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…

Describes how vocabulary portfolios can be used to assist developmental readers and writers in college to overcome vocabulary problems. (MG)

At the University of California, Riverside, a structured, formal adjunct program coordinated with large introductory courses has been developed to improve students' reading and study skills. The program uses adjunct instructors who are specialists in reading and study skills and who are familiar with the content areas. Skills taught include time…

To meet the needs of educationally disadvantaged college freshmen, a developmental reading program that emphasized student-generated questioning techniques was implemented at Manhattanville College (New York). The program was intended to help students comprehend and recall information from different subject areas and to organize complex topics…

This booklet contains suggestions for methods of instruction to improve the reading skills of students in developmental reading programs at all grade levels. The first chapter of the booklet provides a statement of philosophy, objectives, and characteristics of a developmental reading program. The second chapter considers reading readiness as a…

Many secondary and postsecondary basic skills programs are designed to assist students whose ability to succeed in traditional subject matter instruction is in question. Research done in business, industry, and particularly in the military provides procedures that may increase the likelihood of success in such programs. Analyses of on-the-job…

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…

The college reading movement, its methods, organization, and, implicitly, the career opportunities within it, is critiqued in this report in terms of four categories of programs: (1) rapid reading with ancillary attention to study skills; (2) remedial type reading and study skills; (3) compensatory type programs; and (4) content area improvement…

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…

The articles in this collection focus on reading, learning assistance, developmental education, and tutorial services at the college level. Topics of the 28 articles include the following: (1) a reassessment of the state of learning assistance; (2) a reaffirmation of the role of developmental instructors; (3) human brain research, cognitive…

The articles in this collection focus on learning assistance and other components of college reading instruction. The topics of the 35 articles include the following: (1) charting a realistic course for learning assistance, (2) modern measurement technology, (3) a national survey of learning assistance evaluation, (4) students' cognitive…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 12 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the effects of cognitive strategy training on reading achievement and Piagetian cognitive level among high risk college freshmen; (2) the impact of a college reading program on…

Drawn from papers accepted for presentation at a conference focusing on personalizing college-level learning skills programs, the 35 articles in this collection are arranged into five categories: investigations, program descriptions, program prescriptions, applications, and reactions and interactions. Specific topics discussed in the articles…

Drawn from the proceedings of a conference focusing on ways to improve the teaching of college level learning skills, the articles in this collection deal with a variety of topics. Among the topics discussed in the 37 articles are the following: (1) a systems approach to planning, implementing, and evaluating peer counseling programs; (2)…