The impact of a developmental reading course on student retention and achievement of freshman students in a two-year technical community college

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a developmental reading course on student retention and achievement in a two-year technical community college. In this investigation, the Stanford Diagnostic and the Nelson-Denny Reading Tests were compared to determine the students' strengths and weaknesses in reading, and correlations were computed to examine the intragroup relationships within the tests.

A comparative-descriptive method was used to compare pretest and posttest mean scores for the evaluation of the students' performance after they completed the developmental reading course. Their grade point averages, total hours completed and retention according to race and sex were compared after three consecutive quarters with a similar group of students who did not take the course. Eighty-four full-time entering freshman students who were low in reading ability comprised the subjects for this study. These subjects were divided into two groups: a comparative group and an experimental group. This study was conducted at Chattanooga State Technical Community College in Chattanooga, Tennessee during the 1981-82 academic year.

T-test comparisons were used to compare the impact of the independent variables and to evaluate reading achievement. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients were used to determine the intragroup relationships within the test measures.

Results reported showed no significant differences in student retention and achievement between the experimental and the comparative groups after three consecutive quarters. The findings suggest that a developmental reading course is no more or no less effective in improving achievement or in reducing the rate of attrition among entering freshman students in a community college who are low in reading ability than are the regular college courses.