Date of Award

Summer 7-31-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Cherie Gaines

Second Advisor

Jody Goins

Third Advisor

Peter Silberman

Abstract

Remedial courses have been part of the college landscape in the United States since at least the 1800s when nearly 250,000 students were placed into remedial courses. Traditionally, students who enrolled in remedial courses were placed into that course solely based on one test score. Students who enrolled in traditional remedial courses were more likely to not graduate than their peers placed into college-level English and Mathematics courses. This research aims to understand the rural Virginia community college English and mathematics professors’ perceptions of implementing and using multiple measures to place students into first-year English and mathematics courses. The data for this study was collected from questionnaires sent electronically to professors from two rural community colleges in Virginia. There were 13 participants in this study. All the professors agreed that using noncognitive variables to place students would be helpful, especially grit, maturity, socio-economic factors, growth mindset, perseverance, work ethic, and letters of recommendation from high school teachers. All of the professors reported using GPA and test scores to place students into their first-year courses, a change from strictly test scores before implementation. Most participants found that using multiple measures to place students had increased the percentage of students who completed college-level courses. These findings indicate a need to implement noncognitive factors when placing students to ensure students complete college.

Keywords

Multiple Measures, noncognitive measures, Community College, Rural Community College, Remedial Education, Developmental Education

Download

Share

COinS