The assessment of the developmental program at a private junior college in Tennessee

Developmental programs' are a part of college curricula. This is due to the number of students entering college today that do not have the skills to succeed in college and the necessity by courses to recruit more students. There is a large pool of non-traditional students that require some developmental/remedial studies before attempting college-level courses. The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the developmental program at Hiwassee College. The study had seven main components: 1) the history of the developmental program itself; 2) the characteristics of the developmental and non-developmental student at Hiwassee College; 3) the results of the fall 1989 testing and advising; 4) performance of the fall 1989 semester developmental students; 5) the comparison of the success of the developmental and non-developmental students in terms of hours attempted, hours completed, and GPA; 6) the attrition and graduation rates for the two groups; and 7) the analysis of a student questionnaire. Results of the study suggest that the developmental program at Hiwassee College was sufficient to identify the developmental student. The ASSET tests was a good predictor of success in college. Students are successful in college-level English as a result of developmental reading and writing. The developmental mathematics portion of the program was not very success in preparing students to be successful in college-level mathematics. The graduation rate for the developmental students was 7.5% at the end spring 1991 semester and the graduation rate for the non-developmental students was 28.8%. The GPA at the end of the springy 1991 semester for the two groups differed slightly. The retention rates of the two groups differed by approximately 10%, with the retention rate of the developmental group being the lowest. Students response to the questionnaire gave the developmental program a 3.5 on a 5 point scare in terms of content, structure, and instruction. Their attitude toward developmental courses increased from 2.7 (on a 5 point scale) before taking a developmental course to a 3.45 after taking a developmental course.