by Hunter R. Boylan & Barbara S. Bonham
For many years it was impossible to draw any conclusions about
developmental education nationally because reported data was
not consistent nor were there any established criteria for evaluation.
Programs in some states evaluated themselves based on the number
of students who passed developmental courses while those in other
states evaluated themselves based on the number of students who
passed a final examination. Some programs measured student satisfaction
with services, others measured the number of times students used
services, and still others measured the retention of those who
used services. Consequently, no one could ascertain the effectiveness
of developmental education beyond the individual campus level.
Furthermore, even individual campuses could not compare their
results with others.
For these reasons, the National Center for Developmental Education
has advocated the development of an "industry standard"
for evaluating developmental programs. Beginning with the National
Study of Developmental Education (1990-96) and continuing through
2003, the Center has attempted to identify standardized evaluation
criteria and encourage their use. The evaluation criteria suggested
here result from that effort.
These evaluation criteria are drawn from:
- National Center for Education Statistics reports of developmental
education,
- The National Study of Developmental Education (Exxon
Project),
- State Higher Education Agency reports on developmental
education,
- Published research studies on developmental education,
and
- Institutional research reports.
These data, therefore, represent something of an "industry
standard" in the evaluation of developmental education. As
a result, individuals using these criteria to evaluate their programs
can claim to be using appropriate measures and should be able to
compare their data with data from other sources.
| QUANTITATIVE
|
Criteria |
Source |
| How many students participated in the program/courses?
|
|
| How many hours of tutoring were offered? |
|
| How many sections of developmental courses were offered? |
|
| What % of the students who entered the course stayed
for the entire term? |
|
| What % of those who stayed the entire term earned a C
or better? |
|
| What were the g-scores for those taking the
course or receiving tutoring? |
|
| How many of those who participated in the
course/program remained for one semester? |
|
| What % of those who passed the lowest level developmental
course took and passed the next level developmental course? |
|
| What % of those who passed the highest level developmental
course took and passed the next level curriculum course in that subject? |
|
| What % of those who took one or more developmental courses
were retained from fall to fall? |
|
| What % of those who took one or more developmental courses
graduated within 2,3,4,5,6 years? |
|
QUALITATIVE |
Criteria |
Source |
| To what extent are student users satisfied with the program? |
|
| What are faculty/staff perceptions of the program? |
|
| What are faculty/staff perceptions of the program's students? |
|
| What is the impact of program on the campus as a whole? |
|
|
