MCC Daily Tribune

Evolving Strategies to Help Students Succeed

Recently, questions have arisen regarding changes that have been made in the Transitional Studies Department and in the Learning Centers. These concerns are related to developmental education and changes in the manner in which the College is choosing to serve underprepared students. Previously, these students were enrolled in developmental courses and or referred to Learning Centers for tutoring and other assistance in learning the skills necessary to be successful in their educational programs. The results of that model have been mixed, which has caused the College to reexamine its approach to developmental education and student success.

Monroe Community College is committed to student success and is working to find the most effective ways to engage and support our students to achieve that success. These efforts are evident across campus as our faculty work tirelessly to provide excellent learning experiences for our students. Changes have recently been made in Transitional Studies, Mathematics and English to adopt a new co-requisite model of student support. The co-requisite strategy for developmental education places underprepared students directly into college-level courses and provides them with additional support, such as tutoring or extended course time, to improve their success rates in fundamental courses such as English and Mathematics as well as other courses that require college level reading, writing, and math skills.

In the co-requisite model, students are enrolled in both a college-level course, such as English or Mathematics, and a companion course (the co-requisite) where they are given support to learn the skills necessary to successfully complete the work of the primary course. The co-requisite course embeds learning assistance into the course, thus decreasing students' need for learning centers or tutoring centers where students often sought that additional support on their own. National and local data show strong positive outcomes for students who take co-requisite developmental education versus standalone imputed credit prerequisite developmental courses. Co-requisite models align developmental education with college-level coursework, increase rigor of instruction, allow students to earn college credit, and help students feel successful earlier in their educational journey than the traditional developmental education model.

The change to the co-requisite model of developmental education is only one aspect of the support that Monroe Community College provides to its students. The College maintains a Learning Support System where students are provided many services, including free tutoring and Supplemental Instruction at both our Brighton and Downtown Campuses. The College, through the Title III grant, previously piloted the Center for Academic Reading (CAR). That model has now been moved from the original location, infused into the tutoring center, and expanded to impact more students. Initial Civitas data has shown that the expanded CAR model has demonstrated even more "lift" in overall student persistence.

We look forward to working with our faculty to discover and implement new ways to support our students in the future.

Andrea Wade
Academic Services
01/13/2020