In education, practitioners are increasingly looking for strategies to bring data and evidence into decisionmaking and to roll out programs in intentional ways that allow for ongoing improvement. This toolkit acts as a guide to improvement strategies for teams of practitioners at colleges, providing them with the knowledge and tools they need to…

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…

Prepared by four state-appointed task forces, this report recommends policies and procedures for basic skills education in the State of Washington to assist local and statewide planning. Following introductory material on the mandate and members of the task forces, Section I considers the organization and management of developmental programs,…

Information on the Higher Education Opportunity Programs (HEOP) at private colleges and universities in New York is provided. HEOP provides supportive services and financial aid to state residents attending private institutions in the state. The objective is to meet the special needs of students from disadvantaged backgrounds through such…

This report examines the need of many deaf and hard of hearing college freshmen for remediation in one or both of two areas, reading and writing in English and mathematics. It explores the kinds of assessments most commonly used in these areas, suggests modifications for testing basic instruction and remediation, and offers some programmatic…

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…

Descriptive and evaluative information is provided on Rockland Community College's (RCC's) Developmental Studies Department and its Special Services Project for economically and educationally disadvantaged students. Section I describes the functions of the Developmental Studies Department, which provides courses and services to help underprepared…