Video-based supplemental instruction (VSI) is a non-traditional course delivery system designed to improve developmental students' academic performance in difficult courses that typically have high failure and withdrawal rates. This paper describes the VSI model and examines data from VSI applications. (Contains 12 figures.)

The presentation deals with four of the factors that have made the Illinois Developmental Centers for the Retarded a success. The following four factors are discussed: (1) the philosophy that the developmentally disabled are individuals and members of society with rights and privileges due all citizens; (2) intensive staff development programs…

The purpose of this study was to compare cognitive effects of two developmentally sequenced preschool curricula with outcomes of a traditional eclectic preschool curriculum. Specifically, pretest and posttest scores for children taught with the Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of Early Development and the Portage Guide to Early Education were…

Strong faculty relationships can benefit developmental programs by increasing referrals, creating a climate of support for developmental activities, and increasing resources available to programs; therefore, finding, keeping, and using faculty friends represent essential needs for such programs. Faculty friends may be generated in a number of ways…

This paper discusses how developmental programs in Georgia obtain and maintain their status as "Training Center." The establishment in Houston County, Georgia of a "Training Center," an innovative school outreach program that disseminates an early intervention program for high-risk 6-year olds, exemplifies how outreach services…

Project IRIS (Improving Reading Instruction School-Wide) is one school district's effort to improve reading instruction. The project's first three years have produced median reading gains of one year or more per student per year. Although the most important aspect of Project IRIS is school-wide commitment to improving reading instruction, other…

A needs-based developmental induction program for beginning teachers should concentrate not only on orientation and development of individual strengths, but also on the situational/contextual personal and professional concerns of first-year teachers. The successful program tries to identify and meet the instructional and noninstructional…

The process of determining the effectiveness of developmental programs in two-year colleges was the focus of this study. It was limited to New York State, and designed in response to a request for proposals issued by Bureau of Grants Administration, New York State Education Department. The need for systematic review of developmental programs and…

To enhance the professional development of teachers and encourage an ongoing climate of innovation and reform, while providing for direct benefits for students, Australia's Schools Commission instituted a program allowing funds for curricular innovation to be granted directly to teachers. Interviews with a random sample of 45 of these grantees,…

This paper examines the impact of a science career development program especially designed for students with deafness, titled "Is Science a Possible Career for You?" The program materials are designed for adolescents in residential school, day school, or mainstream settings where students use oral, finger spelling and speech, or total…

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…

This paper discusses an investigation that compared college students' reading gains when using general or specific diagnosis. It reports that significant gains were made on many subskills of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test by the group that had the prescriptions developed as a result of a differential (specific) diagnosis and that there were…

A study was conducted to measure the effect and compare the results of developmental reading instruction for college students as prescribed from the specific results of a diagnostic reading test and a general, more traditionally used, survey reading test. The sample consisted of 226 students enrolled in different sections of a reading course…

The Yale Child Welfare Research Program was a comprehensive, service centered, longitudinal, intervention project for low-income families and their children. Eighteen children from inner city, low-income, predominantly black families participated in the intervention program from before birth to 30 months of age. Each family was assigned a team of…

This paper reports the effectiveness of seven different programs at Corning Community College (New York) designed to influence those factors associated with student attrition--low self concept of ability, high debilitating anxiety, low internal reinforcement control, and lack of goal and value clarity. The underlying theme of each of the programs…