In this article, Gwen Taylor describes the West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) groundbreaking program, "Accelerating Opportunity" (AO), which targeted students who are deficient in math, reading, or writing. The program uses the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges' (2013) Integrated Basic…

Developmental courses in English, math, and reading have an important purpose in higher education, especially in the open-access world of community colleges. These classes--also referred to as "remedial"--are intended to give less-prepared students a chance to catch up and meet the challenges of college-level coursework. However,…

The first major objective of this paper is to describe in some detail the research that documents the proposition that even extremely disadvantaged 5-year-olds can be taught to read in kindergarten, and that, contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence of negative side effects from such teaching. The paper also describes an effective academic…

Faced with a growing number of secondary school students reading below grade level, educators have begun to look for an effective program to improve reading ability and also meet the special needs of the older student. The clinical/support program recognizes that each student's developmental rate, reading capabilities, and interactions with his or…

Five articles concerning college reading instruction are included in this special interest journal. Karen L. Pelz, William E. Pelz, and David L. Stritmater present a study of input sequence, exposure, and modality effects on recognition memory, which revealed that students who read assignments and attended lectures performed better on tests on the…

Suggests using principles of instruction grounded in prose learning research to develop successful college developmental skills programs. (AEA)

Describes an innovative curriculum project at Piedmont Community College in North Carolina called CONCUR, which designed classes specifically for developmental students, applying the principles of contextual learning by creating the context of a publishing company. Discusses motivation, grading, the reading workshop, providing books, pages…

Three techniques for teaching effective reading--using students' textbooks, reading modules, and individual instructional packets--have proven successful in reducing reading time while improving comprehension skills for students in a reading and study skills course at a Texas university. Students assigned to the course use their content area…

The Asian Commanding English (CE) program at the General College, University of Minnesota, which provides coursework in reading, writing, and oral communication to students from Southeast Asia, is described. The program was selected as a model for the development of a retention package specifically directed to the Southeast Asian student…

The Basic Skills Program described in this report was developed by Macomb County Community College (MCCC) as a semester-long pre-vocational program for Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) students. Following introductory material, Part I presents a general review of postsecondary developmental education programs for…

Papers presented at the City University of New York's English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) Council conference on maximizing the chances for success of limited-English-proficient college students include the following: "Thresholds, Alienation, and Syntax" (Geoffrey Summerfield); "Storytelling: Starting with the Familiar" (A. Duku…