In fall 1987, a Freshman Strategy Seminar (FSS) was pilot tested and evaluated at Erie Community College's (ECC's) South Campus to assist students lacking basic English and mathematics skills. Developmental class sections in writing, reading and math were reserved for the FSS students, in the hope that a cluster course approach would reduce…

This article documents the conception and development of a tool for providing academic and counseling support to meet the needs of minority adult students in an urban community college environment. Specifically, the tool is a course having as its base the proper assessment of student needs and the revision of the syllabus to fit those needs.…

The effectiveness of a California State University, Long Beach, program to prepare incoming students for university-level work and educational processes was assessed in 2 surveys of new students (n=1,100, n=1,613) and 1 of 80 who had taken the course previously. Key elements in program success were identified: course content; teaching techniques;…

This volume contains abstracts of the presentations on the freshman and entering student programs at over 100 colleges, community colleges, and universities in the United States and Canada. Each abstract describes institutional programs and provides a name, address, and telephone number of the person to contact for additional information. Among…

Guidelines to enhancing the freshman year experience are presented in the following chapters: (1) "A Comprehensive Approach to Enhancing Freshman Success" (M. Lee Upcraft, John N. Gardner); (2) "Who Are Today's Freshmen?" (Arthur Levine); (3) "A Historical Look at the Freshman Year Experience" (John Orr Dwyer); (4) "Understanding Student…

Laney's Success Model for First-Year Students attempts to increase retention by accommodating students and encouraging learning. It requires an institutional commitment for student academic success and tries to dispel the forces of attrition: academic boredom, difficulty adjusting to college life, and academic underpreparedness. The first-year…

Discussion of a Dickinson College (Pennsylvania) first-year seminar identifies its teaching objectives, describes class activities, and examines transcripts from the simulation of a negotiation, the course's capstone experience. Evidence suggests the students mastered information and concepts, were thinking critically about issues, had developed a…

Kennesaw State College (Georgia) adopted an invitational approach to create an environment which encouraged and affirmed students, faculty, staff and administrators. A new institutional environment aimed at serving diverse, contemporary needs and involved commitment to shared governance, encouragement of leadership at all levels, community…

Survival analysis was used to model retention of 8,867 undergraduate students at Oregon State University from 1991 to 1996. Attrition increased with age and nonresident status; it decreased with higher high-school and first-quarter grades, and attendance in a freshman orientation course. Retention was also associated with race/ethnicity and…

This volume is part of a series of 18 monographs on service learning and the academic disciplines. It is designed to help teachers, administrators, and students realize the potential of service learning in Spanish. Following a Foreword by Carmen Chaves Tesser and an Introduction by Josef Hellebrandt and Lucia T. Varona, the four essays in Part 1,…