The decision to invest in a college education comes with opportunity costs, including time commitment, debt and delayed income earning.

Adding to these challenges, many students find starting with remedial coursework an unwelcome and unnecessary barrier to postsecondary, and ultimately career, advancement.

A body of research shows, in fact, that remedial or “developmental” education does not significantly improve students’ abilities to tackle college-level work.

“About 15 years ago, and even before that, there started to be more data showing that many [college] students who were starting in developmental education … were leaving the courses,” Katie Beal said in July during a session at the Midwestern Legislative Conference Annual Meeting.

Beal, who works on education policy for the nonprofit, nonpartisan MDRC, added that “very few were moving on to the college-level courses and passing them, and then even fewer students were earning the degree.”.....

.....Under one alternative approach, the Multiple Measures Assessment, additional factors are considered when determining a student’s level of placement, including high school grade-point average or noncognitive indicators.

Beal referenced a randomized controlled trial conducted across five community colleges in Minnesota and Wisconsin. (The trial was done by the MDRC, along with researchers at Columbia University’s Community College Research Center.)

The Multiple Measures method did have an effect. First, some students with low placement scores but strong high school GPAs got “bumped up”: they were given an advantage in course placement because of the measurement tool.....

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