Stuck at Square One resources
Research and reading that contributed to the documentary Stuck at Square One.
Main Story : College students in remedial education trap
The Accelerated Learning Program: Throwing Open the Gates
Peter Adams, Sarah Gearhart, Robert Miller, and Anne Roberts
(Fall 2009, Journal of Basic Writing)
Accelerating the Academic Achievement of Students Referred to Developmental Education
Nikki Edgecombe
(May 2011, Community College Research Center)
Addressing Flawed Research in Developmental Education
Alexandros M. Goudas and Hunter R. Boylan
(Fall 2012, Journal of Developmental Education)
Addressing the Needs of Under-Prepared Students in Higher Education: Does College Remediation Work?
Eric P. Bettinger and Bridget Terry Long
(May 2005, National Bureau of Economic Research)
Assessing Developmental Assessment in Community Colleges
Katherine L. Hughes and Judith Scott-Clayton
(February 2011, Community College Research Center)
Basic Skills Instruction in Community Colleges: The Dominance of Remedial Pedagogy
Norton Grubb
(July 2011, Policy Analysis for California Education)
Characterizing the Effectiveness of Developmental Education: A Response to Recent Criticism
Thomas Bailey, Shanna Smith Jaggars, and Judith Scott-Clayton
(February 2013, Community College Research Center)
Do High-Stakes Placement Exams Predict College Success?
Judith Scott-Clayton
(February 2012, Community College Research Center)
Improving the Targeting of Treatment: Evidence from College Remediation
Judith Scott-Clayton, Peter M. Crosta, and Clive R. Belfield
(October 2012, National Bureau of Economic Research)
New Evidence on College Remediation
Paul Attewell, David Lavin, Thurston Domina, and Tania Levey
(September/October 2006, The Journal of Higher Education)
The Opposing Forces That Shape Developmental Education: Assessment, Placement, and Progression at CUNY Community Colleges
Shanna Smith Jaggars and Michelle Hodara
(November 2011, Community College Research Center)
Predicting Success in College: The Importance of Placement Tests and High School Transcripts
Clive R. Belfield and Peter M. Crosta
(February 2012, Community College Research Center)
Referral, Enrollment, and Completion in Developmental Education Sequences at Community Colleges
Thomas Bailey, Dong Wook Jeong, and Sung-Woo Cho
(November 2009, Community College Research Center)
Expectations Meet Reality: The Underprepared Student and Community Colleges
(2016, Center for Community College Student Engagement)
What We Know About Accelerated Developmental Education
Research Overview
(March 2014, Community College Research Center)
What We Know About Developmental Education Outcomes
Research Overview
(January 2014, Community College Research Center)
About Complete College America data
The data used in colored bar graphs in the main story come from Complete College America. It was collected from 28 states and represents full-time and part-time students at public colleges and public non-research universities who started in Fall 2010.
There is no way to gauge with perfect accuracy how many students take developmental classes. Various researchers, organizations and government agencies have collected and analyzed data in different ways. Federal data indicates that 68 percent of community college students and 40 percent of students at public four-year colleges take at least one remedial course.
Researchers using transcript data found that about half of all undergraduates will take one or more remedial courses.
Another study found that 58 percent of recent high school graduates who entered community colleges took at least one developmental course and 31 percent of students at non-selective four year colleges took at least one developmental course.