Academic Support Courses and Co-Requisite Model

Academic Support Courses

College students often need support to be successful in their chosen fields of study. Academic support courses are provided for students who need to refresh or strengthen academic skills. Courses are available in mathematics, English/writing, reading and study skills. A complete listing of these courses appears in the course description section of College Catalog.

All new students are required to complete the placement assessment. LCCC uses Accuplacer, a writing sample or high school cumulative GPA within ten years of graduation for reading/writing and ALEKS for math. 

Academic advisors use assessment results and other measures to help students select courses that align with academic abilities. If a student feels their placement assessment scores do not reflect their academic ability, they can request to reassess. Students placed in academic support courses in reading, writing and/or math are required to enroll in these courses before taking any other college courses. Delaying enrollment in these classes can delay program completion and graduation.

Academic support provides the necessary foundation to help students strengthen their skills. If all required academic support courses are scheduled, students may take other classes concurrently. Additionally, after starting a math or English course, all courses must be taken consecutively and sequentially until the required sequence is completed. Extenuating circumstances will be addressed on a case-by-case basis.

Students who place into three developmental education subjects (i.e., math, English and reading) will be required to enroll in SDEV 102, Strategies for College Success, to support their academic success.

Students who are not eligible for placement into a mathematics course will be provided a math success coach and will be automatically enrolled in the free Math Foundations Lab.  In the Math Foundations Lab, students will use the ALEKS program to work on an individualized preparation and learning module with the goal of becoming eligible for a credit-bearing math course.  This individualized, self-paced, online experience is supported by math success coaches and time spent on-campus each week in the lab in PS 115 until a student reassesses and successfully improves placement. After taking the initial ALEKS placement assessment, students are able to reassess up to four more times within one year of the initial assessment.  For the first reassessment, students must work a total of eight hours in the Preparation and Learning Modules in ALEKS prior to re-assessing.  For any additional reassessments, students must work at least five hours in the Preparation and Learning Modules prior to reassessing.

Academic support courses carry college credit. They are included in the computation of a student’s cumulative grade point average and count toward financial aid requirements; however, they do not count toward degree requirements and are not transferable to another college or university.

Co-Requisite Model

LCCC has adopted the co-requisite model in some of its English and mathematics courses. The co-requisite pairs a college-level course with a supplementary instruction and support course. Student success has increased dramatically with the new model. In the co-requisite model, students receive extra help while they take a college-level course and are able to reduce the time to complete English and mathematics college-level courses.