ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on new policy enacted in Florida specifically requires that the Florida College System (FCS) institutions implement what is termed “developmental education.” More specifically, the bill “restructures remedial college preparatory instruction as developmental education and requires FCS institutions to provide developmental education that is more tailored to the specific communication and computation skills a student needs to develop to be successful in performing college-level work”. The Florida State Legislature formally changed the name of the Florida Community College System to the FCS in 2009. The Florida community colleges trace their beginnings to 1927 when St. Petersburg Junior College was founded as a private, two-year college on the Gulf Coast. Based on 1994–1995 graduation data, Florida’s community college system led the nation in terms of the number of associate degree awards. Florida’s community colleges also ranked among the nation’s best in terms of degrees awarded to minority and non-traditional students.