After eliminating a developmental writing course and creating an accelerated "Studio" composition course for basic writers, I investigated these students' needs (uninterrupted time, quiet spaces, social support, and academic help) and the resources that met those needs. Qualitative analysis of interviews with forty-nine students…

Purpose, Scope, and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to compare student success rates in a college developmental writing course delivered in a conventional classroom to the same course using a computer-delivered model. The sample was drawn from a small, Midwestern community college. Students were enrolled in one of three sections…

Multiple-choice tests of punctuation and usage are used throughout the United States to assess the writing skills of new community college students in order to place them in either a basic writing course or first-year composition. To determine whether using the COMPASS Writing Test (CWT) is a valid placement at a community college, student test…

The author describes the challenges of a four-year, open-admission institution where equality of access has not equaled equality of success for basic writers. While there is a good deal of scholarship on student departure by compositions and experts in student retention and persistence, some models of student departure and success offered by these…

A study was undertaken at Illinois' Moraine Valley Community College (MVCC) to gather information on the course taking patterns, course completion rates, and retention rates between summer 1990 and spring 1993 for students who successfully completed one of eight remedial classes. Students in the sample began in one of three levels of remedial…

In fall 1992, a study was conducted at Evergreen Valley College (EVC) and San Jose City College (SJCC), in California, to measure the persistence rate of fall 1988 developmental English students (ENGL 330 at EVC; ENGL 335 at SJCC) through transfer level English (1A) over 4 academic years. Results of the study included the following: (1) of the 152…

In fall 1992, a study was conducted at Evergreen Valley College (EVC) and San Jose City College (SJCC), in California, to measure the persistence rate over 4 academic years of students with no previous college experience who entered into a fundamentals of reading course (English 321) and an introduction to college reading course (English 322) in…

In spring 1992, a mid-term assessment of English 10 students was conducted at Golden West College, in California, in order to compare four course placement methods. English 10, "Writing Essentials," is a nontransferrable course which focuses on paragraph writing and grammar review in order to prepare students for entry into English 100.…