Increasingly, companies are dropping four-year degree requirements in job postings, favoring skill-based requirements--such as communication and writing--instead. These types of nonacademic "soft skills" are viewed as essential for employment--employers consistently cite these abilities as among the most valuable in job applicants, yet…

Increasingly, state departments of education, school districts, and high schools are recognizing that many students graduate from high school underprepared for college-level coursework in mathematics. Many are referred to remedial education when they arrive at college. To help students become better prepared for college and avoid remedial courses…

The horse has left the barn. Distance education is here to stay and the number of degree programs offered online is growing rapidly. California State University Channel Islands (CI) admitted its first students in 2002, and the undergraduate and graduate degrees in business were among its first program offerings. From its inception, the…

The most important components of an academic institution are the educational programs it offers. California Education Code and accreditation standards emphasize the essential nature of a college's educational programs to that college's existence, and often a college's programs reflect the individual personality of the college and the uniqueness of…

This paper provides information about noncredit instruction in the California Community Colleges and updates the 2009 paper "Noncredit Instruction: Opportunity and Challenge" to incorporate subsequent changes from the last decade. Since the passage of SB 361 (Scott, 2006), noncredit instruction has seen significant changes, including the…

This article describes a relationship-based dance program, "Moving Parents and Children Together," and summarizes a 3-year study of teacher practice and parent-child interactions. Our work focuses on "relational engagement" in dance, which entails a person's basic motivation to connect plus a psychological investment in…

In this paper, the authors draw on empirical data from CCRC's Scaling Innovation project to examine trends in developmental education instructional reform and outline a framework for reform adoption and adaptation. The paper's findings are based on two qualitative data sources: a scan of developmental education reforms that involved changes to…

In October 2010, the University of Southern California School of Social Work entered the online education environment with the launch of the first national web-based MSW program. After an initial enrollment of 80 students, in just 3 years this state-of-the-art MSW, offered in a technology-advanced synchronous and asynchronous format, has generated…

The California Community Colleges are vital to closing the projected shortfall of Californians with a postsecondary credential and sustaining the state's economic competitiveness. Increasing the number of students who pursue and earn certificates and associate degrees in career technical education (CTE) fields is an important component of the…

The University of San Diego, School of Business Administration (non-profit university) and the Ken Blanchard Companies (for profit management consulting company) teamed to create the Master of Science in Executive Leadership at USD. Fusing a traditional non-profit university faculty and staff with a for-profit consulting company created a plethora…

The California Right to Read program is for schools interested in changing or revising their reading programs. Right to Read offers services and materials designed to guide schools through program planning. This approach is based on the philosophy that California Right to Read can most effectively serve a school by working with its staff to plan…

This booklet describes the characteristics and role of curriculum frameworks and describes how they can be used in developing educational programs. It is designed as a guide for writers of frameworks, for educators who are responsible for implementing frameworks, or for evaluators of educational programs. It provides a concise description of the…

Educators from Fullerton Union High School District, Newport-Mesa Unified School District, Capistrano Unified School District, and Huntington Beach Union High School District describe their efforts toward developing competency-based curriculum to meet state mandates. (SJL)

This handbook delineates the planning necessary for the development of a program of multicultural education, a concept defined as the recognition of the value of all people in their racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and physical differences. Included are discussions of options (either student or curriculum-oriented) in developing multicultural…

This monograph presents ideas for initiating and/or improving parent education programs. The first of eight sections examines the history of California's parent education since its beginning in 1926. Section 2 discusses developing a parent education philosophy; activities suitable for parent education programs are suggested. Section 3 provides…