Hook ‘Em, Horns!

Last week, we had a guest post from Cynthia Ferrell, director of the Texas Developmental Education Initiative state policy team, on integrating state policy and institutional change. Today, we got a dispatch from Cynthia that shows this work in action. This week, Cynthia was asked to testify before the Texas House Higher Education Committee about a couple of bills that involve developmental education. Here’s what went down at the statehouse:

• HB 1244: this bill proposes requiring colleges to offer developmental education online. Cynthia shared some of the findings from a recent Community College Research Center (CCRC) literature review that provides evidence of the ineffectiveness of online education for low-income and underprepared students. Cynthia says, “The committee was very interested in the findings that showed not only the lack of research support for this action, but also the research-based reasons these students are not likely to succeed in online courses.  I suggested that instead, we should support statewide scaling of promising hybrid innovations being piloted and scaled at ATD and DEI colleges.” Cynthia expects that the legislative language will be amended.
• HB 3468: this bill addresses assessment and placement policies. CCRC’s research on assessment (which we’ve posted about previously) was provided to a representative during bill development. According to Cynthia: “The bill, which was very well received by the committee, includes the report's recommendation for the rigorous evaluation of college readiness assessments and a placement model that targets alternative treatments.” And it looks like this bill will be passed!

Thank you, CCRC, for such timely research contributions. And kudos to Cynthia for helping the Texas House make informed decisions about developmental education policy.