Community College Developmental Writing Programs Most Promising Practices: What the Research Tells Educators

ABSTRACT

Students at community colleges are being placed into developmental writing classes at significantly high rates, as high as 80% at some colleges. Many of these students are students of color, and the need to help them persist and succeed is of increasing importance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the most promising practices by community college developmental writing programs. This article presents a review of more than 245 publications from over 450 authors, synthesized down to 36 validated studies with the goal of informing scholars and practitioners of the current state of the field. Themes emerging from these studies and a conceptual model through which findings can be viewed are presented. The analysis, with a focus on the structural, curricular, andragogical, and relational domains, documents only validated studies about the most promising practices. This article supports, challenges, and recommends how to better serve students in the developmental writing context. This author hopes to change how colleges implement developmental writing practices so that practitioners will be given the best tools to help all students succeed.