Describes a year-long course for reluctant learner (a Cooperative Work Experience course), in which the class built a greenhouse and ran it as a business. Describes how students planned, gathered facts, conducted an organizational meeting, wrote reports, ran the greenhouse, and planned for the next year. (SR)

Describes the design and implementation of the first adjunct course (offering reading and learning strategies to students who are also registered in a credit-bearing content course) at a university, producing desired academic outcomes. Offers recommendations for designing such courses to support learners at risk, and discusses benefits. (SR)

Describes the study skills portfolio approach, which uses self-assessment and intervention procedures to teach university students on academic probation how to appeal probationary status and reinstate full academic standing. (SR)

The majority of students arriving at Kingsborough Community College with hopes of entering the nursing, physical therapist assistant, and other allied health programs (concentrations in pre-physical therapy, pre-occupational therapy, pre-pharmacy, and pre-physician's assistant) are at-risk students. A Foundations of Human Anatomy and Physiology…

A program was developed at the University of Puget Sound (Washington) to meet the needs of students "at-risk" for poor academic performance or attrition because of inadequate pre-college preparation. Advising sections (small--15 or 20 students--sections of regularly-offered courses, whose instructor serves as the student's academic…

Describes an elective course for at-risk ninth-grade students that focuses on sports literature--articles and columns in the daily newspaper, young adult novels, and a sports anthology. (SR)

Describes a philosophy course offered at East Carolina University through the Special Studies Program for marginally-admissable students. The program uses selected readings from Russell, James, Sartre, and others and the Personalized System of Instruction to build critical thinking, reading, and study skills, while introducing students to the…

Discusses how science fiction can be used as a part of the reading for students who may not like reading and writing. Details a course for at-risk students involving an independent reading project, an original short story, a group movie project, and a daily journal. (PRA)

Discusses benefits and concerns related to the use of Keller's Personalized System of Instruction (PSI), a self-paced course designed for developmental students. Presents findings from a study of psychology students who did well and who failed a modified PSI. Concludes that PSI's organizational structure did not contribute to student failure. (14…

Thirty-nine at-risk college freshmen participated in an eight week non-credit seminar in the Fall of 1989. At the beginning of the seminar, students indicated that they enjoyed reading, did leisure reading, and felt that lack of vocabulary, slow reading rate, and inability to concentrate were their major reading problems. They also described their…

Describes a sustained silent reading program in a 9th-grade reading class of 60 students, most of them at-risk students. Finds that, on average, students improved 3.9 grade levels in their reading. (SR)

A model that includes three distinct syllabi for orientation courses for different subgroups of the college or university freshman population is presented. Among the groups with special needs are underprepared students who may be motivated but need skill development, and underachieving students characterized by untapped potential. One means of…

This document describes the experiences of three teachers who jointly taught a course entitled "Our Lives in Community" using the framework of a learning community to structure the course. Included in the document are the background for creating the course, a memorandum to the dean at Prestonburg Community College proposing the course,…

Although the value of reading to children has been well established, the merit of storytelling has only recently been recognized as a powerful means of developing language skills, self-concept, and self-esteem in children. Interactive, or participative storytelling, enables participants to tap into their creativity, enhance their powers of memory,…

GAIN (Getting Assistance in Nursing) is a federally-funded program designed to recruit and retain high-risk nursing students. One aspect of the GAIN program is a three-credit developmental course to prepare educationally and economically disadvantaged students for required nursing courses. The course, "Success in Nursing," consists of two…