Christine McPhail formerly served as president at Cypress College in California and is founder and professor emeritus of the Community College Leadership Doctoral Program at Morgan State University in Maryland. She is the Managing Partner for The McPhail Group LLC and currently serves as a Leadership Coach for more than a dozen community colleges…

Despite the need, persistence in remediation hovers at 50% (NCES, 2002) while nearly one third of community college enrollees arrive under-prepared (Hess, 2009). Persistence is correlated with academic preparation (Nash & Kallenbach, 2009), and barriers to persistence include a number of demographic barriers (Education, 2006; Labaree, 2006).…

As scholars continue to debate over the specific skills underprepared students need in order to complete their course of study, perhaps the focus should be on how to tap into students' independent thought processes and encourage students to utilize independent thought to contribute to interdependent groups. Placing value on students' independent…

Community colleges offer a pathway to the middle class for low-income individuals. Although access to college has expanded, graduation rates at community colleges remain low, especially for students who need developmental (remedial) courses to build their math, reading, or writing skills. The City University of New York's (CUNY's) Accelerated…

This report provides information on the retention, graduation, and transfer rates of first-time, full-time students entering Maryland community colleges between 2000 and 2010. The report examines retention and graduation data for students within two, three, and four years after matriculation into a community college. The Appendix contains tables…

Examines percentage of articles on developmental and remedial guidance in Elementary School Guidance and Counseling (ESG&C). Although the literature reveals a continuing interest in theoretical discussion and practical applications of a developmental perspective in elementary school guidance programs, most articles are failing to document the…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) On Anniversary of "Brown Versus Board of Education," Providing True Educational Equality for All Students…

Argues that the form of developmental studies programs should follow the function they serve in the institution. Identifies such functions of developmental studies as skill development, personal development, maximizing educational opportunity, and improving mainstreaming curricula, and suggests forms that will maximize these functions. (DR)

Less than 25 percent of college students who take any developmental education courses earn a credential within eight years. Over the past three years, the six states in the Developmental Education Initiative have developed and enacted unprecedented changes in policy and practice in an effort to reverse these dismal outcomes. "Ahead of the…

The PACE (Personalized Approach to College Education) program at Community College of the Finger Lakes was designed to provide basic academic skill development in reading, English, and mathematics for students with academic records in the bottom quartile of the entering freshman class. The program emphasizes student responsibility for learning and…

The number of students enrolling in colleges and universities requiring remedial programs is increasing. Developmental courses are used to increase student academic skills. Understanding how students perceive their placement and experience in developmental courses can provide valuable insight for high schools, community colleges, and universities…

Replies to a questionnaire relating to development programs in 40 community colleges and technical institutes in North Carolina and Virginia are provided. The questions that comprised the questionnaire were: (1) Describe your procedure for determining the math and English proficiencies of entering freshmen; (2) Do you require for those students…

Because of the current trend toward further education for all high school graduates, there is need to prepare low-achieving students for college-level work. A developmental program was designed for Puerto Rico Junior College to improve the performance of high school graduates with low academic averages and entrance examination scores. After a year…

This report, issued by the Connecticut Department of Higher Education, reports on trends in higher education for the year 2011. Six goals are presented, each with at least two indicators. Each indicator is broken down into the following subsections: About This Indicator; Highlights; and In the Future. Most indicators also include statistical…

This survey of remedial or developmental mathematics programs is based on useable responses from 98 community-junior colleges during the fall and winter of 1969. Of the 185 schools originally contacted, 42 specifically indicated no such program, and only six questioned their appropriateness. The most often indicated reasons for the existance of…