We work with colleges and universities across five models for structuring developmental math. Two models remove standalone developmental courses, either adding a bootcamp or placing students in a non-STEM college math course before college algebra. The other three keep one developmental course before both pathways, one for each pathway, or one for the STEM pathway only. In every model, the vast majority of students should start in a college-level course, with or without a corequisite.

Which developmental math model fits your institution?

The right developmental math model depends mostly on the institution's context. State policy decides whether standalone developmental courses are allowed at all, and faculty readiness decides how far an institution can move in one step. This guide helps academic leaders weigh both and choose a model their faculty can support and their students will follow.

What's inside the guide

• The five models, each with its flowchart and how students move through it
• When to steer toward each model, and the central trade-off of each one
• The three rules that hold in every model, including where intermediate algebra goes
• How each model serves technical math, math for elementary teachers, programs with their own math requirements and high school students in college agreements
• A five-question decision tree that points you to the model that fits, plus two checks before you commit
• What it took for Rowan College at Burlington County to make its redesign work at scale
• A glossary of the working terms for leaders

Who the guide is for

The guide is for Chief Academic Officers (CAOs), provosts, vice presidents of academic affairs and deans of math and sciences deciding how students who need more preparation get into college-level math. Math department chairs and faculty leads will find it useful for the conversations that follow.

Choosing which college-level math course each program requires comes first. Our guide to designing math pathways that improve gateway throughput covers that decision, including who should take college algebra.