School reform efforts today have a personal focus that emphasizes attending to the problems faced by individual at-risk students. After outlining the impact of student dropouts, this document uses information from a review of 150 at-risk student programs described in related professional literature to describe six basic weaknesses in current…

Over time, compensatory education has become an increasingly institutionalized and effective Federal program, characterized by the following: (1) cooperation; (2) mutual accommodation on the part of national, state, and local officials; (3) ready acquiescence to Federal guidelines at the state and local level; and (4) shared responsibility among…

These three serial issues focus on the characteristics and administration of developmental education programs. The following articles are featured: (1) "Characteristics of Successful Programs," which reviews research findings concerning the characteristics associated with effective and ineffective developmental programs and includes a list of…

This paper addresses developmental education programs as mechanisms for enhancing the survival rates of disadvantaged populations in higher education. Specifically, the paper identifies and discusses the critical dimensions of effective developmental education programs, including recruitment, admissions, diagnosis and prescription, orientation,…