In this autoethnographically-infused natural history of discourse (NHD) (Silverstein and Urban, 1996; Slembrouck, 2001), I use methods from critical discourse studies (CDS) to trace 10 years of changes in "remediation" discourses within a corpus of texts associated with Missouri HB 1042, a piece of legislation passed in 2012 that…

Many Pennsylvania colleges and universities require that teacher candidates pass a standardized assessment in order to gain formal entry in to their education programs. Standardized tests are also required for Level I teacher certification within Pennsylvania. The initial assessment required of all Pennsylvania preservice teachers for…

This report evaluates the 1984 Search for Elevation, Education & Knowledge (SEEK) prefreshman summer program at Baruch College, City University of New York (CUNY), and describes its curriculum, staffing, recruitment of students, and objectives. Ninety-four students were enrolled: 73.4% were 18 or 19 years old; 73.0% were women; 90.4% were…

This paper emphasizes the importance of faculty attention to instructional improvement practices and curriculum development for underprepared college freshmen. Instead of downgrading course content instructors must devise college level instruction that has the following characteristics: (1) interdisciplinary content; (2) student focus; and (3)…

This 6-year project sought to develop programs to impact student academic success and retention. Three separate programs were developed to serve the learning improvement needs of different constituents and situations. All programs were offered at a large, land-grant research university. The Residential Success Program was designed to provide…