Acceleration Strategies Improve Developmental Education Outcomes

Acceleration programs, which reorganize curricula to speed up the process of earning credentials, are becoming an increasingly popular method of increasing completion rates for developmental education coursework. A wide array of studies have shown demonstrably better outcomes for participants in programs utilizing acceleration strategies such as course restructuring, which focuses specifically on content linked to the college curriculum, and mainstreaming, which places developmental students directly into college-level coursework with additional supports.

Source: Nikki Edgecombe, Accelerating the Academic Achievement of Students Referred to Developmental Education, Community College Research Center, May 2011.