In 2005 the Lumina Foundation awarded the Alamo Community College District (ACCD), including Palo Alto College, a grant to explore institutional effectiveness with a primary focus on serving student groups that traditionally have faced significant barriers to success. As a result of the award, ACCD staffed an umbrella initiative called "Achieving…

When a student is not successful in mathematics, teachers frequently assume the difficulty lies within the student's mathematical ability or negative disposition towards mathematics, but the difficulty may lie with the student's reading comprehension (Draper, Smith, Hall, & Siebert, 2005; Kane, Byrne, & Hater, 1974). Many…

Language-disabled students who have experienced difficulties in the process of language acquisition and who may show talent in some academic areas yet fail miserably in others are increasingly able to attend college because of "open door" policies. How will colleges traditionally rooted in textbook-centered lecture courses deal with the…

Binary logistic regression analyses were performed on institutional data from a large urban community college in order to identify predictors of performance in a content course (psychology) that had high literacy demands. It was found that students who completed college English were more likely to pass the content course than students with…

In an effort to bring entering allied health students to college-level reading ability, a Science Reading Program based on the theory that adult learners will be more motivated to improve reading skills if material is related to career preparation was designed, implemented, and evaluated. After pre-testing on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (Form…

Suggests that community colleges respond to increasing numbers of students with inadequate reading skills through informal assessment of students' ability, focus on study and discovery skills, comprehension development strategies, and the linguistic approach. Considers future needs and facilities. (DMM)

This annual newsletter contains updates on the latest CCRC research, new publications and details of upcoming presentations at major conferences. The feature article in this issue, "Addressing the Needs of Underprepared Students," by Thomas Bailey, summarizes the discussion found in the paper "Challenge and Opportunity: Rethinking…

Describes Sacramento City College's Higher Education Learning Package (HELP), which integrates reading, writing, study skills, and content instruction within the regular classroom to improve basic skills and personal development of nontraditional, high-risk students. Considers the HELP program's team-teaching approach, three-phase implementation…

Describes LaGuardia Community College's two-phase developmental studies program, which consists of a basic skills program (in which students are assigned a package of courses based on their abilities) and basic skills instruction integrated into content area courses. Covers program content and administration, teacher training, and evaluation…

Sponsored by a special interest group of the International Reading Association, the focus of this journal issue is on college reading improvement. Chapter titles include "College Level Developmental Reading and Study Skills Programs: Survey Report and Overview"; "Providing Assistance to College Science Teachers"; "Sitting in on Doctors Pompous and…