Influence of a community college developmental education writing course on academic performance

Community College Review, Fall, 2004 by Denise M. Crews, Steven R. Aragon

According to Cohen and Brawer (1996), the increasing number of students leaving community colleges has influenced the expansion of retention initiatives. These initiatives include forming learning communities, allocating resources for task-force committees that focus on actions to retain students, instituting block scheduling, and investigating new practices, policies, and methods to make improvements in current practices that have not been effective. For those students who enter college without the basic skills deemed necessary to complete college level course work, Hadden (2000) contends that access should not be confused with success. He continues by articulating one irony of the community college: Although open-access allows all students to enroll, regardless of their skill level, this policy also allows a large number of students to fail.

Developmental education is one retention initiative that is an essential component of the community college mission (Weissman, Bulakowski, & Jumisko, 1997). The roots of developmental education in the United States go back to the early 1800s. However, it was not until the publication of the Truman Commission report (President's Commission on Higher Education, 1947) that a national mandate for developmental education was initiated and placed within the mission of the community college.

A nationwide study conducted by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (Immerwahr, 1999) reveals that instructors, administrators, government officials, and business leaders believe the number one problem facing colleges today is that too many new students need remedial education. A study by the National Association of Manufacturers (1997) had earlier revealed a need for developmental education. This study indicated that 6% of the companies surveyed expressed dissatisfaction with their employees' skills in mathematics, and 55% of the companies surveyed were dissatisfied with their employees' written communication skills. The National Center for Education Statistics (1996) reports that approximately 30% of first-time college students entering a college or university require developmental education. For community colleges, that number had earlier been found to be closer to 74% (Boylan, Bonham, Claxton, & Bliss, 1992). A later study by the Post-Secondary International Network cited by Duckett (1996) states that this need for basic skills support has increased to between 50% and 70% for College students. Colleges cannot adopt a "sink or swim" sentiment regarding these admitted students (Hadden, 2000).

Statement of the Problem

It has been estimated that only 10% of all academically underprepared postsecondary students are likely to obtain a degree without some type of intervention (Boylan et al., 1992). This statistic is unfortunate given that 77% of the developmental education students at community colleges express the intention of obtaining a college degree (Boylan et al., 1992). Although some universities offer developmental education, providing the basic skills necessary for postsecondary study is often viewed as a function of the community college (Cohen & Brawer, 1996). In the last decade, there has been an increased interest in the effects of developmental education programs (Aldelman, 1996; Boylan, Bonham, & Bliss, 1994; Boylan et al., 1992; Boylan & Saxon, 1998; Ignash, 1997; McCabe 2000; McCabe & Day, 1998; Roueche & Roueche, 1999; Smith, 1997). However, there are limitations with these studies.

First, many of the studies have grouped students from universities and community colleges together, preventing us from understanding the two groups independently (Boylan & Bonham, 1994; Boylan, Bonham, & Bliss 1997; McCusker, 1999). Additionally, several studies have compared the academic achievement of developmental students who have completed developmental courses with students who did not require these courses (Boylan & Bonham, 1992; Hodges, 1998; Miller & Rheinheimer, 1996; Napoli & Hiltner, 1993). This comparison is nota fair one because the latter group could likely be better prepared initially. Finally, studies compared the academic achievement between developmental English course participants and nonparticipants. However, two of these studies (Fleischauer, 1996; Smith, 1997) were conducted at the university level while the one community college study (Hennessey, 1990) focused on developmental reading.

Although developmental writing courses are commonly offered, at the time of this study we are not aware of any studies pertaining to the relationship of academic achievement and persistence with completion of a developmental writing course at the community college. Several of the studies (Boylan & Bonham, 1992, 1994; Boylan et al., 1997; Hodges, 1998; Roueche & Roueche, 1999) investigating the effects of developmental education have included either all areas of developmental education (i.e., writing, reading, and math) or have been specific to mathematics (Higbee & Thomas, 1999; Penny & White, 1998; Testone, 1999; Walker & Plata, 2000; Waycaster, 1998). Specifically within the state of Illinois, the Illinois Community College Board (1997) has identified that developmental education students are the least prepared in mathematics, better prepared in writing, and most prepared in reading (Illinois Community College Board, 1997). This study shifts the focus to the area of developmental writing and its relationship to students' persistence toward realizing their educational goals.