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Authored by:
Giselle Palacios, Partnership for College Completion
Mike Abrahamson, Partnership for College Completion

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Acknowledgments

This report was completed with support from Ascendium Education Group. The report was authored by Partnership for College Completion’s Giselle Palacios and Mike Abrahamson. It was made possible with editing from Susan Reich.

We would also like to thank Kathleen Almy, CEO and founder of Almy Education, and colleagues who generously reviewed and advised this report.

As always, our work would not be possible without the deep commitment and ongoing support of so many individuals, including the PCC Board of Directors, PCC Investors Council, college and university partners, legislative champions, colleagues within state agencies and government, and advocates.

Executive Summary

Nearly five years after the March 2021 passage of the Developmental Education Reform Act (DERA) in Illinois, community colleges and public universities have taken important steps toward aligning their practices with the requirements and goals of the legislation. As Illinois community colleges and public universities implemented DERA’s reforms:

  • Enrollment in developmental education courses declined.
    • From 2018 to 2023, enrollment in developmental education courses dropped by an estimated 64,000 students.
  • Corequisite models yielded better outcomes.
    • More than 60% of students in corequisite models passed a math or English gateway course in their first year, compared with fewer than 20% in traditional models.
    • Students of color and students from low-income backgrounds in corequisite models were 4–7 times more likely to pass a math or English gateway course in their first year.
  • More students were placed in the corequisite model.
    • Corequisite enrollment increased by 23% in English and 75% in math from 2021 to 2023.

Although these achievements are worth celebrating, full DERA compliance is not yet a reality. Community colleges and public universities must address several concerns and make improvements in key areas to ensure that students have the best and most equitable opportunities for success:

  • Institutions must clear up misinterpretations of certain aspects of the legislation, which may be hindering full compliance.
    • DERA does not allow institutions to dismiss high school GPA, transitional courses, or transfer credits as standalone placement measures.
    • The legislation does not provide a “grace period” for maximizing first-year student success so that institutions can continue to enroll first-semester students in traditional developmental education courses.
  • Equity gaps and barriers to student success remain.
    • Some colleges have not yet implemented or scaled corequisite courses.
    • Disparities in gateway course completion rates persist for students in corequisite models, particularly for Black students.
    • Research shows that some students are delaying enrollment in required math and English courses.

Recommendations

To support institutions while also holding them accountable, the Partnership for College Completion (PCC) has established the following recommendations and key metrics to guide community colleges, public universities, and the State of Illinois in tracking DERA implementation and outcomes:

  1. The state should track full compliance with DERA placement reforms.
  2. Institutions must continue to scale back the number and percentage of students enrolled in developmental education.
  3. Institutions should increase the number and percentage of students enrolled in corequisite models and monitor equity gaps to ensure equitable outcomes.
  4. Institutions must use their data to assess whether students in alternative offerings to corequisite remediation are as or more likely to succeed than students enrolled in corequisite courses.
  5. Institutions and the state must continue to track the percentage of gateway course completions within the first year —a key indicator of success.
  6. Institutions should minimize the use of placement tests and provide advising that supports enrollment in required gateway courses with or without corequisite support.

Introduction

In 2019, the Illinois legislature set out on a path to improve developmental education. Lawmakers were motivated by overwhelming evidence that these non-credit courses—which tens of thousands of students were required to complete to prepare for college-level coursework—were detrimental to student outcomes. That same year, the Illinois General Assembly passed Senate Joint Resolution 41 and directed the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) and the Illinois Board of Education (IBHE) to establish a joint advisory council. An initial report released by the council stated that developmental education courses posed significant barriers to equitable college access and success, particularly for community college students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.1 The report noted that community colleges were using inconsistent and faulty measures to place students in non-credit developmental education courses, even though many of these students would have likely succeeded in credit- bearing courses. Moreover, colleges mainly placed these students in the traditional developmental education model, which resulted in dismally low pass rates compared to other models.

What is Developmental Education?

