ommunity colleges open their arms to a vast student population. For many of these students, the community college is their only opportunity to engage in the higher education system. Historically the community college has embraced the philosophy of open door access, meaning that all individuals, regardless of their academic preparation or other characteristics such as race, gender, or age, have the opportunity to participate in higher education. In comparison to a student attending a four-year institution, the typical community college student is likely to be female, less academically prepared, less economically secure, and a member of a minority group (Batzer, 1997; Cross, 1981; McCabe & Day, 1998).

According to Cohen and Brawer (1996), the increasing numbers of students leaving the community colleges have influenced the expansion of retention initiatives. These initiatives include learning communities, committees that focus on actions to retain students, block scheduling, and investigating new practices, policies, and methods to make improvements in current practices that are not effective. 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 America go back to the early 1800s. However, it was not until the 1947 President's Commission on Higher Education that a national mandate for developmental education was initiated and placed within the mission of the community college. The National Center for Education Statistics (1998) 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). Colleges cannot adopt a "sink or swim" sentiment regarding these admitted students.

Research on a Developmental Writing Course

To better understand the relationships between participation in a developmental education writing course and short- and long-term retention and academic performance, research was conducted at one Illinois community college. The study examined whether developmental writing course participants earned higher grades and persisted longer in their studies than nonparticipants. For the purpose of this study nonparticipants are those individuals who where identified as needing the course but who chose not to take it.

The college at which this research was conducted offers certificate and degree career programs that lead to immediate employment; transfer programs leading to a baccalaureate degree; programs in liberal studies and adult education; and special job training and retraining programs. Each year approximately 5,000 students enroll in credit classes that are taught on the main campus or at one of the two extension centers. The full-time equivalency (FTE) is 3,378. Fifty-three percent of the student population is female and 47% of the total population report being employed. Consistent with the demographic characteristics of the surrounding communities, few students of color are represented in the college student body-approximately 87% of the students are classified as white, non-Hispanic.

Students identified as needing developmental courses by an assessment tool are eligible for all of the college's programs and have the same opportunities for study at the institution as do other students. However, developmental students are directed to take their developmental coursework before enrolling in college level courses regardless of their choice in program, although some end up taking developmental courses at a later point in time. In this study, later participants were those students who were found to have taken the developmental writing course during a semester other than the one in which they initially enrolled.

The developmental writing course is a five credit hour course. It is offered five days a week for one hour each day. In addition, the course is offered two nights a week for two and one-half hours. The overall design of the developmental education writing course involves four major segments: (a) essay writing, (b) sentence structure, (c) grammar and word usage, and (d) punctuation, diction, and spelling. Specifically, the research sought to determine whether grade point average (GPA), course completion rates, or total semesters enrolled were different for those students who had participated in this course.

The study involved secondary analysis of data that were available from the student records database at the college where the study was conducted. The sample (n = 669) was drawn from the population (N = 1269) of first time degree-seeking, certificate-seeking, or transfer intent students who enrolled at the college and were identified as needing the developmental education writing course during their first semester. The sample was further divided into two groups based on first-semester participation (n = 384) or nonparticipation (n = 285) in the course. These two groups were then compared with the later participants (n = 80).

Findings

Students: The initial developmental writing course participants did not differ from nonparticipants at a statistically significant level with regard to age, gender, ethnicity, high school experience, writing test score, initial enrollment status, degree/certificate intent, or transfer intent. The later developmental writing course participants did not differ from nonparticipants at a statistically significant level according to the variables of age, gender, high school experience, writing test score, initial enrollment status, degree/certificate intent, or transfer intent. However, they did differ significantly according to ethnicity. Thirty-nine percent of the later participants were nonwhite compared to 24% of the nonparticipants.

Academic performance: Initial participants were found to have higher mean grade point averages in comparison to nonparticipants and later participants. Nonparticipants, on the other hand, were found to have higher mean grade point averages than later participants.

Table 1 Multiple Comparisons of Cumulative Grade Point Average

Credit hour completion percentage. A t test was conducted to compare the percentage of cumulative credit hours completed by initial participants and nonparticipants in a developmental writing course. A significant difference was found between participants (M = .85, SD = .26) and nonparticipants (M = .63, SD = .69), t(343.551) = 4.97, p = .01 at the end of the three-year period. Initial participants completed more of the credit hours they attempted than did nonparticipants. There was no significant difference between the percentage of credit hours completed by later participants and nonparticipants.

Total semesters enrolled. A t test was conducted to compare the mean total number of semesters enrolled of initial participants and nonparticipants in a developmental education writing course. No significant difference was found between initial participants (M = 2.25, SD = 2.15) and nonparticipants (M = 2.27, SD = 1.97), t(638.484) = -.13, p = .90 at the end of the three-year period.

Another t test was conducted to compare the total mean semesters enrolled between later participants (M = 2.60, SD = 1.18) and nonparticipants (M = 2.14, SD = 2.19), t(256.218) = 2.27, p = .02 at the end of the three-year period. This did show a significant difference. Later participants enrolled for more semesters than did nonparticipants, on the average.

Conclusions

The developmental writing course appeared to launch the developmental students with short-term momentum, i.e., higher grade point averages and passing more of their credit hours; however, that momentum appeared to be short lived in that initial participants did not persist for more semesters than the nonparticipants. The later participants showed significantly lower mean cumulative grade point averages, yet persisted for more semesters than did students who never engaged in the course.

This study suggests that community college students benefit from institutional placement policies that require students to complete their developmental writing course before engaging in college level coursework. This study confirms the conclusions of Roueche and Roueche, (1999) that students need to complete developmental courses before being allowed to enroll in college level courses. Community college advisors can utilize this information regarding the effectiveness of developmental education writing courses as they advise students in course selection. Perhaps the evidence provided by this study will aid in convincing students that the course is worth their investment of money and time.

References

Batzer, L. A. (1997). The effect of remedial education programs on academic achievement and persistence at the two-year community college. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Western Michigan University.

Boylan, H., Bonham, B., Claxton, C., & Bliss, L. (1992). The state of the art in developmental education. Paper presented at the First National Conference on Research in Developmental Education, Charlotte, NC.

Cohen, A. M., & Brawer, F. B. (1996). The American community college (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Cross, P. K. (1981). On the new frontier. Community College Frontiers, 9(2), 10-16.

McCabe, R. H., & Day Jr., P. R. (1998). Developmental Education: A twenty-first century social and economic imperative. Mission Viejo, CA: League for Innovation in the Community College and The College Board.

National Center for Education Statistics. (1996). Remedial education at higher education institutions in fall 1995. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education.

Roueche, J. E., & Roueche, S. E. (1999). High stakes, high performance: Making remedial education work. Washington, DC: Community College Press

Weissman, J., Bulakowski, C. & Jumisko, M. K. (Winter, 1997). Using research to evaluate developmental education programs and policies. New Directions for Community Colleges, 100.

Denise M. Crews, Ed.D. is Director of Developmental and Educational Programming at John A. Logan College in Carterville, IL. Steven R. Aragon, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Resource Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They may be reached at denise.crews@jal.cc.il.us and aragon@uiuc.edu.