The education of under-prepared college students is a topic that interested and motivated this researcher to conduct a study on learning communities and measuring change in writing apprehension and locus of control of developmental students at a community college. Higher education is generally viewed as a place for the intellectually elite.…

Rural community colleges often face the problem of having to cancel classes due to low enrollment. To eliminate this problem one western community college developed several presentation modes for College Reading I (CR1) to combine low-enrollment classes. This study was a program evaluation on non-equivalent groups to determine which presentation…

A study of community college services for handicapped students compared colleges identified as having model developmental programs with a random sample of community colleges. Comparisons between these groups were made with respect to services to two major categories of students: mildly handicapped students and moderately/severely handicapped…

In spring 1978, a survey questionnaire designed to elicit demographic information on the student population as well as subjective data to form a clear picture of the typical student and identification of student needs, was administered throughout the De Anza College extended campus operation. College administrators were particularly interested in…

As the second assessment study of developmental education programs at state-assisted higher education institutions, this 1978 study reviews reports from 27 of 57 programs receiving funds from the Ohio legislature. Reports dealing with attitudes and opinions of the programs indicated that the responses of the majority of students were strongly…

In order to meet the educational needs of the hard-core unemployed, an instructional program known as the "Alternative Career Center" was designed at Iowa Lakes Community College to prepare those identified by the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act for employment. After reviewing the literature on educational programs for the…

A strategy was developed to improve the administration of an Open Entry/Open Exit and Self-Paced Individualized Instruction (OE/OE and SPII) program in community colleges in Oregon. The variables affecting an innovative program are identified and discussed based on the author's practical experience, and a series of alternative ideas for decision…

This study evaluated two developmental learning communities, named the Integrated Studies Communities ISC, at Parkland College in Illinois. The primary purpose of the study was to compare the students in the ISC with similar underprepared students in the regular curriculum. The ISC offers four linked courses, and participating students take them…

This nonexperimental study of Missouri's A+ Program compares the academic performance of these students with two similar groups of students at a community college in southwest Missouri. Significant differences were found between the three groups regarding cumulative GPA and number of developmental courses taken.

To gather more accurate data on outcomes for remedial programs at McLennan Community College, in Texas, a study was conducted to track the progress up to spring 1994 of all 743 full-time, degree-seeking, first-time-in-college students who entered in fall 1991, including students not needing remediation and those not completing their remedial…

Three conference papers comprise the bulk of this report on understanding "new students" and their academic needs. "The Promise of Learning Through Developmental Programs", by Johnnie Ruth Clarke, deals with the effectiveness of developmental studies while shattering misconceptions surrounding the labels typically assigned these students, such as…

A review of recent major studies of two-year college developmental mathematics programs shows that there has been much experimentation in curricular offerings, course formats, and instructional approaches, including expanded content related to the students' major fields, and the use of short courses and mini-courses. However, while many…

This study attempted to determine the effect of a self-development seminar on the learning of 27 randomly selected college freshmen as measured by grade point averages (GPA), academic units completed, and retention rate (the percentage of students returning for a second term) for one semester beginning fall 1977. Both experimental and control…

The articles collected in this journal are devoted to the topic of teaching speech and theater in community colleges and junior colleges. "Here's Looking at Us," a report of the Association for Communication Administrators' (ACA) 1975 Denver conference on speech communication at the community college and junior college levels, details suggestions…

This annual serial issue of the Maryland Association for Higher Education (MAHE) contains eight papers on issues and research in higher education at institutions in Maryland. The papers are: (1) "The Next Fifty Years of Maryland Higher Education" (Edward O. Clarke, Jr., chairman of the Maryland Higher Education Commission), which urges…