Corequisite Developmental Mathematics Instruction: A Review of the Efficacy Research
D. Patrick Saxon and Autumn B. McKelvey

A recent trend in developmental education involves implementing instructional models for accelerating the academic skills development of underprepared college students. Corequisite mathematics instruction is now a primary part of this trend. Some argue that it is the sole best method for providing developmental education. Given this, a modest amount of efficacy research on this practice has emerged. As the corequisite model of mathematics proliferates, it is warranted that the field and professionals therein reflect on this work in the context of identifying the extent to which it improves practice. This literature review and discussion offers insight from a recent collection of recent research articles, working papers, and reports on corequisite mathematics instruction. Upon reviewing the literature, particular points regarding corequisite models, instructional issues, and course efficacy were identified and discussed.

The Community College Reform Movement Has Failed Students:
A Critical Review of the Literature on the Most Common Reforms of the Past Decade
Alexandros M. Goudas

In 2009, President Obama prioritized college completion at community colleges by creating the American Graduation Initiative, known as the College Completion Agenda. Experts and interest groups such as the Community College Research Center and Complete College America began promoting reforms focused on bypassing or eliminating remediation and developmental education, using multiple measures for placement, offering more accelerated models, and increasing pathway options. The result was a unified community college reform movement that quickly swept the nation, and its primary goal was to increase graduation rates. Ten years after the first widescale implementations of reforms took place in the fall semester of 2014, a significant corpus of literature has now been amassed with which to study whether the movement has been successful. Results indicate that piecemeal reforms have been successful in increasing first-year gateway pass rates for some students. However, overall graduation rates have not increased. Most importantly, full implementation of such popular reforms as corequisites has caused the most underserved students to fail out of college at higher rates. For these same students, notably, graduation rates also declined because of the corequisite model. Additionally, numerous studies over the past 2 decades that have shown positive results for remediation and developmental education have not been highlighted in the ongoing national debate. In this critical review of the literature, I provide analyses of the most rigorous research on the most popular and widespread interventions in the community college reform movement. The net outcome is that graduation rates have not increased, and results now indicate that some reforms are harming the most underrepresented students. Therefore, a reasonable policymaker could conclude that remediation and developmental education coursework and programs should be reinstated as options for public 2-year students, and more comprehensive reforms targeting actual barriers should be implemented instead.

The Impact of College Academic Coaching
Hunter R. Boylan, Alexandros M. Goudas, and Jack Truschel

Postsecondary academic coaching programs have become more prevalent recently, and academic coaching as a model is one of the interventions that has been adopted with considerable success at colleges and universities as a method to increase student retention...

For the purposes of this critical review of the literature, we define academic coaching as a multidisciplinary, multitheory synthesis and application of applied behavioral change. … Coaching differs from tutoring, advising, mentoring, and counseling since coaches are not typically subject matter experts, and coaches focus specifically on the skills necessary for academic success rather than a particular subject area or personal development issue.

Understanding and Using Trustworthiness in Qualitative Research
Norman A. Stahl and James R. King

Qualitative inquiry has recently experienced a burgeoning in the field of educational research. Qualitative research is uniquely positioned to provide researchers with process-based, narrated, storied, data that is more closely related to the human experience. One can learn so much from another’s experience, and from a good story. Yet, the degree of trust one has in the person telling the tale has much to do with the degree of trust attributed to the telling. It is the same with studies conducted from a qualitative research approach. Indeed, building trust is imperative. Fortunately, there have been several attempts by qualitative methodologists to specify how trust in qualitative findings might be conveyed and enhanced for consumers. But be advised beforehand, even the construction of trustworthiness is far from an exact procedure. This column presents recommendations from several research writers for developing and relying on trust for another’s research findings, with particular focus on the academic success fields of developmental education and learning assistance. Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) seminal overview and organizational scheme provides the main focus, and others’ work on trustworthiness is synthesized and then integrated into the mix.