Also known as remedial education, developmental education was designed with the intention of equipping students with the foundational skills they need to succeed in gateway courses in college math and English. However, decades of research show that, despite the time and money invested in this intervention, traditional developmental education is more often “a bridge to nowhere” than a path to success.2 Depending on where a college places a student, developmental education may involve a single course or a structured sequence of up to three courses. There are various models for developmental education courses, including traditional, corequisite, and compressed.

To address the inefficiencies and inequities in Illinois, the General Assembly passed the Developmental Education Reform Act as part of Illinois House Bill 2170 in March 2021. This legislation set forth a transformative vision of a more efficient and equitable postsecondary system. The law outlines a two-part solution:

The Developmental Education Reform Act also mandates that ICCB and IBHE publish the status of developmental education reform at public institutions every other year, supported by relevant data. PCC conducted a thorough analysis of ICCB’s updates in 2023 and published the first DERA progress report in 2024. Now, nearly five years after the passage of DERA, our second report draws on the latest available data provided by ICCB and IBHE.3 This report details the successes of implementation, identifies new and ongoing challenges, and highlights areas requiring further attention and support, specifically at community colleges.

Evidence of Momentum: Illinois Continues to Make Progress

The latest data indicate that the state is making progress in developmental education enrollment and placement. Community colleges are placing fewer students in developmental education courses, and institutions are increasingly placing students in models that offer them a better chance of success. Most critically, outcomes for these students are improving.

Enrollment in developmental education courses continues to trend downward.

The Illinois developmental education landscape has undergone significant changes over the past decade. The share of Illinois high school graduates enrolling in developmental education at community colleges decreased by almost half in just six years, dropping from 49.4% for the Class of 2014 to 27.3% for the Class of 2020.4 Three years later, the percentage of students enrolled in developmental education was 28.2% for the Class of 2023. While the drastic decline in developmental education enrollments among high school graduates has leveled off, there has been marked progress within the community college system. From 2018 to 2023, the number of community college students taking at least one developmental education course declined by 40%. When adjusted for changes in student populations, this translates to an estimated 64,000 fewer enrollments in developmental education courses over these five years.5 Since 2020, enrollments in math and English developmental courses have decreased by 11% and 9% respectively. While the decline in these subject-area enrollments may seem modest, we are seeing a significant increase in enrollment in the best-practices model. This positive shift is covered in greater detail in the following subsections.

Students are more successful in corequisite models.

Data presented in the ICCB 2025 Status of Developmental Education Reform Report show that corequisite models are producing higher gateway course pass rates than any other model. Because DERA requires institutions to scale the model that maximizes the likelihood of students completing gateway courses in math and English during their first year, the ICCB report confirms that the corequisite model is the only one that can be scaled to comply with DERA’s mandate.

It’s not a close call; the difference in pass rates between the traditional model (previously the most widely used) and the corequisite model is striking. Sixty-one percent of students enrolled in the corequisite model pass a math gateway course with a C or higher in their first year, compared with 14% for those in the traditional model. Similarly, 65% of corequisite students passed an English gateway course in their first year, compared with 20% of students in the traditional model. These findings indicate that the corequisite model is more than 4 times as effective in math and more than 3 times as effective in English.

Students of color and those from low-income backgrounds are seeing disproportionate benefits in the corequisite model, which is especially notable given that they faced the greatest setbacks under the traditional model.6 Disaggregated data show that corequisite Black and Latinx students are 5–7 times more likely to pass a math gateway course within their first year, and 4 times more likely to pass an English gateway course than comparison groups in the traditional models. Likewise, Pell recipients are 4 times more likely to pass a gateway math course and over 3 times more likely to pass a gateway English course than those placed in traditional models. The corequisite model is consistently 4–7 times more effective and must be scaled; with student opportunity on the line, there is no room for equivocation.

After an initial decline, corequisite enrollment is growing.

PCC’s 2024 DERA Report noted a concerning trend: although all developmental education models saw a decline in enrollment from 2020 to 2021—likely due to overall enrollment declines and DERA reforms that placed more students directly into college-level courses—enrollment declines were the most significant for corequisite models, compared to traditional models and a combination of other models.7 This update delivers better news: many community colleges have reversed this trend in recent years.

