Improving outcomes for students involved in developmental education is critical to higher education in Kansas. The Board's new strategic plan, Building a Future, aims to ensure that higher education remains affordable and accessible to Kansans, while continuing to help graduates achieve success. Without effective developmental education, many students would not have access to higher education, higher education would be less affordable, and many students would not be able to attain a credential.

As a part of its previous strategic plan, the Board placed a priority on developmental education in 2013, initiating a study that called for “a set of recommendations for redesigning developmental education across the system.” To fulfill this charge, Board staff assembled a Developmental Education Working Group charged by the Board to do the following:

Assess the level and types of remedial education at state community and technical colleges and make recommendations about: (1) state level policy and actions to promote effective remediation; (2) strategies that may be implemented locally, at the discretion of individual institutions; and (3) appropriate state level goals and local performance measures.

The Working Group, composed of fourteen representatives from community colleges, three from technical colleges, and three from state universities, met throughout academic year 2013-2014, dividing into three subgroups dedicated to writing and reading, advising and placement, and mathematics.  Their findings were presented to the Board in June 2014.