What began as pilot programs and internal guidance on statewide developmental education reform policy is now being formalized through legislation and systemwide mandates. From 2021 to 2025, a growing number of states formalized changes that reflect a shift toward placement, pathways and models designed to move more students into and through college-level coursework.
Multiple Measures
Multiple measures placement emerged in response to evidence that single-score tests routinely misclassify students. Currently, at least 33 states or systems allow for the use of multiple measures in placement decisions — seven more since 2021. States are moving away from one-size-fits-all placement tests toward student-ready approaches that assess skills more holistically.
In 2022, Connecticut implemented a policy to approach multiple measures differently by allowing students guided self-placement and using targeted assessments for English learners. This student-centered placement approach has learners reflect on their preparedness and select their entry point in courses.
In 2023, the Montana University System revised their Board Policy to establish a shared placement structure for all public institutions. Each campus sets their own placement criteria but must apply shared measures of documented academic preparation. Montana also mandates placement reciprocity in their system, which removes retesting for transfer students and streamlines placement.
Corequisite Support
As of 2025, at least 29 states — five more since 2021 — explicitly allow or require corequisite enrollment (i.e., students in gateway courses receive concurrent academic support). In tandem, at least 32 states — six more since 2021 — have adopted instructional innovation policies.
In 2023, Kansas revised a Board of Regents policy to mandate institutions pair corequisite instruction with proven strategies, such as modularized course formats. These acceleration strategies allow students to resolve a narrow skill gap without losing an entire term of financial aid or academic progress.
Math Pathways
Math pathways are structured progressions of courses from K-12 through college that align with students’ intended programs of study and match their future aspirations. More than half of all states replace the traditional default of algebra-to-calculus with multiple equally rigorous options such as statistics, data science and quantitative reasoning.
The University System of Georgia now offers seven entry-level math courses, allowing non-STEM students alternatives to College Algebra aligned with their programs of study.
Sustaining these reforms requires coordination across systems. The Charles A. Dana Center and the Education Strategy Group’s recent report highlights that relevant math pathways require coordination across K-12 and higher education systems. Thirty-one states have cross-sector partnerships while ten report course-taking data, which makes statewide progress tracking difficult.
Data Reporting
Maintaining these reforms depends on robust data systems to track implementation and evaluate impact. Since 2021, at least 19 states have statutory developmental education reporting requirements — a slight decline from 2021. This decline may stem from states discontinuing stand-alone remediation and embedding supports in gateway courses, as in Colorado where a 10% cap on stand-alone remediation shifted students into corequisite models and reporting now focuses on students needing supports in gateway courses.
California’s 2021 statutory update requires community colleges and California state campuses to report annually on placement practices, course success rates and disaggregated outcomes by student income, race or ethnicity.
In 2024, Texas mandated institutional reporting on placement methods, course formats, student characteristics and gateway course completion.
These shifts and reforms show growing consensus: one-size-fits-all remediation no longer serves today’s students. Still, even as these models gain momentum, uneven implementation and gaps in public data reporting may make it hard to track how first-year students are faring. Strong Start to Finish’s update to the Core Principles for Developmental Education reform to be released at the end of 2025, will provide updated guidelines for states to implement these reforms at scale and with fidelity.
