Acceleration

Bailey, Thomas. (2008). Challenge and Opportunity: Rethinking the Role and Function of Developmental Education in Community College. Community College Research Center.
This working paper looks at the extent of developmental education in community colleges, its cost to students, schools, and the state and reviews evidence around its impacts on student skills and evidence of the effectiveness of programs for remedial education students.  Discusses the current state of remediation and makes recommendations for an agenda to reform developmental education at community colleges.

Scrivener, Susan, et al. (2012). What Can a Multifaceted Program Do for Community College Students? Early Results from an Evaluation of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for Developmental Education Students. MDRC.
This research used an experimental-control design to gauge whether a comprehensive acceleration program for developmental education students enrolled in the City University system in New York has an impact on student outcomes.  The program included a full-time enrollment requirement, cohorts of block scheduling and first-year seminars, small-caseload academic advising, and financial support to waive student tuition beyond their financial aid award and provide free bus fare and free textbooks.  Students enrolled in the acceleration program were more likely to enroll full time and earn more credits, more likely to complete all of their developmental education requirements by the end of the first semester, and more likely to persist to the second semester and third semester. Longer term outcomes of the program are currently being evaluated.

Zachry Rutschow, Elizabeth & Schneider, Emily. (2011). Unlocking the Gate: What We Know About Improving Developmental Education. MDRC
This review looks at effective practices for improving developmental education at colleges and universities.  Researchers categorize interventions around avoiding remediation, accelerating students through remedial classes, contextualizing basic skills or college courses, and supporting students in developmental education.  They emphasized rigorous research designs, but also included non-experimental studies that used some form of comparison group.