This article highlights the College Level Examination Program -- or CLEP -- from the College Board, as another pathway for students to earn college credits toward degree completion. The renewal of interest in alternative pathways to degree attainment has come about in response to yet another round of national studies reporting declining rates of…

A recent state-wide curricular shift in developmental course offerings mandated that the exit levels of developmental reading and writing coursework in every public institution of higher education in Texas be merged into one accelerated and integrated developmental reading and writing course. This project examined the effects of that curricular…

States have introduced a range of policies and strategies aimed at boosting college readiness by strengthening collaborations between secondary and postsecondary education sectors. One popular strategy is Early College High Schools, which allows historically underserved student groups to complete college-level coursework and improve their college…

Recent calls for coursework acceleration, reforms efforts, and promising pedagogical practices have resulted in the reemergence of integrated reading and writing (IRW) courses in community colleges nationwide. To answer such calls, a number of IRW textbooks have been published and implemented rapidly, perhaps out of convenience. This study was a…

Developmental interventions for reading and writing often take place at community colleges during the winter or summer. These brief, intersession workshops are examples of compressed acceleration, as they give students the opportunity to exit developmental coursework and enroll in credit bearing courses the following semester. As college readiness…

To improve students' outcomes and retention rates, community colleges have implemented acceleration strategies which hasten the completion of educational requirements (Edgecombe, 2011). The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of an accelerated freshmen writing course on teachers' curricular decisions and pedagogical practices at…

Students at community colleges are being placed into developmental writing classes at significantly high rates, as high as 80% at some colleges. Many of these students are students of color, and the need to help them persist and succeed is of increasing importance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the most promising practices by…

In recent years, developmental education in the community colleges has received much attention. However, there has been little research examining the relationship between course length and course success in developmental education. Using historical enrollment data from a large, suburban community college in southern California, this study examines…

Responding to an impending health crisis due to a national nursing shortage, Montgomery County Community College increased nursing admissions by 50% and graduates by 51% through implementing a Continuous Nursing Program (CNP). Through implementing three 14-week semesters per year, the CNP uses an accelerated timeframe while maintaining a…

Describes a study that assessed how students and parents perceived a postsecondary enrollment options program that admits high school students to special college courses. Presents findings that indicate both groups had positive perceptions, but parents tended to view the program as a career planning tool, whereas students perceived it as an…