Guttman Community College (GCC), a newly-established, urban community college, part of the City University of New York (CUNY), enrolls a largely traditional student body which is also predominantly minority. Students enter the college with an average high-school grade-point average of 75% (C average), and are required to enroll in three first-year…

The C4 Scholar Program (Cross Curricular Career Community) is an interdisciplinary, multi-semester learning community for first-year developmental students at a comprehensive midwestern state university. Faculty members from two units, Retention & Student Success and Arts and Sciences, created the program to address a persistent gap in…

Student writers labeled "underprepared" by colleges often have trouble imagining themselves as scholars. Challenges these students routinely encounter include difficulty forming original insights and translating ideas to the page. Although the usage of the term "underprepared" varies across institutional contexts, the…

Students who arrive on campuses unprepared for college-level work find that it costs them potentially extra time and money to complete developmental courses they would not have needed had they arrived fully prepared in all subjects. Institutions of higher education face their own costs and capacity challenges when trying to teach students the…

The Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) is beginning its tenth year rewarding students who strive to excel in high school and continue their education in degree and certificate programs in Alaska. This report covers the high school, postsecondary, Alaska residency, and workforce outcomes of the APS program between 2011 - Fall 2019. [For…

Acceleration reduces the time and/or course sequence in developmental education (DE), allowing students to enroll in gateway courses more quickly and/or co-enroll in the first college-level English course while taking the remedial course (Venezia & Hughes, 2013). Texarkana College (TC) piloted an Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) with a 12:1…

Teachers of developmental education are familiar with non-traditional students who are balancing innumerate stressors in their lives, in addition to the overwhelming stress of college. Stress relief methods like yoga and meditation are essential life management tools in helping new college students succeed, not only in their education but also in…

In this article, the authors describe an approach for embedding service learning into developmental reading and writing curricula to assist new college students in overcoming reluctance to write. The authors first present an overview of literature pertaining to the interrelated nature of motivation, reflection, and opportunities for student choice…

Since 2009 almost 90% of the surveyed college freshmen have identified "getting a better job" as a major reason for attending college (Pryor et al). College educators can help students work towards this goal by producing mature, critical-thinking graduates who are well-prepared not only for life but also for a career. Many students,…

Boredom carries a significant weight: It is not often spoken within the academic environment. However, by ignoring how developmental and first-year students experience boredom, instructors are avoiding a topic that most students will encounter. We present information on the common causes of boredom, ways to detect boredom, and the outcomes of…

Since 2011, the Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) has rewarded Alaska students who excel in high school with over $88 million in scholarships to help cover the cost of in-state postsecondary education. This report covers the high school, postsecondary, Alaska residency, and workforce outcomes of the APS program between 2011-Fall 2020. [For…

Student attrition has been a primary focus among higher education institutions for nearly 50 years, yet overall retention and graduation rates continue to be of significant concern. Despite increased attention, ongoing struggles of colleges and universities to effectively address potential barriers to student progress are well-documented. Part of…

This paper describes the development, results, and future directions of the mathematics component of the EMERGE Summer Program at Northeastern Illinois University. Initiated summer 2014, EMERGE offered English and mathematics sessions for incoming freshmen. The mathematics session aimed to strengthen participants' mathematical foundations,…

The Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) is beginning its tenth year rewarding students who strive to excel in high school and continue their education in degree and certificate programs in Alaska. This report covers the high school, postsecondary, Alaska residency, and workforce outcomes of the APS program between 2011-Fall 2019. [For…

In November 2011, the author--Ivan Fuller, a professor of theatre and associate dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Rider University--attended a joint symposium of the American Conference of Academic Deans and Phi Beta Kappa that was designed to wrestle with the question of why the humanities matter. At one session, participants…