The paper describes a learning skills program designed to serve college students whose learning styles are different from the norm and whose skill levels vary widely. Development phases of the program featured a task force approach to needs assessment, planning, initial pilot testing, and ongoing faculty development. Difficulties encountered in…

The compensatory program in reading/study skills, writing, and mathematics at Northeastern University (Massachusetts) is described. An evaluation of the program's reading/study skills component during 1977 and 1978 is reported, demonstrating significant student improvement as a result of the program. Guidelines are offered to help other colleges…

Currently two-year colleges are faced with the challenge of developing and implementing programs of technical communications that will serve the wide range of needs of the vocational-technical student. Cedar Valley College (Texas) responded to this challenge by developing a communications course for the developmental student. The course has four…

Intended for instructors and administrators setting up a college reading and study skills program, this paper presents eight issues that should be carefully considered when developing a program structure that will suit the needs and framework of each institution. Discussions, resolutions, and rationale are provided for the following issues: (1)…

This paper offers a detailed discussion of materials developed for the Chicago Mastery Learning Reading with Learning Strategies (CMLR/LS) program, an upper elementary program in which appropriate learning strategy instructions are embedded within the text for each assigned task. Its purpose is to provide researchers and educators with a…

Computer assisted instruction (CAI) modules were developed to improve the reading comprehension skills of college students at Alabama A and M University. These modules were designed and tested to provide individualized instruction in a remedial reading program that was already operating at full capacity. Based on an informal assessment, it appears…

The reading program developed at Niagara University in New York has undergone a number of changes in response to long term evaluation. In the early 1970s, the only program evaluation tools used were pretests and posttests. These were misleading, as they measured only short term gains, not retention after completion of the course. Based on ideas…

Ranken Technical College, a small, private, non-profit, two-year technical college in St. Louis, developed a plan whereby at-risk students would be flagged, their needs assessed, and programs put into place to meet those needs. The desired result was a higher retention rate, especially among minorities. The following components were found to be…

A comprehensive strategy targeted to raise student achievement is arguably one of the most important components of any school's vision for improvement. This paper describes a comprehensive intervention program at The San Alejo American School, Honduras (student enrollment: <100). This program was aimed toward raising students' achievement…

Three years ago Brigham Young University in Provo, UT began offering a required two-credit pass-fail course to prepare industrial education teachers to teach reading in their field. The course is team taught by a reading teacher and an industrial education faculty member who had done his/her dissertation in reading. Addressed in the course are the…

This 6-year project sought to develop programs to impact student academic success and retention. Three separate programs were developed to serve the learning improvement needs of different constituents and situations. All programs were offered at a large, land-grant research university. The Residential Success Program was designed to provide…

Since 1980, the percentage of ethnic minority students at Golden West College (GWC) has nearly doubled. To meet the English language needs of this rapidly growing student population, a speaking and listening course was introduced into the curriculum in 1982, followed by a pronunciation course in 1985. Both courses were part of the…