The corequisite model saw the most significant enrollment growth of any developmental education model from 2021 to 2023, rising by 23% in English and 75% in math.8 This enrollment growth, along with the consistently high pass rates in corequisite models, not only confirms the model’s effectiveness but also challenges the notion that corequisite models only benefit students on the bubble or near the placement cutoff score. This evidence suggests that colleges can confidently continue to scale the corequisite model without fear of leaving students behind. Amid an overall decline in developmental education enrollment, the growing adoption of corequisite models demonstrates meaningful progress toward the goals of the DERA legislation.

PCC’s Role in DERA Reform: The Illinois Developmental Education Equity in Action (IDEEA) Network

In the wake of the passage of DERA, PCC formed the Illinois Developmental Education Equity in Action (IDEEA) Network in fall 2023. This two-year, cohort-based opportunity provided technical assistance and expert guidance for 17 community colleges and public universities committed to reforming developmental education through the adoption of a corequisite model. Cross-functional teams within the IDEEA Network—which typically included administrators, faculty, student support staff, and researchers from the participating institutions—engaged in online modular workshops, attended annual in-person meetings convened by PCC, and participated in ongoing consultations with a dedicated coach over the two years.

During this period, PCC built on its foundation of serving institutions through the Illinois Equity in Attainment (ILEA) Initiative and received additional support from Almy Education, an Illinois-based consultancy, to deliver intensive coaching and technical assistance in the areas of math, English, and systems-level change. Coaches worked closely with participating institutions to improve placement systems through multiple measures, refine curriculum structures, and align course pathways with student needs. Collaboration across academic, advising, and support service departments was a key component, ensuring that the reforms were not only effective but sustainable.

Participating IDEEA Network institutions incorporated developmental math content into single corequisite courses to enhance access to gateway classes, created integrated reading and writing corequisite courses for gateway English classes, and developed shared assessments to better monitor student progress. They also supported inclusive practices by incorporating strategies for students learning a second language and expanding student success-tracking tools.

Beyond course-level changes, the initiative promoted systemic reforms through sustained evaluation of course sequences, advising improvements, and professional development opportunities for faculty. Institutions revised placement strategies to minimize unnecessary developmental education placements and adopted high-impact teaching practices to promote student engagement and improve retention rates.

IDEEA colleges and universities have:

  • Accelerated progress on DERA plan implementation
  • Increased collaboration between Illinois community colleges and public universities, fostering the exchange of insights, challenges, and best practices
  • Increased faculty engagement and cohesion across key stakeholder groups at the campus level
  • Integrated DERA strategies within a broader equity agenda at the campus and state levels

Following the passage of DERA, IDEEA colleges began shifting away from traditional developmental education and placing more students in corequisite models for math and English. The strategy was an unqualified success: the Fall 2023 IDEEA cohort saw the pass rate for students enrolled in corequisite English and math courses climb to over 65%. These institutions were already committed to expanding the corequisite model, and the IDEEA Network provided targeted support and accelerated that progress.

The IDEEA initiative has helped participating institutions make substantial progress toward DERA compliance while advancing equitable outcomes for students. In October 2024, only one IDEEA college had complied with DERA mandates and maximized student success within two semesters in math. None of the IDEEA colleges had achieved this benchmark in English. By May 2025, that number had risen to two colleges in math and three in English. This finding shows that these institutions are complying with both the letter and the spirit of the law. They are placing fewer students in traditional developmental education courses—or eliminating the traditional developmental education model entirely—and achieving higher pass rates for students placed in college-level courses.

Overall, 65% of IDEEA institutions were compliant at some level in math and 71% in English at the conclusion of the first IDEEA cohort in 2025. While a number of these institutions are compliant with the law, they have not yet fully maximized student success. Although IDEEA institutions are placing more students in corequisite courses, many still offer too many standalone developmental education courses with low success rates. There is room for improvement, and these institutions are actively working to increase compliance and maximize student success. PCC continues to support institutions in their efforts to achieve full compliance with DERA mandates.

*Not in compliance: Institutions have not made meaningful progress toward implementing placement policies that use multiple individual measures (including GPA) and scaling the model that maximizes students’ chance of success in their first two semesters.

