The City University of New York (CUNY) is the largest urban public university system in the United States with approximately 100,000 students enrolled in associate degree programs. Similar to trends nationwide, many associate degree students come to CUNY underprepared for college-level classes and are assigned to take remedial or developmental…

As community colleges across the country look for ways to promote student success, the need for scaling effective approaches is critical. This guide builds on a framework of four phases of scaling developed in Job For the Future's (JFF's) previous publication, "Thinking Big: A Framework for States on Scaling Up Community College…

This "Evidence Meets Practice" guide is a summary of the lessons learned at the Evidence-Action-Innovation College Completion Symposium convened by the U.S. Department of Education on January 30, 2012. These findings emerged from conversations among researchers, postsecondary education practitioners, and policy experts. The institutional examples…

Guidelines are provided for the development of a community college course in critical thinking. The first sections offer an overview of the nature and basic concepts of critical thinking, indicating that: (1) the skills developed in critical thinking classes include the ability to formulate a clear statement of a thesis or problem, evaluate…

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…

A description is provided of a pilot study conducted at Butte College to develop and test evaluation procedures for the college's remedial and developmental reading, English, and math programs. Part I of the report includes five sections: (1) a description of the remedial reading, English, and mathematics programs as they existed at Butte College…

Discusses the importance of academic advising to increase college student retention, graduation, and transfer in student-support-services programs designed for first-generation, low-income students and students with disabilities. An integrative, intrusive model of academic advising is defined, its benefits are outlined, and several successful…

These two papers describe the City Colleges of Chicago's (CCC's) efforts to improve their developmental programs and services. First, a series of experimental programs designed to improve students' basic skills are outlined, including: (1) programs leading to a high school diploma and subsequent CCC enrollment offered by the Chicago Urban Skills…

Community colleges across the United States have initiated programs that are making an impact on the productivity of rural America and its residents. Profiles of 20 community and technical college initiatives in rural economic development are contained in this report intended for use by community and technical college administrators. The programs…

Sponsored by a special interest group of the International Reading Association, the focus of this journal issue is on college reading improvement. Chapter titles include "College Level Developmental Reading and Study Skills Programs: Survey Report and Overview"; "Providing Assistance to College Science Teachers"; "Sitting in on Doctors Pompous and…

This teacher's manual, designed to improve the math and writing skills and self-images of entering college students, offers a model for faculty-counselor collaboration within the developmental classroom and focuses on affective and cognitive learning. The first chapter provides an administrative strategy for encouraging faculty-counselor…

Questions relating to the development of a classification of community college courses and services are discussed in this follow-up to a report submitted to the California Assembly in December 1979, which advised that funding of courses should not be based on credit/no credit status, and that further study of course classification and funding…

Between September 1990 and December 1991, Cabrillo College implemented the Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA) program to increase the number of underrepresented minority students enrolling in scientific disciplines at Cabrillo and subsequently transferring to four-year colleges. The initial program was targeted to 200 MESA members…

If community colleges are to shape their own futures, leaders must address these trends: growing public skepticism of higher education; program downsizing to cut costs; increased sectoring within state systems; refocusing of mission on the economy and workplace; demand for developmental education; demographic shifts; and anxiety about the economic…

This three-part report describes the Bridging Program at San Diego Mesa College (SDMC), a basic skills program to prepare students functioning at the 7th grade level or below and to thus provide a bridge between developmental education and adult basic education (ABE). Part I begins with a review of the program's background and a list of its…