A three-year longitudinal study of student support service programs prepared for the U.S. Department of Education indicated that peer tutoring during the first year of college has a positive and statistically significant impact on students in each of three outcome areas: grades, credits, and retention, and that participation in the first year has…

A project determined the impact of the California Literacy Campaign (CLC) on its learners. Researchers used information from two California Adult Learner Progress Evaluation Process (CALPEP) forms: Where We Started (WWS) and a Semiannual Report (SR). The study focused on new adult learners served by the CLC for the first time between July and…

A study determined the impact the California Literacy Campaign (CLC) was having on adult learners based on changes in the California Adult Learner Progress Evaluation Process (CALPEP) learner progress forms. The two California Adult Learner Progress Evaluation Process (CALPEP) forms analyzed were: Where We Started, completed by learner and tutor…

Dropping out of high school is a major concern for the nation. Dropping out of school, although it occurs at a specific moment, is the culmination of a number of factors, including problems from both home and school, and may begin before the at-risk student starts school. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of peer tutoring by…

This practicum report describes an intervention to improve the literacy skills of seven at-risk kindergarten children. Intervention objectives were that children will: (1) show an increase in letter recognition; (2) demonstrate book awareness skills; and (3) increase their use of prereading and prewriting strategies. The intervention involved the…

An existing 353 project that used professional staff as distance education contact persons for students in General Educational Development (GED) programs in rural areas was modified so that volunteer instructional aides (IAs) could serve as contact persons for GED students choosing the program's home study option. A home study packet to be used in…

This paper argues that the concepts and techniques used in the development of expert systems should be expanded and applied to the field of education, particularly in the area of intelligent tutoring systems. It is noted that expert systems are a well known area of artificial intelligence and have been proven effective in well-defined topic areas.…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of replacing multiple-choice and short-answer questions in programmed tutorial courseware practice interactions with learner-generated summaries on three types of verbal information learning outcomes. The study was designed to empirically investigate the claim that the level of mental processing…

This paper presents 13 research and theory driven methods and strategies for the college reading and learning program. The strategies described are: (1) promoting developmental growth and learning; (2) using a course simulation model; (3) using undergraduate teaching assistants; (4) employing peer teaching; (5) using high utility strategies for…

The objectives of a research project were to: (1) give an account of the adult literacy movement in New Zealand between 1974 and 1988; (2) gather, analyze, and report on the number of students in adult literacy programs between 1974 and 1987; (3) examine the nature of adult literacy programs; (4) describe the development of funding arrangements of…

The Boulder Public Library offered a one-to-one free literacy program aimed at middle-class nonreaders. During the fiscal year October 1988 to September 1989, the program matched 60 new students with volunteer tutors; of these, 52 enrolled, boosting enrollment to 90 students. The program also conducted assessment tests on 72 students and…

This volume consists of nine conference papers and journal articles concerned with microcomputer applications in the teaching of writing. After a general introduction entitled "Computer-Assisted Composition Instruction: The State of the Art," by Robert Shostak, four papers are devoted to how computers may help with the writing process. In…

Many colleges continue to report high attrition rates among distance education students. This study included a survey of students at Coastline Community College to determine why they dropped or failed their distance-learning courses and to identify methods that might improve their success and retention. Questionnaires were sent to a group of…

This booklet was developed to offer practical advice to those in charge of, or attempting to develop, a small literacy program. The guide is organized in nine narrative sections that provide information on the following topics: beginning a literacy program, assessing the need, program structure, building a program, financing a program,…

A study was conducted to increase students' passing rates on the reading subtest of the Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST) by increasing their ability to answer reading items correctly, increasing their comprehension speed, and increasing their confidence in their test-taking abilities. Subjects were 27 students at Southwest Texas State…