Illinois passed DERA the Developmental Education Reform Act in 2021. The end goal of this law is to maximize the probability that a student can complete a math and an English college level credit within two semesters. In this webinar, Kathleen talks about what she has learned and shares what works to make real progress in supporting students to achieve college credit

If you're a faculty member and you'd like to address a problem, pause before approaching your administrator. Administrators are incredibly busy. They're usually scheduled to the minute the entire day with meetings and struggle to find time in the day for that work. So many will work evenings and weekends regularly. It's a grind that lasts 12 months of the year.

A few years ago, it was common practice for entering first-year college students to submit to an assessment exam for placement purposes in math and English courses. Students who scored high on these exams were placed in a college-level course, while others were led on the developmental education (DE) route. While this is a not-too-distant reality, it still occurs in institutions today.

Research has indicated that college and university developmental math programs, as they currently are, produce poor results with low student success rates. To address this, state legislators are intervening, creating policies that range from support for reform to mandated approaches. In this post, let’s look at a few states executing developmental education practices through laws or mandates.

With the anticipated learning loss due to the pandemic, forced remote learning, and the ubiquitous use of technology for the classroom, there has been considerable talk about personalized learning. What exactly is personalized learning? What are the advantages and disadvantages of other strategies? And, most importantly, how do you implement personalized learning in the college math classroom?

Higher education is typically in a state of reform. With the pandemic, that has only accelerated. When initiatives for change are enacted, having stakeholders at the forefront is critical to the amount of the time needed for the initiative and its success. Which stakeholders have the most influence on success or failure of higher ed initiatives? Faculty.

It’s no secret that higher education has an equity gap problem. But this isn’t a new issue or one caused by COVID-19. This has been an ongoing concern for far too long. Let’s take a look at what educational equity is, how it’s affecting our education system, and how implementing effective developmental math redesigns can aid in eliminating equity gaps.

Since I think everyone has passed the finish line (cue the song “School's Out”), I hope you have already had some time for rest and relaxation, or you, at least, have something planned. While our students are making the most out of their summer, we're wired a little bit differently. Yes, we need a break and a chance to exhale, but we also know what we should do to make our lives easier in the fall.

In this post, I talk about some of the changes we’re making at Almy Education, why we’re making them, and how they will affect you.

While you deserve this much-needed break, it’s also an excellent time to catch up on items you missed during the year-end chaos. In case you missed my May series, “Redesign Doesn’t Happen in a Vacuum” (videos below), I give practical information on buy-ins, funding, and impacted areas that will help you navigate your redesign.