Attached is an article, “Remediation Worries and Successes”  from Inside Higher Ed. about why there is such a high need for developmental education or what they call remedial education.  Within the last forty decades the demand for developmental education hasn’t changed however  the focus of attention has shifted from developmental English to developmental math.

What to do?  This is the million dollar question  One interesting suggestion outlined in the article discusses the need to get real about assessing how we are doing.  It’s not enough to say 50% of students passed  the class.  We also need to know was the 50% pass rate  those students who didn’t withdraw. What happens to those who do pass the class? Do they go on? Do they succeed?  If they don’t stay in the class, when do they leave?  Answers to these deeper questions will help guide us in to develop more informed interventions.

One possible strategy that the article mentions is using a modular approach to teaching math.  This is a teaching method that Berkshire Community College has been using for many years. The modular, self-paced approach breaks various areas of math into segments.  Students then enroll in one or more of these segments or modules and work at thier own pace, taking proficiency tests along the way.      The success rates in these self-paced modules has traditionally been lower that in the conventional lecture classes.  More recently we have seen the numbers turn around due in large part to the hiring of a Coordinator of Developmental Math, Chantal Rhind.

So, the jury is still out on what is the best approach take when teaching developmental math.  Done well and with the right students, the self-paced math classes might be a very good option.

For full-text article see link below:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/10/09/acct