Describes several models for the design, evaluation, and delivery of developmental programs, including the Expanded Individualized Prescriptive Instruction system (which includes placement, counseling, and intervention phases), and the Developmental Pyramid Model (which includes diagnosis, prescription, evaluation, and advising/tutoring). (DMM)

Third International Mathematics and Science Study results show that high-scoring states and schools do not need standards; low scorers have too many other pressing problems to utilize standards. Recent studies indicate that the proportion of college students requiring remedial courses has been exaggerated by critics. (MLH)

Grade retention is ineffective. It is often imposed for nonacademic reasons, fails to improve academic achievement, and exacerbates the dropout problem. Social promotion is equally ineffective at providing appropriate instruction for low-performing students. Feasible alternatives include group problem solving, personalized instruction, and…

Suggests that mandatory placement of underprepared students in developmental courses may actually provide the key to opening the door to true academic, vocational, or community success, despite criticism by some that it excludes students and restricts their freedoms. Discusses ethical balances between access, student success and academic…

Presents a qualitative research study which thematically analyzes e-mail conversations exchanged by graduate students in a developmental writing program. Focuses on the relationship between these teachers and their students and addresses key issues in basic writing theory and practice. Suggests that graduate students can offer a unique perspective…

Effective principals realize that learning support-teachers can provide job-embedded staff development for general-education teachers. They build schedules allowing the kind of cooperative planning that makes inclusive block scheduling successful. Principals must also share control of the master schedule and support major changes in teaching…

Presents the results of a two-part survey on developmental education in four-year colleges and universities. Describes the requirements, staffing, and enrollment in the programs, and assesses the extent to which a subsample of developmental mathematics instructors follow the standards established by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.…

States that learning assistance centers are often caught in the throws of controversy at institutions of higher education. Examines some of the causal contributors to this controversy in an attempt to help learning assistance professionals identify the strategies necessary to preserve their centers' integrity in good and difficult financial times.…

Investigates the effects of readers theater participation on the oral reading ability and motivation of second-grade Title I reading students. Finds readers theater activities may offer otherwise struggling readers an opportunity to read aloud with enhanced skill that may transfer to reading achievement levels on other material. (NH)

Five popular, but distinctly different, remedial reading programs were reviewed regarding the potential to motivate children to read. It is argued that current remedial reading program designs and research on program effectiveness ignore the impact that motivation has on struggling readers. In addition, we develop a theory of reading motivation…

This study examined the efficacy of a learner-centred environment in enhancing the academic achievements and motivation of high school students who are at risk of dropping out of school. Three groups of students at high academic risk were compared. The control group consisted of students who are exposed to a remedial academic program in a…

The purpose of this article is to report the outcomes of literacy instruction used by special education students in a federally funded master's degree program known as Project LEAD: Leadership for Educators Amid Diversity. Participants in the project reported specific projects completed, new methods used in their classrooms, and additional…

This study investigates the combined effect of student characteristics and instructional method on at-risk college students' academic performance. It examines the relationship of student characteristics and instructional methods to the performance variables of students' grades in a mandatory reading/study course for reading-deficient students;…

A study investigated transition to the location of remedial instruction, repeated use of drills, and regular class management activities as they occurred in the Accelerated Literacy Learning (ALL) model, an early intervention program for at-risk students. Qualitative and quantitative investigation of the small-group, second-grade, in-class ALL…

The Summer Academic Skills Enhancement Program (SASEP) was offered in June-August 1993 to provide Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) clients with the reading comprehension and language mechanics skills required for employment in entry-level positions. A total of 125 referred clients were enrolled into both of two remedial courses of study.…