Does your child ever feel unsuccessful or unfulfilled in their prerequisite college writing course? Have you ever wondered why your child might be feeling unsuccessful in their prerequisite college writing course? Many colleges around America use the route of traditional developmental education which would be considered a prerequisite for other college level writing courses. A prerequisite course is a course any student must take before moving on to a higher level course (Merriam-Webster). For example, a student has to take general biology before they can take microbiology. This means that college students that show, usually through standardized tests, that they are not ready for college level math, reading, and writing courses are taught how to develop those skills (Adams). While these courses might seem like a good idea, they might actually be holding students back rather than supporting them.

Through research, professors and school administrators in eight different states have found that only 33% of those students ever passed first year composition (Adams). Policymakers in eight different states have adopted a new way of teaching these students with a much higher success rate. This is called corequisite. Corequisite, or ALP ( Accelerated Learning Program)  is kind of like a prerequisite course except it is simply just a different way of teaching these students so that they are better prepared for the rest of their college writing careers. In 2007, state governments of California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia decided to mandate corequisite courses in their colleges. So, let's see why these states felt the need to finally change their ways of teaching.

Peter Adams, Coordinator of Developmental Writing at the Community College of Baltimore County, found that only one third of his students passed their first year composition course after taking the prerequisite course that was taught using the traditional developmental education method. Many others found this to be true in other states and at their own schools! State governments in several different states decided that there needed to be a change so, in 2007, these states decided to mandate ALP or corequisite courses to help better prepare these students for higher level college courses. When the mandate was put into action, many professors that were working together to create the corequisite courses at the Community College of Baltimore County “hated” it because it was the first top-down mandate put in place. Professors were very pleased when they found that students started to learn better after corequisite was put into place. With their hard work and dedication in just ten years 100% of students passed their first year composition class. This was a huge improvement from the 33% of students just ten years before.

Adams also said that, “Many of my students also reported that they felt stigmatized by being placed in a “remedial” class” (Adams). Students also felt humiliated when telling their parents and relatives about the prerequisite class they had to take because they felt “stupid”. This is just simply not the case though. Students placed in traditional developmental education classes, or what is now corequisite or ALP, just have a harder time understanding the concepts of what is being taught or they are first generation college students that do not understand college terms or college life. So, you might be asking yourself why corequisite courses have become such a great solution for students that struggle to learn in traditional ways. Well, corequisite courses are meant to build early momentum for students that are pursuing a college degree (Daugherty). With this new and innovative solution students can finally feel confident in their education.

Adams, Peter. Composition Studies 48.2 (Summer 2020) - Wordpress.com. 2020, compositionstudiesjournal.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/adams.pdf.

Daugherty, Lindsay. “The Case for Corequisites: What Are the Ingredients of Success?” Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness, 22 May 2018, postsecondaryreadiness.org/corequisites-ingredients-success/.

Ganga, Elizabeth, et al. “Developmental Education: An Introduction for Policymakers.” Community College Research Center, 13 Feb. 2018, ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/publications/developmental-education-introduction-policymakers.htm

“Prerequisite.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prerequisite.