Only 25% to 38% of secondary education graduates in the United States are proficient readers or writers but many continue to postsecondary education, where they take developmental education courses designed to help them improve their basic academic skills. However, outcomes are poor for this population, and one problem may be that approaches to…

Two experiments were conducted with developmental education students to investigate the impact of a contextualized intervention focusing on written summarization and other reading and writing skills. In experiment 1 (n = 322), greater gain was found for intervention than comparison participants on three summarization measures: proportion of main…

A review of studies published from 2000 to 2012 was conducted to describe the literacy skills of underprepared postsecondary students, identify teaching approaches designed to bring their skills to the college level, and determine methods of embedding developmental instruction in college-level course work. The studies pinpointed numerous weak…

This is a review of evidence for contextualization, defined here as an instructional approach connecting foundational skills and college-level content. Two forms of contextualization are identified, "contextualized" and "integrated" instruction. Despite methodological limitations, the available studies suggest that contextualization has the…

This report documents the Workplace Literacy for Psychiatric Health Care Workers project, a partnership between a labor union and the City University of New York through which workplace literacy instruction was provided to mental hygiene therapy aides (MHTAs) employed in five state-operated psychiatric hospitals in New York City. Among the…

A qualitative case study in 15 community colleges across the country found that learning assistance centers and specialized skills labs are an important means of increasing students' academic preparedness for postsecondary study. Since these facilities provide instruction or support in reading, writing, and math skills, it appears that they play a…

Investigates the effects of task repetition on the writing skills of upper-level developmental reading students. Reports that productivity, use of source text, and representation of key ideas improved with simple repetition of meaningful literacy tasks. However, there was also an increase in copying from the sources. (Contains 38 references.)…

Analyzes the traditional community college approaches to remedial education. Suggests that a more learner-centered remediation--which is based on an understanding of students' needs--in discipline courses offers students the opportunity to apply the skills they learn in ways that are meaningful, thus decreasing the dropout rate of remedial…

This chapter identifies current organizational and instructional approaches to developmental education in community colleges and recommends a process by which colleges can make institutionally appropriate decisions to improve developmental education outcomes.

This is a case study of curriculum and pedagogy used to integrate academic and occupational education in the community college. The study investigated classroom practices, views of integrated instruction on the part of staff and students, and professional development approaches. Thirty-three integrated classrooms in seven community colleges in…

A description is presented of the activities and outcomes of a project designed to provide training that would enhance the efforts of remedial educators to serve learning disabled students on campus. Introductory sections provide background on the increase of learning disabilities at community colleges, review the evidence of the need for the…

This manual was developed as a guide for community college faculty and administrators who are seminar leaders working with faculty groups in an attempt to integrate academic and career-related education. It contains presentation plans for 10 3-hour seminars, including purpose, time sequence, key concepts, activities, and handouts. The seminars…