**Working towards compliance: Institutions are taking concrete steps toward implementing multiple-measure placement policies and scaling the model that maximizes students’ chance of success in their first two semesters but have not yet reached compliance.

***Making progress: Institutions implement multiple-measure placement policies and offer a pathway that enables students to complete their gateway course within two semesters, but the likelihood of students successfully doing so is not yet maximized.

****Compliant: Institutions have implemented multiple-measure placement policies and scaled the model that maximizes student success within the first two semesters.

Areas for Improvement

Track uniform placement across all community colleges.

As DERA implementation began, some colleges misinterpreted the reform act’s placement policies. DERA mandates that colleges use a multiple-measure approach to determine whether a student should be placed in a college-level English or math course. These measures include high school GPA, completion of a high school transition course, and transfer credit from another institution. In Illinois, this multiple-measure mandate requires institutions to place students in college-level courses if they satisfy any one of the available placement methods.

DERA Placement Legislation

a.) On or befoefore May 1, 2022, a community college shall use each of the following measures, as appropriate, to determine the placement of a student in introductory college-level English language or mathematics coursework and shall use the scores set forth in recommendations approved by the Illinois Council of Community College Presidents on June 1, 2018:
(1) A student’s cumulative high school grade point average.
(2) A student’s successful completion of an appropriate high school transition course in mathematics or English.
(3) A student’s successful completion of an appropriate developmental education or introductory college-level English language or mathematics course at another regionally accredited postsecondary educational institution.

c.) If a student qualifies for placement in an introductory college-level English language or mathematics course using a single measure under subsection (a) or (b), no additional measures need to be considered for placement of the student in the introductory college-level English language or mathematics course.

However, some institutions interpreted the law differently than intended, reading the “as appropriate” language to mean that they could disregard these measures as standalone indicators. This phrase was intended to give colleges the flexibility to avoid unnecessary testing, not to dismiss the use of these measures entirely.9 Some institutions still expect students to satisfy multiple measures at the same time, but Section (c) of the legislation requires colleges to place students in credit-bearing courses if they individually satisfy “a single measure.”

In 2022, only 17% of Illinois community colleges accepted all three measures listed in Section (a) of the legislation and were, therefore, compliant with its placement policies.10 Colleges are required to publish their placement policies on their websites, but the state does not currently monitor institutions’ compliance. The state should track placement policy implementation and changes to ensure compliance and consistency across all community colleges; a student’s opportunity to take college-level courses should not depend on the community college that a student attends.

PCC’s Unofficial Guide to Placement Compliance

Strengthen shared understanding of maximizing first-year student success.

The law requires institutions to scale “evidence-based developmental education reforms to maximize the probability that a student will be placed in and successfully complete introductory college-level English language or mathematics coursework within two semesters.” Some colleges have been interpreting “within two semesters” as a grace period, placing students in traditional developmental education courses in their first semester with the assumption that they will enroll in a gateway course in their second semester. The evidence against this view is compelling: community college students enrolled in a traditional developmental education math course, for example, have a 14% chance of passing a gateway math course in their first year. In contrast, students enrolled in corequisite courses have a 61% chance of passing a math gateway course in their first year. Compliance with DERA, therefore, while placing students in even one semester of traditional developmental education, would require a college to demonstrate that those students are passing gateway courses at rates comparable to students placed in corequisite courses—a highly unlikely outcome, according to research and this data. Maximizing student success within the first year of college begins with placement. Institutions should avoid placing students in the traditional model; instead, students should be placed in the corequisite model in their first semester, or at the latest in their second semester if unavoidable scheduling conflicts arise. If institutions place students in alternate pathways or models, DERA puts the onus on them to prove that their outcomes will match or exceed the success rates of corequisite remediation.

Scale the corequisite model at more community colleges.

The increase in corequisite course enrollment is primarily the result of scaling efforts by colleges that offered the corequisite model before the passage of DERA.11 At the same time, the data suggest that some community colleges have yet to implement corequisite courses; students at these colleges do not have access to the model that most effectively supports success in gateway courses during the first year.

