Nobody wants to be here. In remedial English, earning no credit, stuck. Now--after months of commas, clauses, and four-paragraph essays--students have one last chance to write their way out. Twenty students sit at computers, poised to start the final in-class essay for English 002 at Montgomery College. Anybody can enroll here, and all kinds do.…

Enrolling more than 6 million students each fall, community colleges carry out a crucial function in higher education by providing access to college, including baccalaureate opportunities, occupational education, remedial education, and other educational services. At the same time, community colleges face great challenges that have elicited calls…

The "2019 Fall Enrollment Report" contains the following tables, charts, and figures: (1) System Duplicated and Institutional Headcount Enrollments; (2) Full Time and Part Time Headcount Enrollment; (3) High School Students Enrolled in College Courses, Beginning Freshmen and Transfer Students, Developmental and Collaborative Course…

The purpose of this study is to provide evidence that students may be doing comparison shopping when it comes to community college placement in English and mathematics courses. Comparisons may occur because of the difference in the placement process across campuses and the variation in the levels of developmental education offered. The…

This article examines two course redesigns undertaken to improve student support, learning, and retention in the basic writing program at Oakland University, a doctoral research university in southeast Michigan, where support for developmental writers has fluctuated dramatically between nurture and neglect over the past fifty years. However,…

Anecdotal observations reveal that most students with strong arithmetic skills will succeed in the Beginning Algebra course even if they have no previous experience with algebra. In trying to quantify this with an initial teacher-created survey of arithmetic skills, it was observed, for three consecutive semesters, that students who scored in the…

This article describes a two-semester study of mixed (native and non-native speaking) writing groups in developmental college writing classes. The teacher assigned and observed writing activities and collected survey and interview data to determine the impact on the students' perceived writing abilities and attitudes toward paired and small group…

Every young person in the United States, whatever his or her background, wants to grow up to be economically self sufficient, to have a stable and productive career. So "college" is the aspiration for nearly 90 percent of high school seniors who say they will pursue some form of postsecondary education after high school, and nearly 66…

In 2007, the president of Shelton State Community College in Alabama announced that with more than 60% of incoming freshmen placing into developmental courses, the college had a moral and ethical obligation to provide top-quality opportunities for underprepared students. He appointed a team to investigate options for improving services and…

The Southern Education Foundation's (SEF) Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) Consortium for Innovation and Change was instituted in 2011 to advance creative and promising initiatives that enhance institutional practice and student outcomes. In keeping with the SEF mission, these innovations specifically address educational barriers that…

The purpose of this study was to determine which academic and affective student factors were significant to student success in a mastery learning program in developmental mathematics and to determine if the mastery learning program led to increased mathematical knowledge retention and success in the subsequent math course. The first phase of the…

A key strategy for meeting Colorado's workforce needs is ensuring that Colorado's high school graduates are enrolling and succeeding in career-connected postsecondary education. According to Education Commission of the States, Colorado is one of only a few states that could, in theory, near its educational-attainment goals through increased…

Since 1998, the Iowa Department of Education's Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation (division) has compiled and published "The Annual Condition of Iowa's Community Colleges," commonly known as the "Condition Report." The intent of this report is to provide clear, objective data about Iowa's community…

Since 1998, the Iowa Department of Education's Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation (division) has compiled and published "The Annual Condition of Iowa's Community Colleges," commonly known as the "Condition Report." The intent of this report is to provide clear, objective data about Iowa's community…

Using linked, individual-level data from a large metropolitan K-12 district and a large urban community college district in California, we examine whether indicators of college-readiness for graduating high school students who were initially classified as English Learners (ELs) are honored in community college course placement. In particular, we…