The Effects of Developmental Course Placement on Academic Achievement, Progress, and Motivation

Some postsecondary students arrive to higher education academically underprepared for college-level coursework. Postsecondary educators and administrators strive to remediate these needs through developmental education programs that incur additional costs to the institution and student. Similarly, students placed into developmental education are less likely to complete a program of study than students who are not prescribed remediation. With mixed findings from predominately community college samples, the need to determine if this academic intervention does indeed positively affect student outcomes is tantamount to the value proposition utilized in marketing for small private institutions. Through a quantitative regression-discontinuity design, the study expanded the previously studied data sets to the private higher education sector by analyzing the effect, if any, of placement into developmental course work on persistence to a subsequent semester, success in the first college-level course in the related subject area, program completion, and a student's academic motivation. The sample was that of first-time freshmen students matriculated to a small private liberal arts institution during the years of 2009--2015.