We recognize that implementing and scaling the corequisite model requires time and resources. We also acknowledge that some colleges may be developing corequisite courses that will be available to students in the near future. However, this law has been in effect for four years, and all students should have access to the best opportunities to complete college-level courses. Accordingly, the state should continue to report the percentage of developmental education students enrolled in corequisite models, both to ensure DERA compliance and to give students the best possible opportunities for success.

Address disparities in student outcomes in corequisite models.

Despite the overall success of corequisite models, racial disparities in outcomes persist, particularly for Black students. Black and Latinx students are 12 and 3 percentage points less likely, respectively, to pass a gateway English course in their first year compared to White students. Black students are 8 percentage points less likely to pass a gateway math course than their White peers, while Latinx students have nearly equal passing rates. Colleges should address these achievement gaps by incorporating targeted strategies for improving outcomes for Black students into their DERA implementation plans. Additionally, changes in classroom and course design can play an important role in reducing equity gaps; institutions are encouraged to focus on this aspect of corequisite education during their next phase of DERA implementation.12

Prevent students from delaying enrollment in gateway courses.

UChicago’s Inclusive Economy Lab evaluated a multiple-measure placement policy implemented at the City Colleges of Chicago to improve course placement accuracy for incoming students. Under this policy, students with a high school GPA of 3.0 or above are “boosted” into next-level math and English courses to comply with the DERA legislative mandate to place them in college-level courses.13 The study found that students who had access to the placement boost took fewer developmental education courses without experiencing a decline in overall academic performance and persistence. However, the researchers also found that some of the students boosted out of traditional developmental education courses were more likely to delay enrollment in their required math and English courses. These enrollment delays are likely because students no longer need to take a sequence of math or English courses, so they may not feel an urgent need to complete their single required course during their first year. For math in particular, factors such as placement policies, perceived course difficulty, and math anxiety pose significant barriers to enrollment and progression.14 The high-stakes nature of placement tests, often a source of fear and anxiety, can discourage students from taking the first step toward gateway course completion. Thus, the use of high school GPA as a placement measure should be favored over the use of placement tests, especially in light of the study’s finding that students boosted into college-level courses on the basis of their GPAs did not experience any declines in academic performance or persistence, despite enrolling in fewer developmental education courses.

The lack of data on students who are placed in developmental education courses by their colleges and choose not to enroll is a concern. Without tracking this data, we cannot gain insights into the profiles of students who disengage early in their college journeys—and why. To prevent these students from falling through the cracks, colleges should eliminate or reduce the use of the placement tests that many students try to avoid, and advisors should meet with them to build a first-year schedule that includes required gateway courses.

The impact of DERA on student outcomes and completion rates.

By removing the long sequences of developmental education courses, the DERA legislation should improve student outcomes and ultimately boost completion and graduation rates. But in practice, the picture is more complicated, and the data we have thus far are limited. For the Fall 2023 cohort, students in the corequisite model outperformed those in the traditional model. A greater percentage of students in the corequisite model reached the 24-credit-hour benchmark in their first year, their retention rates were higher from fall to fall, and they had higher completion rates in their first or second year.

In terms of graduation and advancement rates, corequisite students generally show better outcomes than their peers in the traditional models.15 However, the differences are not yet as large as they could be. That’s likely because the data reflect the Fall 2020 and 2021 cohorts, which were the first two groups to be tracked under developmental education reform. Indicators show that most corequisite models were not yet fully scaled, which lessened the impact of the reforms overall. There is also an intersectional issue: students who are required to take both English and math developmental education may be placed in different models for each subject. For example, a student might take a corequisite English course and a traditional math course. If that student does not graduate within three years, it negatively impacts the reported graduation rate for corequisite English, even though the delay is likely due to the placement in a traditional math course. We will continue to monitor the data on credit accumulation, retention, completion, and graduation rates in the coming years to fully understand the long-term impact of developmental education reform on student success.

Update on Developmental Education Reform at Public Universities

Public universities have made progress in implementing DERA reforms, but there is significant room for improvement. One key success: Since the passage of the DERA legislation, more public universities are offering the corequisite model and a few have eliminated traditional developmental education altogether. And while 10 of the 12 public universities in Illinois offer math courses through a corequisite model, 5 were still using the traditional developmental education model as of the 2023–24 academic year. Half of Illinois’ public universities do not offer developmental English courses. Among those that do, four offer the corequisite model, but three continue to offer traditional developmental education.

