Evaluation of Developmental Programs.

To gather more accurate data on outcomes for remedial programs at McLennan Community College, in Texas, a study was c-mducted to track the progress up to spring 1994 of all 743 full-time, degree-seeking, first-time-in-college students who entered in fall 1991, including students not needing remediation and those not completing their remedial program. Specifically, the study sought to determine the level of remediation needed and the match between needs and remedial enrollment, the extent that developmental programs improved basic skills, and the extent that the programs prepared skill deficient students for success in college. Results of the study included the following: (1) in general, minority students needed more remediation than white students and African-Americans needed more than Hispanics; (2) while a little over half of the students in remediation fon reading and writing progressed to the final course in the remedial sequences, they did not perform as well in college-level work as those who did not need remediation; (3) successful completion of reading and writing courses and course sequences was shown to be important for success in the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) test, while students who were successful in any mathematics course had high success rates on the test; and (4) for students needing remediation in three areas, 12.1% transferred after 3 years, compared to 45.6% of non-remedial students. (Contains extensive data tables.) (KP)