The postsecondary developmental (remedial) education landscape is changing. In recent years, corequisite models have emerged as a promising alternative to the traditional prerequisite model. In a prerequisite model, college students with developmental education needs are typically required to take a non-credit-bearing course before progressing to college-level courses. Under a corequisite model, students enroll in a college-level course and concurrently receive related academic support, often in the form of a separate course section. Studies have shown that corequisite models can help students stay in and graduate from college.

Many states and institutions are also reexamining how students are placed in courses, moving from standardized test-based placement policies to placement policies that incorporate multiple measures of academic preparedness such as high school grade point average (GPA), high school course-taking patterns, and noncognitive assessments.

To learn more about how community colleges are modifying their placement policies and to un­derstand the effects of these changes, MDRC researchers collaborated with eight community colleges across the country to learn about their current placement policies and to develop a new placement system. The research team then worked with the colleges to implement this new system in the fall semester of 2024.

After implementation, the research team analyzed outcomes for students under the original and study placement systems—including students’ placement recommendations, the courses they enrolled in, and their grades in their first-semester English and math courses. The research team also gathered insights from college faculty and staff members about the design of their corequisite models and the factors that supported and hindered implementation. Finally, MDRC conducted a cost analysis to understand the feasibility of developing and implementing these new placement policies.

Key findings from MDRC’s focus group sessions with college staff members include:

• Corequisite models aim to help students succeed in college through targeted support and skill building, but they can fall short of meeting the diverse needs of all learners.
   
• When designing a new placement policy, colleges may consider how previous knowledge and existing models can inform their approach, how to effectively incorporate high school GPA (which was the most common measure used to determine student readiness), and how to foster collaboration across departments.

Key findings from MDRC’s data and cost analyses include:

• Not all students placed in corequisite courses need them. On average, at the analysis col­leges, students who were placed directly into college-level courses were as likely to complete the college-level course as those students placed in the corequisite course, and they earned more college credits overall—especially in English.
   
• Revising placement policies at the participating colleges cost about $5 per student and consisted wholly of faculty and staff member time. Most of these one-time costs were associated with redesigning and implementing the new placement criteria for the first semester.