Developmental education is under review at many institutions after some recent studies have found that some pre-requisite courses may discourage more students than they help. We are investigating the Workload 57 course at UC Davis to determine the accuracy of the placement exam, the effects of the writing instruction on later success in other writing-intensive courses, and the overall effects the system had on equity of opportunity for different groups of students. Particular attention is devoted to the experience of international and English Language Learner students. We are using a multi-pronged analytical approach including leveraging differences between courses targeting different student groups, differences in when students registered for remedial versus other writing-intensive courses, and propensity-score matching. Our work is being cited in a Workload 57 program review and will be used to improve the writing program.

By: Meryl Motika, Sattik Ghosh