Knowledge Center

ECS has updated its 50-State Comparison on Developmental Education policies to provide a national overview of how states structure, implement and report on developmental education. Drawing from state statutes and higher education system policies across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, it outlines key policy areas, including assessment and placement, instructional methods, corequisite support and reporting requirements. This 50–State Comparison serves as a tool to support state and system leaders in making informed decisions on practices and pathways that enable all college students to succeed in English and mathematics in their first year of college.

Do you know whether AI is ‘good at math’? How can faculty and students leverage AI in math teaching and learning? How can institutions think of AI when designing learning supports? All of these questions and more were explored during our virtual workshop: AI in the Corequisite Mathematics Classroom: Navigating Equity, Implementation, and Policy.  This workshop was hosted in partnership with Achieving the Dream, Every Learner Everywhere, and WCET – WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET).

In the evolving landscape of higher education, artificial intelligence (AI) is not merely a novel tool — it’s transforming the pedagogical process and the student experience. Thus, it has implications for how we offer learning supports for college-level English and math courses. AI in the Corequisite English Classroom: Navigating Equity, Implementation, and Policy, participants had the opportunity to work on their AI platform of preference and offered suggestions and prompts. This session was hosted in partnership with and facilitated by Achieving the Dream and the WCET – WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET). 

There is a persistent problem among colleges and universities for students placed in developmental courses like math and English. They are not completing the courses and, in most cases, should not be taking them in the first place. While developmental education outcomes are deeply troubling for state and institutional leaders and practitioners, for low-income students, students of color and returning adults who see college as a path to something greater, our collective failure to adequately support their success is a heavy burden to bear.

This discussion focused on understanding the roles of various stakeholders in implementing and sustaining these critical reforms to help achieve better outcomes for students, especially for racially minoritized students, students with low income, and returning adults.  

Developmental education reforms such as multiple measures for placement, co-requisites, and math pathways are proven strategies to increase student success in postsecondary education. There is still much to be done to codify these efforts in policy. Policy is key for scale-up and sustainability. This framework provides a guide to move in that direction.

This toolkit helps colleges better understand how to evaluate the success of corequisite courses.

This online course is designed to introduce instructors to the basic ideas behind learning mindsets.

This brief highlights the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition’s efforts to engage in a large-scale qualitative research project and conduct an in-depth content analysis of first-year seminar syllabi.