Developmental Education: Overview and Concepts

Evolution of Developmental Education

Throughout the history of higher education in the U.S., there has been the need to provide academic assistance such as tutoring for some students, including in elite institutions that served only the [Page 638]affluent. The need for learning assistance grew after the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 extended the availability of public higher education, despite the general lack of free public secondary education at the time. In the 1920s, 2-year colleges began to emerge and were considered a point of access to postsecondary education for students who could not meet admissions standards for 4-year institutions.

In discussing the origins of contemporary models of developmental education in the United States, Martha Maxwell, an early leader in the field of developmental education, described the need for counseling related to study strategies and academic support for soldiers returning home after World War II to pursue educational opportunities supported by the Veterans Adjustment Act of 1944, more commonly known as the GI Bill. In the 1950s and 1960s, prior to the emergence of learning assistance centers, many of these services were provided in college and university counseling centers. Today veterans are but one of many diverse populations for whom developmental education programs and services can provide access to higher education as well enhancing educational opportunity and achievement. The Higher Education Act of 1965 offered financial aid to students who might otherwise have been unable to afford higher education. Terms like “nontraditional” and “disadvantaged” were commonly used to categorize students who did not fit the stereotype of the “traditional” 18- to 24-year-old affluent college student, who in the past had been more likely to be White, male, and English-speaking, with at least one college-educated parent. At many institutions, greater diversity was welcomed by educators who realized that higher education can be a critical step in achieving the “American dream,” and that a well-educated populace is necessary to remain competitive in a global economy. Developmental educators also understood that high school grade point average (GPA) and standardized test scores are not necessarily indicative of student potential. Developmental education can be a means of ameliorating past educational inequities as long as it is understood that these differences are often the result of societal structures that privilege some while disadvantaging others. Many developmental education programs strive not to label or stigmatize participating students, recognizing that it is not the students who should be perceived as “deficient.”

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