The authors present the cases of two pupils who both show very serious, apparently similar learning difficulties, mainly in mathematics. An analysis beyond appearance of their learning activities revealed remarkable differences between them, in terms of both weaknesses and strengths. The authors point out that when teachers are planning remedial…

The Chemistry and Biochemistry Department at Texas Tech University (TTU) administered an in-house written chemistry placement examination (CPE) to determine whether students were prepared for Chem 1307, or whether a remedial course, Chem 1301, was required. The results indicate that the placement remediation program as implemented at TTU is…

In recent years, community colleges have increasingly taken on the task of providing remedial education to its students. For policymakers and educators, understanding why remediation is on the increase is a frustrating problem made so by the complexity of the causes behind it. Are students graduating from high school less prepared or are academic…

This study assessed the ability of seven children to accurately judge relative durations of auditory and visual stimuli before and after participation in a language remediation program. The goal of the intervention program is to improve the children's ability to detect and identify rapidly changing auditory stimuli, and thereby improve their…

"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) "Improving the Distribution of Teachers in Low-Performing High Schools": Alliance Brief and Event Examine…

Although K-12 schools and community colleges share responsibility for the futures of a vast number of young Californians, and both are under pressure to improve student academic achievement, the groups operate under separate governance systems, pursue distinct missions, gauge success based on different measures, and are seldom looked at together.…

In a study conducted to see which method of error treatment was more effective in EFL writing classes, 288 Iranian EFL learners took the TOEFL test to be grouped in two homogeneous classes. Each student in each group wrote a paragraph on a general topic which was proofread for mistakes/errors by three experienced EFL writing teachers (i.e.,…

In the nearly two years that the author spent on community-college campuses in California, New York, Illinois, and Colorado, he met hundreds of dedicated but often frustrated teachers and administrators. In this article, the author describes what he experienced in the community colleges, identifies the shortcomings of community colleges, and…

Educators, economists and policymakers agree that raising the level of achievement for more learners is important. Studies of global workforce competitiveness regularly point toward the goal of nearly everyone achieving skills and knowledge commensurate with at least two years of higher education. According to this author, educators have…

This report offers lessons from the last in a series of three high school reform conferences sponsored by MDRC, the Council of the Great City Schools, and the National High School Alliance. The conference brought together leaders from 22 midsize urban school districts on June 25-26, 2007, provided a forum for practitioners to share research and…

This booklet provides subject area high school teachers with a guide for teaching students with learning disabilities who are being mainstreamed into regular classrooms. The booklet points out that teachers of students with learning disabilities must find and implement different approaches to teaching course content to meet each student's needs,…

A study evaluated a program designed to increase knowledge of vowel sounds and improve phonetic and conventional spelling of children who showed a low level of spelling. Their level was so low that written communication beyond the most rudimentary level was effectively denied them. Subjects, 32 children from 10 participating schools broadly…

Information is provided on the goals, objectives, strategies, and content of four courses in Anne Arundel Community College's English Division: (1) English 001, which teaches structuring of words into sentences that conform to the accepted conventions of English grammar, punctuation, and capitalization; (2) English 002, which teaches the…

Argues that the principles used in teaching students a foreign language should be applied to the teaching of freshman English where many students need remedial help. (RB)

Concludes that the "Sullivan-Star-Chart" tutoring package may be convenient and successful for paraprofessional volunteers to use in tutoring children with reading difficulties. (RB)