S.F. 1242 requires the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees (“the board”) to offer a comprehensive tiered framework of supplemental instruction and developmental education. Supplemental instruction is providing targeted support for students with academic weaknesses who are enrolled in credit-bearing courses. The board may assign a student who is not likely to succeed in supplemental instruction to an “accelerated pathway.” An accelerated pathway would provide additional support to a student so that the student could complete developmental coursework and a gateway course in reading, writing, and math in one year. Additionally, the board must monitor and adopt strategies that have the potential to increase the placement and success of students in credit-bearing courses. Finally, the board must provide additional support to students, additional advising, and additional reporting on developmental and supplemental education. The Office of Higher Education (OHE) must publish on its website additional data about supplemental courses taken by graduates of Minnesota high schools.

Section 1. Supplemental and developmental education.

Subd. 1. Definitions. Defines “academic weakness,” “accelerated pathway,” “corequisite,” “credit-bearing course,” “developmental education,” “gateway course,” “supplemental instruction,” and “targeted support.”

Subd. 2. Program requirements. The board must develop and implement a comprehensive tiered framework of supplemental instruction and developmental education that emphasizes supplemental education. The program must focus on the skills and competencies essential for success, and based on the nature of individual campus academic programming and the need of specific populations. Requires the transcript records for supplemental instruction to include a credit-bearing course or designation of an equivalency. The board must publish on its website and in course catalogs the supplemental instruction, developmental education, and corequisite courses offered at a particular postsecondary institution.

Subd. 3. Supplemental instruction. Requires supplemental education courses to allow a student to enroll in a credit-bearing course while receiving supplemental instruction and to provide students with targeted support, including tutoring and group study time. Requires the board to establish guidelines for supplemental instruction using multiple measures of assessment. The program must be available to students who did not qualify for credit-bearing courses but are identified as likely to succeed in a credit-bearing course if support is provided. Requires the board to provide individual counseling to any student who does not receive a passing grade in an entry-level credit bearing course while receiving supplemental academic instruction.

Subd. 4. Accelerated pathways and developmental education. Permits the board to place a student in an accelerated pathway program if it deems that the student needs additional academic support to be successful in supplemental instruction. Prohibits accelerated pathway programs from including developmental education courses. Prohibits the board from requiring a student to participate in developmental education for a period longer than a semester or quarter.

Subd. 5. Support strategies. Requires the board to monitor and adopt strategies that have the potential or have been proven to increase placement and success of students in credit-bearing courses. Requires the board to assess if the strategies would be beneficial system-wide or only at particular campuses. Permits the board to discontinue strategies that do not prove beneficial.

Describes examples of strategies covered by the subdivision, including corequisite courses, proactive advising, metamajors, alternative mathematics curricula, opt-out scheduling, and facilitating credit transfer.

Subd. 6. Assessments and advising. Requires common student placement assessments to provide information on academic weaknesses to students. Requires that students assessed below college ready be provided additional support and materials. Requires that intrusive advising be provided to a student who participates in supplemental instruction programs but has been unsuccessful.

Subd. 7. Developmental reform report. The board must report to the higher education committees of the legislature each year. This subdivision lists the minimum requirements for the report, including information on strategies being implemented and data on students taking supplemental education.

Subd. 8. School district graduate reporting. OHE must publish on its website data related to the rates of supplemental education course usage by graduates of Minnesota high school. Requires the data to be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, free or reduced lunch eligibility, and age.

Effective date. The section is effective the day following final enactment. The board must begin offering a supplemental instruction program at each campus by the beginning of the 2019-2020 academic year.