City University of New York Accelerated Study in Associate Programs: An Annotated Bibliography of the Literature
D. Patrick Saxon, Andi L. Thomas, & Nara M. Martirosyan

The City University of New York (CUNY) Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) is a comprehensive instructional and support program delivering substantially higher success outcomes for underprepared college students. The research shows consistent program success; however, it has not scaled widely in the field. Due to the comprehensive nature of the program, it is more expensive, requires extensive student engagement, and is likely challenging to replicate. This work offers annotations of all of the research and substantive literature that could be found on the program at this time. It provides readers some insight about CUNY ASAP and the student population that can benefit from it.

Seven Higher Education Trends Shaping the Future of Learning Assistance
Hunter R. Boylan and Jennifer M. Haley

Colleges and universities face a variety of pressures from external trends. These trends tend to “trickle down” to learning assistance programs in expected and unexpected ways. Sometimes they are manifest, sometimes they are subtle. Whether we like it or not, we will be required to respond to whatever trends our campuses choose to engage. This issue of RiLADE, therefore, is devoted to an assessment of trends that may affect higher education in general and learning assistance in particular during the coming years.

An Interview with Brandon Protas of Complete College America On Co-requisite Remediation
Patti Levine Brown and Kathleen Ciez-Volz

Dr. Brandon Protas, Assistant Vice President for Alliance Engagement for Complete College America, (CCA), this national organization, as well as research in the field, has strongly supported the implementation of corequisite courses. Much of the information in this interview focuses on corequisites as a primary model for teaching as well as how these course support equitable student success.

Corequisite Developmental Mathematics: An Annotated Bibliography of Recent Research
Fenecia Foster, D. Patrick Saxon, Nara M. Martirosyan, & Shannon McGregor

Corequisite mathematics instruction is a trend in developmental education. This model specifies underprepared student placement into college-level courses with a concurrent engagement in integrated academic support. The corequisite model of instruction has been pitched by some as the best solution for all underskilled college students as opposed to placement in sequences of prerequisite developmental education courses (Complete College America, 2012). As a result, it has received considerable attention on the research. …

This article is a follow up to the previous issue of RiLADE with the objective of offering a list of references and annotations of the research on corequisite developmental mathematics. …

This compilation represents an attempt to collect and annotate all relevant research on corequisite mathematics since 2009.

Corequisite Developmental English/Writing: An Annotated Bibliography of Recent Research
Shannon McGregor, D. Patrick Saxon, Nara M. Martirosyan, & Fenecia Foster

Corequisite developmental education is an instructional model designed to engage academically underprepared students in gateway college courses, while concurrently providing remedial learning support. This approach to serving underskilled entering college students has been used as a broadscale solution in developmental education, resulting in some colleges replacing remedial courses, which were typically prerequisite and offered no college degree credit, with corequisite courses. Advocacy groups pitched this model by labeling developmental education ineffective and declaring corequisite instruction the best solution for all underprepared students (Complete College America, 2012). Some states have legislated it as a partial or complete replacement for developmental education, and one advocacy group reports an alliance of 46 states and territories implementing some form of a corequisite initiative (Saxon, Martirosyan, & Sides, 2020). Although instructional improvements are undoubtedly needed in developmental and college level courses, whole program advocacy and replacement seems a premature decision that does not consider the students most in need of basic skills support.

The primary goal of this work was to locate and collect literature on the efficacy of corequisite writing courses since 2009.
This information is provided as a guide to those who might wish to implement corequisite remediation, are already implementing it, or would like to improve their outcomes.

Supplemental Instruction and Beyond: An Evaluation of SI and Developmental Education Theoretical Alignment
Katy Glass, Emily K. Suh, Britt Posey, and Sam Owens

Supplemental instruction (SI) has been around for nearly five decades and was introduced as a practice for “high-risk courses.” Little attention has been paid to the applicability of SI to developmental education contexts; however, the rapid expansion of developmental education reforms, including acceleration and integration, increases the need for us to consider the utility of this practice in a wider range of college settings. In this article, we examine alignment between SI and adult learning and development theories—the theoretical foundations of developmental education. We conclude with practical examples of how SI has been successfully applied to developmental English contexts at one community college.