In 2015, the University of Southern California (USC) began a longitudinal, mixed-methods evaluation of the Thompson Scholars Learning Communities (TSLC), a comprehensive college transition program that provides students with multiple, integrated types of support. The evaluation as a whole examined whether, how, and why TSLC, as implemented at the…

The current economic and political environment has increased the pressure on higher education to deliver education that is cost-effective, standardized, and accessible. Summer bridge programs have traditionally been one of the economical ways to increase the access and retention of non-traditional, first-generation, or at-risk students. Retention…

Sink or swim has been the prevailing climate of higher education in the past. Students will either find their way through, or find their way out of institutions of higher learning. But since roughly the late 1980s and through the 1990s, on campuses across the country a profound shift seems to have taken place. Institutions increasingly understand…

California State University's Summer Bridge program, a preenrollment course for underprepared freshmen that focuses on improving basic skills and familiarizing students with the university environment, has been successful in increasing first- and second-year retention rates for its first three student cohorts. (Author/MSE)

The Biology Intensive Orientation for Students (BIOS) Program was designed to assess the impact of a 5-d intensive prefreshman program on success and retention of biological science majors at Louisiana State University. The 2005 pilot program combined content lectures and examinations for BIOL 1201, Introductory Biology for Science Majors, as well…

This report presents an independent evaluation of E. Lang's I Have a Dream (IHAD) model intervention for disadvantaged youth as it has been implemented in three schools in the Greater Washington (District of Columbia) area. Sixty IHAD participants are randomly selected as they enter sixth or seventh grade for higher education tuition guarantees…

Each year, half a million teenagers become mothers in the United States. School-based child care programs are a positive way for educational institutions to encourage young mothers to return to or stay in school, prepare for employment, and acquire accurate information about child development and appropriate parenting practices. Nationwide,…

The author redesigned an undergraduate physiology course using a novel Internet mirror model: parallel lecture and Internet-based sections conducted so that students can move freely from one to the other (or choose both) during the semester. Within the constraints of this paradigm, he used technology to enhance student learning: adding…

The collection of articles addresses current issues in adult and adult basic education in Virginia communities. Titles include: "Goal-Setting in the New River Valley: Teachers' Perceptions and Strategies" (Sue Barton); "What Happens When ESL Students Experience Authentic Work Situations?" (Pat Bowyer); "Orientation to…