For the past decade, MDRC has evaluated a number of interventions designed to improve the outcomes of community college students, including enhanced counseling, learning communities, and financial incentives. Encouragingly, many of these strategies have produced positive effects, affirming that changes in institutional practices and policies can…

Discusses ways that the Learning Assistance Center (LAC) at California State University, Long Beach, has developed to assist large numbers of students to develop learning skills. Describes LAC's classroom learning skills workshops; time management workshop; study/reading workshop; and management strategies used to elicit and maintain faculty…

Describes the involvement of the library staff in developmental studies instruction at Chattanooga State Technical Community College in Tennessee. Examines the different approaches to library instruction used in English, developmental reading, and study skills classes. (DMM)

Midlands Technical College has developed a model for a developmental science program which offers assistance to students through a three-phase "spanning for success" approach in which the transition from developmental to curriculum course work is gradual; and the developmental instructor works closely with the student from the time that s/he…

Information is provided on the Developmental Education Program offered at Cincinnati Technical College for students who have been accepted conditionally into one of the health, business, or engineering career programs at the college. Sections I and II outline the rationale for and goals of the developmental education program. Section III describes…

Describes the use of a focused learning strategy designed to help students in developing critical reading and writing skills. A major focus of the "learning to learn" strategy is decreasing student passivity through structured silent reading of relevant magazine and newspaper articles in a small group cooperative learning situation. (DMM)

This fastback provides an overview of developmental education at the college level, focusing on what the concept means and how developmental education programs work. Developmental education is an umbrella term that includes both academic and social/psychological support services for underprepared students. Developmental education students are…

Describes LaGuardia Community College's two-phase developmental studies program, which consists of a basic skills program (in which students are assigned a package of courses based on their abilities) and basic skills instruction integrated into content area courses. Covers program content and administration, teacher training, and evaluation…

Background information on Wascana Institute's (Regina, Saskatchewan) existing learning assistance programs is presented along with a proposal for a readily-accessible, one-stop learning assistance center (LAC) that will furnish the information and services underprepared adult learners require to achieve academic success. First, introductory…

Describes the following aspects of the Developmental Education Program at Triton College: student placement, courses, faculty selection, reading and writing instruction, mathematics instruction, the Learning Assistance Center (LAC), LAC tutoring, LAC special projects, LAC management, special needs assistance program for disabled students, and…

Describes the rationale for and outcomes of La Guardia Community College's Critical Thinking Program. Considers the relationship of critical thinking to writing and reading. Evaluates the program's impact on students' reading, writing, and speaking skills; higher-order reasoning/problem-solving abilities; and critical attitudes toward their lives…

Describes how two Queensborough Community College reading faculty staged a debate for developmental students to illustrate the connections between reading, writing, and critical thinking; and to encourage students to critically question and evaluate what they read and hear. Details follow-up writing and group assignments, including a student…

Using the experiences of Rockland Community College (RCC) as examples, this paper suggests a number of successful cognitive and affective strategies for the educationally disadvantaged in community colleges, focusing on those which are competency based, cost effective and retention sensitive. First, trends in developmental/remedial education are…

The team-teaching component of the College Skills Program at Burlington County College (New Jersey), a coordinated cognitive and affective curriculum for remediating basic skills deficiencies, is briefly described. Four-person teams consisting of a social sciences teacher, a reading teacher, an English teacher, and a counselor are used in the…

The 115 African-American and other nontraditional medical students attending a summer program in study skills and academic preparation to promote achievement and retention were compared with 82 nonattendees on demographic and academic measures. Little difference was found in the groups, except that attendees felt the program helped them adjust to…