The guiding premise of this article is that developmental education and learning assistance programs will continue to be undervalued and vulnerable as long as there is no overarching, shared theoretical framework that practitioners can (and want to) call their own. The traditional approach to addressing this theory crisis has been to import…

Dissatisfaction with student success has caused a crisis in developmental education. Critics from both inside and outside the field question whether remedial courses really prepare students for future college work or even if they are properly part of the college mission. In this article, we review research and present information that suggests…

Using an ex post facto analysis of outcomes data, this paper tracks the academic performances of developmental and non-developmental students and examines the effects that developmental courses have on subsequent academic progress leading up to graduation. Three-year data on developmental students and graduates were analyzed to discern the…

This study explores the demographic, personal, and professional characteristics of honors and developmental faculty in community colleges. The authors uncover significant racial and ethnic patterns and arrive at a preliminary typology of those who teach at the upper and lower margins of the two-year college curriculum.

The diverse higher education members of the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education independently partner with the Hartford Public Schools and deliver more than forty programs in the schools. These programs are varied and include such areas as college access, professional development for teachers, technology initiatives, tutoring, and science…

Over a 27-year teaching career in schools in North London and the Zambian bush I have relished the challenge of helping the disaffected or reluctant learner. Most of my teaching was in the area of business and vocational education, where learners have often been placed not through choice but because they were not seen as high enough achievers to…

Background/Context: In the last several decades, a college education, in particular the bachelor's degree, has become the key to higher earnings, and overall, to a middle-class lifestyle in the United States. In an increasingly globalized economy, privileging information and communication technologies, it is more than likely that this emphasis on…

The phenomenon of student attrition is an increasingly challenging problem confronting American higher education. Unfortunately, there exists virtually no consensus on root causes; and disagreements continue over what intervention strategies might help to reduce the rates with which young collegians abandon their studies and leave campus. Data…

A rite-of-passage program as a course of action for successfully transitioning Black young people into adulthood and fostering positive outcomes in their lives is the focus of this study. The program draws upon African traditional culture to impart values, improve self-concept, and develop cultural awareness. Utilizing data from a larger study,…

Drawn from the proceedings of a conference focusing on ways to improve the teaching of college level learning skills, the articles in this collection deal with a variety of topics. Among the topics discussed in the 37 articles are the following: (1) a systems approach to planning, implementing, and evaluating peer counseling programs; (2)…

Eleven projects funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title III, and providing funds to public school districts to demonstrate the feasibility of education innovations, are sketched in this booklet of exemplary and innovative school programs in Kentucky. Programs are categorized according to regions, and focus on: regional…

The San Francisco Beacon Initiative (SFBI) has been in effect in the San Francisco Unified School District since 1996. A collaboration of public and private funders, SFBI operates comprehensive after-school programs in six middle schools, one elementary school and one high school. Public/Private Ventures' (P/PV's) evaluation found that SFBI…

Those who advocate for developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) do so based on the conviction that these classroom practices enhance children's development and facilitate learning. This ERIC Digest examines recent research on DAP and social-emotional and cognitive development, and describes what we have learned about DAP in early childhood…

The Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) provides funds and technical assistance to targeted community colleges in an effort to improve educational access and foster economic development in distressed rural areas of the United States. This project brief describes RCCI's attempts to increase access by implementing an approach more holistic…

Community college leaders need honest information about what's working in the community college and need to be challenged about the things that are not. State Legislatures and Congress need updated facts to assist them in making wise funding decisions. Community college advocates need updated information to assist them in their advocacy work, and…