What Does Organizational Culture Tell Us About Developmental Education Reform? Corequisite Implementation in Texas

Abstract A continuous topic of discussion in postsecondary success contexts is how institutions can assist students who need developmental education support. As part of an ongoing move away from lengthy developmental course sequences that delay students’ time-to-degree completion, corequisite education models allow students to enroll in developmental courses in the same semester as college level courses. Under HB 2223 passed in 2017, Texas mandated all public postsecondary institutions to offer corequisite education as the main form of developmental education by 2021. This research study focuses on the organizational cultures and subcultures of seven institutions from different economic and geographic regions during the four-year policy implementation in Texas using qualitative data. Based on the theoretical lenses of Birnbaum’s organizational cultures and Hatch’s organizational subcultures, findings from this multi-site case study indicate that one institution represented an anarchical culture, three demonstrated bureaucratic cultures, and the final three showed collegial cultures. Organizational subcultures included mostly enhancing types with one institution revealing a counterculture and another showing an orthogonal subculture. Institutional practices, like number of credit hours and course delivery, also differed during implementation according to institutional profiles and characteristics.