Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In 2010, approximately 86 percent of community college students believed that they were academically prepared for college, yet 67 percent tested into developmental coursework (CCCSE, 2016). High developmental education participation levels are problematic for several reasons. First, providing developmental education is costly. Researchers have estimated the annual national cost of developmental education at $7 billion (Scott-Clayton, Crosta, & Belfield, 2014). In addition, the evidence for the effectiveness of developmental education is mixed, with some research showing it is effective and some showing it is ineffective (for example, Bettinger & Long, 2009; Martorell & McFarlin, 2011).

This study examines the impacts and costs of legislation enacted by Florida for a statewide program known as the Florida College and Career Readiness Initiative (FCCRI), which was intended to reduce the need for developmental education. The FCCRI consisted of testing grade 11 students to determine their college readiness and offering math and English college readiness and success (CRS) courses in grade 12 for students who did not test college-ready the year before.

First, we used a regression discontinuity design to compare outcomes for students scoring just above and below test score cutoffs for assignment to the FCCRI. We find that the FCCRI increased the likelihood of enrolling in nondevelopmental courses for some targeted students who seamlessly enrolled in college, although the results differ based on student performance. However, smaller differences between the treatment and control groups in the likelihood of passing nondevelopmental courses suggest that some students may not be prepared for these courses.

Second, we estimated the costs of implementing the FCCRI. Using the ingredients method, we identified and priced the various types of inputs required for program implementation based on interviews with key program participants at the state, district, and school levels. We find the total per-student cost of the program, including the cost of resources repurposed from other uses, to have been about $70, mostly for personnel costs. The actual on-budget add-on costs allocated specifically for this initiative (not including repurposed resources) were much lower, about $1 per student. We also find the total costs of the testing component of the program to be similar to those of community college remedial placement testing reported in another recent study (Rodriguez et al., 2014).