A STUDY OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT COREQUISITE WRITING COURSE MODELS IN THE SOUTHWEST

Community colleges have transitioned from traditional developmental course sequences to accelerated corequisite remediation models to provide students with an expedited pathway to college-level courses. This study was designed to compare the mean percentage of passes for participants enrolled in 4 and 6-contact hour corequisite English courses. This study also examined students enrolled in a top-level developmental English course (ENG091) and its role in preparing students to succeed in ENG101. This nonexperimental, quantitative study was based on a secondary data analysis. Large-scale data across 10 colleges were obtained from the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) institutional research database, Chi-squared tests (χ2) were also conducted to examine first-year composition course success rates for students enrolled in (a) a 4-contact hour corequisite English course and (b) a 6-contact hour corequisite English course and to examine first-year composition course success rates for students enrolled in (a) a top tier developmental English course (ENG091) and (b) corequisite English courses. The study indicated that increased corequisite contact hours did not lead to higher success rates in a first-year composition course (ENG101). The results also found no significant difference in the successful completion of ENG101 between students enrolled in a corequisite English course and those who registered for a top-tier developmental English course (ENG091) unless a grade of W was excluded from the analysis. These findings suggest that corequisites with fewer contact hours may be a better course option for some underprepared students. Withdrawal rates across all remediation platforms continue to be a consistent problem across institutions of higher learning and one worthy of further investigation.