Launched in 2003, "Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count" is a multiyear national initiative designed to improve educational outcomes for community college students, particularly students of color and low-income students. Supported by Lumina Foundation for Education and other funders, the initiative has grown to include 98…

This paper presents a qualitative study that used classroom observations, faculty interviews, and student interviews to investigate the meaning and importance of seven non-cognitive variables to a cohort of developmental writing students at an urban community college. The variables studied included finances, study management, college surroundings,…

This was a mixed methods study that examined the developmental education program at an urban public Maryland community college. The data were collected from interviews with a former English Chair, a former Math Chair, and the Director of Institutional Research. Each was selected because of his and her expertise. Data were also collected from one…

The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is engaged in a strategic planning process to improve performance beyond the goals in "Dateline 2009," the system's current vision and plan. A key objective is to encourage colleges to improve retention and academic success for students, particularly the substantial numbers who arrive…

The purpose of this monograph is to update the research and general information that has been generated about undecided students in the past decade and to offer some practical perspectives on how to administer, advise, and counsel such students. Thirteen chapters include: (1) "A Profile of Undecided College Students" (Willard C.…

The increased number of nontraditional students in Ohio and a growing awareness of their needs have led to the recognition that developmental programs attempt to improve attitudes and skills for their own merit and are not necessarily remedial preparation for other courses. First used in the 1890's to narrow educational differences between…

The West Valley Community College District has developed a comprehensive plan for providing special programs and services for its students with communication, learning, and physical disabilities. This document discusses the needs assessments and other preliminary work that went into developing the plan and describes the objectives, functions,…

A study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of nontraditional and traditional counseling and instructional methods in meeting the socio-emotional and academic needs of nontraditional ("high risk") community college students. Individualized learner-oriented mastery instruction with emphasis on audiotutorial methods and a composite of…

In the context of a discussion of the role of developmental education in the nation's community colleges, this paper responds to criticisms of developmental education that have been made in recent years. First, the paper considers the role of developmental education in promoting literacy, examines definitions of literacy, highlights results of…

In recent years, community colleges have increasingly taken on the task of providing remedial education to its students. For policymakers and educators, understanding why remediation is on the increase is a frustrating problem made so by the complexity of the causes behind it. Are students graduating from high school less prepared or are academic…

In order to provide educational opportunities for all students while preventing the "open door" from becoming a "revolving door", Southeastern Community College (North Carolina) established the Resources for Student Learning (RSL) program. During 1976, a comprehensive evaluation of the success and/or reasons for failure of current and former RSL…

This document contains reports and abstracts of research relating to current problems of community college education in Texas. Topics discussed include: methods of encouraging students to accept responsibility for their own learning; individualized instruction and the concept of continuous progress; the effectiveness of three modes of instructor…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" looks at three-year enrollment and attainment outcomes of students who persist through their first year. Additionally, first-year persisters (FYPs) were grouped based on the interaction of several student characteristics; analysis was conducted to…

The purpose of this research study was to explore what effect instruction in metacognitive strategy (MS) use had on student achievement in a hybrid developmental English course at a community college. The study examined whether the addition of teacher-led or peer-led instruction in MS use would result in improved writing ability for the student…

Using Astin's I-E-O model, relationships among the input (I) variables of gender, high school percentile rank, Tech Prep participation, and high school course-taking; environmental (E) variables of academic, career and technical education (CTE), and total dual credit and articulated credit; and output (O) variables of college readiness and total…