McGraw-Hill Hosts Inaugural Developmental Education Summit

MONTEREY, Calif., Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- With over half of college students in California in need of at least one remedial course in English or math, it is increasingly critical for higher education institutions to implement developmental education solutions that reduce the number of students requiring remediation, prepare students for college success, and improve student graduation rates. To address these challenges, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, in collaboration with California State University and California Community Colleges, brought together teachers, administrators and educational partners to discuss strategies to accelerate learning in developmental education through innovation at the company's first Developmental Education Summit held in Monterey last week.

At the event, keynote speaker Dr. Hunter R. Boylan, director of the National Center for Developmental Education and a professor of Higher Education at Appalachian State University, discussed the principles of developmental education, setting the stage for a series of workshops that focused on bringing administrators and instructors together.

"Improving college readiness and success is imperative for the U.S. to compete in the global economy, and working with schools and teachers in California and across the nation to help them better – and more cost effectively – identify, remediate and assess today's developmental students is one step in assuring long term academic success," said Beth Mejia, executive director for Developmental Education at McGraw-Hill Higher Education.  "Attention to individualized and adaptive learning will ultimately improve completion rates and reduce the number of students requiring remediation."

To support developmental education programs nationwide, McGraw-Hill plans to expand the Developmental Education Summit to a series of collaborative events throughout the country. "Expanding the Developmental Education Summit into a series of  workshops will provide a forum for educators, administrators and content providers to work together to develop solutions for challenges teachers and students are facing every day," said Ed Stanford, president, McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

At the Monterey summit, workshop attendees explored strategies for assessing each student's developmental needs and facilitating learning. Additional workshops focused on improving developmental reading, writing and math programs. During the breakout sessions, attendees focused on how technology and data-driven instruction could be incorporated into the classroom to individualize instruction and drive student success.

About McGraw-Hill Higher Education:

McGraw-Hill Higher Education, a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, is a premier provider of teaching and learning solutions for 21st century post-secondary and higher education markets worldwide.  Through a comprehensive range of traditional and digital education content and tools, McGraw-Hill Higher Education empowers educators and prepares professionals and students of all ages to connect, learn and succeed in the global economy. McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com/.

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Higher Education