Educational accountability is central to the reputation of the nation's community colleges. Some community colleges are adopting mastery learning, competency-based education, curriculum tracking, and/or minimum competency-testing as a means of remaining educationally accountable. Mastery learning programs, under which students are required to…

In fall 1980, the English division at Minneapolis Community College implemented a new approach to teaching Fundamentals of Written English. In recognition that students come to college with a wide range of preparation and skills, the Fundamentals course (formerly English 95) was divided into a two-course sequence. On the basis of student placement…

Examines the relationship between full-time or part-time instructor status and college student retention and academic performance in sequential courses. Finds that, for either developmental or regular courses, students who take the first course in a sequence from a part-time instructors and the second course from a full-time instructor seem…