Remedial Versus Developmental Education

The debate over where to do developmental education or whether to do it at all is fraught with misunderstandings, oversimplifications, half-truths, and some outright lies. Many educators and legislators simply do not understand the issue in all of its complexity. Many university faculty and administrators harbor distorted notions of what developmental education is, what it does. and what its true role should be in academe. A critical misunderstanding in this debate is the distinction between 'remedial " and "developmental ' education. Colleges and universities have long offered precollege-level courses designed to teach the basic academic skills necessary for success in college(Brier, 1984). These served students who were quite competent as poets, writers, or philosophers but lacked mathematical skills or students who had excellent potential as scientists, mathematicians, or engineers but had difficulty with the written word. TIEN, also served some students who were deficient in several basic skills. Traditionally, these students were enrolled in what were called remedial classes. These were designed specifically. to compensate for deficiencies in prior learning. As educational researchers began to understand the factors behind successful college performance, it was recognized that although remedial courses were valuable, they were often not sufficient (Maxwell, 1985). Students fail to do well in college for a variety of reasons, and only one of them is lack of academi