Developing your developmental math redesign

I'm currently in St. Louis after giving a talk at University of Missouri St. Louis on our school's developmental math redesign.  At the left, I've posted some documents that may help those interested in more information.  Check out these specifically:

• Best Pratices in Developmental Math (PPT presentation)
• RVC Developmental Math Manual (contains all our program details including MML course IDs)
• 2010 RVC Program Brochure
• Making Course Redesign a Reality

The program brochure lays out the development of content to show our progression.  It also has a table that shows how we address the 5 components I talked about (placement, advising, courses, instruction, and support) in terms of quality, consistency, affordability, and flexibility.

Making Course Redesign a Reality is another presentation I give to schools who have chosen the changes they want to make but need help with implementation.  It has some ideas to help you when you meet the natural resistance that change brings about.

The key thing I ask you to keep in mind is looking at the program from all angles.  Don't focus on one specific aspect with the hopes that you'll find the cure-all there.  We had semesters where the only change was placement cut scores.  Then we phased in standardized policies.  In each case, changes in pass rates were negligible.  It wasn't until we had all the pieces working in harmony that pass rates made a significant jump.

If you have questions, let me know.  There are so many ways to make your program work and those details don't have to match ours.  I feel like we stumbled on some large lessons in terms of structure but the details are where flexibility comes in.

Keep trudging.  Your efforts are worth it.