Abstract:

In order to assist community college students in completing their program of study at a more rapid pace, this quantitative, correlational study examined the effectiveness of acceleration as a method to help community college students complete the developmental reading sequence quickly and more successfully. Acceleration is a curricular redesign that includes challenging readings and assignments and reduces the number of required classes in the developmental sequence. Past research does not adequately measure student success in the current community college trend of securing the most efficient pathway possible for attaining an associates degree or career certificate. Students who scored 80 or higher on the post-course, COMPASS reading placement test skipped a developmental class and were eligible to take college-level gateway courses sooner, for the purpose of saving them time and money. Retention and grade-point-average of developmental reading students who pursued an accelerated path was compared to developmental reading students who followed the traditional, two-tiered course sequence to determine first year success. In the college of the study, findings indicated developmental reading intervention, regardless of model, was effective for the students who persisted, as measured by their literacy skill gains.  

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