Community College Developmental Education: A Correlational Study of Emerging Modalities

Developmental education course modalities in Florida were drastically changed in 2013 with the passage of Senate Bill 1720, which no longer required students to enroll in extra developmental courses. Developmental education courses must now be offered in a compressed, contextualized, or co-requisite instruction modality; or direct enrollment into a gateway course(1720-Education, 2013). This paper is a report of one part of a larger study that investigated the new modalities. Student learning styles and students’ academic achievement in two of those modalities is explored in this paper. The theoretical framework of the study is Kolb’s experiential learning theory (Kolb, 1984). Chi-Square correlational tests were conducted to examine the relationship between students’ learning types and their final grades in compressed modalities of math developmental education. Though the results indicate no statistically significant relationships between the variables, a discussion follows that elucidates valuable recommendations and insights.