Data indicate several areas for improvement at public universities. First, the number of students in developmental education has remained unchanged since fall 2018–19. There was a minor enrollment drop during the pandemic, but it climbed back to approximately 3,500 students. We hope to see a decrease in developmental education enrollments at public universities over time.

Second, most public universities now offer corequisite math courses. Yet only 55% of developmental education students are enrolled in these courses, and the remaining 45% are still placed in traditional developmental education courses. These proportions should be closer to universities’ developmental English courses, where 82% of students benefit from the corequisite model and 18% are placed in traditional developmental courses.

Third, the pass rate for students in math corequisite courses is low compared to English—only 38% pass a gateway math course, compared to a 77.5% pass rate for English gateway courses. Disaggregated data also reveals glaring racial and socioeconomic disparities. Black students have the lowest pass rate in math corequisite courses, followed by Pell recipients and Latinx students. In contrast, White students and non-Pell recipients have significantly higher pass rates.

Finally, students in traditional developmental education courses have low pass rates for gateway courses even by the end of their second year. This trend is troubling, given that students are more likely to complete a degree program when they complete math and English gateway courses during their first two semesters.16 Public universities must actively work to boost first-year gateway course completion rates, and at the same time, eliminate racial and socioeconomic disparities.

Although this report focuses on DERA implementation at community colleges, which serve the majority of developmental education students, the data indicates that policymakers, researchers, and advocates should monitor implementation at public universities to ensure that these institutions are also making progress toward compliance.

In the first DERA Report, PCC identified several key metrics that public postsecondary institutions and the state must monitor to keep Illinois on the right track. Drawing on the latest research and data, we have expanded our recommendations, which are outlined below:

  1. The state must track full compliance with DERA placement reforms.
  2. Community colleges and public universities must continue to scale back developmental education enrollment and allow students who can succeed in credit-bearing courses to enroll in those courses.
  3. Community colleges and public universities should increase the share of developmental education students enrolled in corequisite models and address equity gaps to ensure equitable outcomes for all students.
  4. Community colleges and public universities must use their data to assess whether students in alternative offerings to corequisite remediation are as or more likely to succeed than students in corequisite courses.
  5. Community colleges, public universities, and the state must continue to track first-year gateway course completion to ensure that students are succeeding.
  6. Community colleges and public universities should limit the use of placement tests and offer advising that promotes enrollment in required gateway courses with or without corequisite support.

Conclusion

Illinois community colleges and public universities have made important progress over the past four years since DERA implementation began. Yet challenges remain as these institutions work toward full compliance. We must monitor certain aspects of DERA reforms more closely, including changes to placement methods and the percentage of students enrolled in corequisite models. While full compliance is the ultimate goal, this report aims to recognize the significant efforts that community colleges and public universities are making to implement DERA reforms and, at the same time, hold these institutions accountable for maximizing student success and ensuring equity in developmental education. We expect to see continued improvements in placement, corequisite scaling, and student outcomes in the next data release. With continued dedication and collaboration, Illinois is well positioned to advance equitable and effective developmental education reform and ensure that more students are thriving and achieving their academic goals.

End Notes

1“Developmental Education Reform,” Illinois Board of Higher Education, accessed October 30, 2025, https://www.ibhe.org/Senate-Joint-Resolution-41.html. The Illinois General Assembly adopted Senate Joint Resolution 41 in spring 2019, establishing a joint advisory council responsible for reviewing and scaling developmental education best practices. In 2020, the council, including the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) and Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), published three reports on the landscape of developmental education in Illinois.

2“Remediation: Higher Education’s Bridge to Nowhere,” Complete College America, 2012, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED536825.

