepare students…

The goal of this Statement on Competencies in Mathematics Expected of Entering College Students is to provide a clear and coherent message about the mathematics that students need to know and to be able to do to be successful in college. While parts of this Statement were written with certain audiences in mind, the document as a whole should be…

Community colleges across the United States face a difficult challenge. On the one hand, they are "open access" institutions, with a mission to serve students from all backgrounds and at varying levels of college readiness. On the other hand, they must uphold high academic standards in order to maintain accreditation and prepare students…

This brief addresses the state policy dimensions of college readiness. It identifies the key issues and problems associated with the college readiness gap, which is a major impediment to increasing the numbers of college students who complete certificates or degrees. This policy brief also provides governors, legislators, and state education…

Annually, ACT provides each state with "The Condition of College & Career Readiness," a report that details the college readiness of students who took the ACT[R] test. This report is a companion to "The Condition of College & Career Readiness." This paper traces the college enrollment, retention, re-enrollment, and…

Greater attention to the college and career readiness problem by state leaders and policymakers could drastically boost the numbers and percentages of students who graduate from high school ready for college and career study. This chapter traces the author's work in developing California State University's Early Assessment Program, an initiative…

More than two years after Education Secretary Margaret Spellings stood on a podium in Washington and announced the formation of her Commission on the Future of Higher Education, some of its most powerful effects so far have been on a belt of community colleges in California. In the past year, at least 14 California community and junior colleges…