This brief summarizes efforts to reform developmental education at Zane State College and the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC). Focused on accelerating student success and progress, the two schools pursued distinctive approaches to reform that aligned with their institutional missions and student populations. Recognizing that the…

Education plays a key role in young people's healthy development. Research conducted by the McCreary Centre Society (a British Columbia non-profit organization concerned with youth health) has shown that even the most vulnerable youth who feel connected to school are more likely to report better health and above average marks, and to engage in…

This monograph, consisting of four sections, focuses on developmental education in the higher education setting. The first section, by Johnnie Ruth Clarke, provides an overall perspective on learning through developmental programs. Included are discussions of the developmental approach, developmental students and instructional activities, and…

A classification system for freshman courses that is useful as a planning tool and descriptive guide is presented and examples of analogous programs are described. Three approaches to freshman courses--interdisciplinary, developmental, and utilitarian--form a continuum, since many courses are derived from more than one philosophical base. The…

Currently two-year colleges are faced with the challenge of developing and implementing programs of technical communications that will serve the wide range of needs of the vocational-technical student. Cedar Valley College (Texas) responded to this challenge by developing a communications course for the developmental student. The course has four…

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…

The benefits and the role of speech communication courses in developmental education programs are examined in this paper. The first section outlines the need for a package of developmental classes that includes a course in speech communication to prepare students for college-level courses. It describes a successful developmental program for…

This document presents a detailed description of a successful federally-funded developmental education program at Cochise College (Arizona). It includes a statement of philosophy, and sections on program structure, individual student needs, classroom instruction, skill development, special activities, evaluation, student characteristics, and…

The Learning Center at Glendale Community College is described in this four-part report which also evaluates the success of the Center in meeting the needs of new, nontraditional students. Part I reviews the literature dealing with the high dropout rate of nontraditional students admitted via the "open door" and provides definitions for the terms…

For young people who have dropped out of school, are out of work, or lack connections to family or other caring adults, there are often no easy answers. Their hopes for a better life are frequently no different than those harbored by their more advantaged peers, but their path to adulthood is rendered more difficult by tangled combinations of…

This document presents the program and proceedings of a national forum on new students with disabilities and includes abstracts of presentations by 22 institutions as well as specific conference information. The following institutions are represented: (1) Algonquin College (Ontario, Canada), (2) Austin Peay State University (Tennessee), (3)…

The Academic Skills Center at Black Hills State University provides a peer assistance program comprising both individual tutoring in classes offered in each academic division and credit classes in study skills. The goal of the Center is to respond effectively and quickly to individual educational needs of students and faculty through a…

The Commanding English Program at the University of Minnesota is designed to meet the educational and social needs of academically underprepared students whose native language is not English. Most of the students in this population are Southeast Asian refugees with interrupted education who have finished high school in the United States. The…

Programs serving underprepared college students at urban colleges and universities are examined in this bulletin. Pace University of New York City operates a one-year program for students who do not meet school requirements for admission in order to help them complete four years of college. Another program for students who cannot be admitted into…