3“Status of Developmental Education Reform in the Illinois Community College System Fiscal Year 2025,” Illinois Community College Board, 2025, https://www.iccb.org/wp-content/docs/research%20and%20analytics/2025_ICCB_Dev_Ed_Status_Update_Report_FINAL_2025-02-12.pdf; “Status of Developmental Education Reforms at Illinois Public Universities,” Illinois Board of Higher Education, 2025, https://www.ibhe.org/assets/files/derar/2025_IBHE_DERA_Report.pdf.

4“Illinois Report Card 2023-2024,” Illinois State Board of Education, 2024, https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/State.aspxsource=trends&source2=postsecondaryremediation&Stateid=IL.

5Author’s calculation based on data provided in ICCB’s data books.

6Jason L. Taylor, “Accelerating Pathways to College: The (In)Equitable Effects of Community College Dual Credit,” Community College Review, 43 (4), (2015): 355–379, https://doi.org/10.1177/0091552115594880. This is significant considering that even with the most effective policy examples, students of color and students from low-income backgrounds do not always benefit to such a great extent. For example, Taylor (2015) examined the effect of dual credit policies on college enrollment and completion in Illinois and found that it positively affected all students, but students of color and those from low-income backgrounds saw smaller effects.

7Mike Abrahamson and Caitlin Power, A Progress Report on Reforming Developmental Education in Illinois, (2024), https://partnershipfcc.org/publications/a-progress-report-on-reforming-developmental-education-in-illinois/.

8As of 2023, modularized and emporium models were no longer utilized for English developmental education, although at least five models remained in use for math. Enrollment in compressed, modularized, emporium, and “other” models was relatively low compared to traditional and corequisite models, with only a few hundred students enrolled in either subject, except for the math compressed model, which had close to 800 students enrolled.

9Mike Abrahamson and Caitlin Power, A Progress Report on Reforming Developmental Education in Illinois, (2024).

10Mike Abrahamson and Caitlin Power, A Progress Report on Reforming Developmental Education in Illinois, (2024). Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Research and Reform in Education (CRRE) conducted an analysis of the community colleges’ institutional plans and found that only 8 of the 48 colleges utilized GPA, completion of high school transition course, and transfer credit from other institutions as placement measures.

11PCC’s 2024 DERA Report stated that 96.5% of Illinois public institutions offered corequisite math and 87% offered corequisite English. More recent data from 2023 reported directly by ICCB shows that, among the state’s 48 community colleges, 65% offered corequisite math and 79% offered corequisite English. These percentages are now lower because they are based on different sources. The previous percentages were derived from a survey conducted by John Hopkins University’s CRRE, which included both Illinois community colleges and public universities.

12Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Cesar Alesi Perez, and Adrián Trinidad, How Are Black and Latino Men Faring after Developmental Education Reform?, Public Policy Institute of California, (2024), https://www.ppic.org/publication/how-are-black-and-latino-men-faring-after-developmental-education-reform/.

13Kelly Hallberg, Emileigh Harrison, Adam Leader-Smith, Elijah Ruiz, Marvin Slaughter, and Courtney Washington, Supporting the Early Academic Momentum of Community College Students: Examining the Impact of Incorporating GPA into Course Placement, Inclusive Economy Lab, (2025), https://urbanlabs.uchicago.edu/projects/developmental-education.

14Pamela Burdman, Alexis Robin Hale, and Jenn BeVard, A Complex Equation: Confronting Math Obstacles on the Transfer Path, Just Equations, (2025), https://www.justequations.org/resource/a-complex-equation-confronting-math-obstacles-on-the-transfer-path.

15The advancement rate tracks first-time, full-time students who graduated, transferred, or are still enrolled after three years (which is one year more, or 150% of the two years in which students aim to graduate). It would be more informative if graduation rates, transfer rates, and continued enrollment were reported separately. One example of the need for this is that full-time students enrolled for more than three years would be counted positively as “advancing”, when it may also indicate potential concerns about the student’s path to completion.

16Gordon R. Flanders, “The Effect of Gateway Course Completion on Freshman College Student Retention,” Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice 19 (1), (2015): 2–24, https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025115611396; Davis Jenkins and Thomas Bailey, “Early Momentum Metrics: Why They Matter for College Improvement,” Community College Research Center, 2017, https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/publications/early-momentum-metrics-college-improvement.html.