Investigates the impact of developmental coursework on student retention and grade point average. Describes a six-year longitudinal study of 625 students who tested into developmental courses in English, mathematics, and reading. Results indicated that developmental students can succeed in a community college setting, particularly if they take…

Reports on study designed to determine students' and instructors' comfort with asking for and providing accommodations for community college students with learning disabilities. Finds that students and faculty indicated neutral levels of comfort, but that further analyses of responses showed wide variability in the types of accommodations with…

Describes the High School Cooperative Agreement program, a partnership between Southeastern Louisiana University and area schools that seeks to reduce the number of students needing developmental mathematics and English courses by giving seniors the opportunity of satisfying the requirement while they are still in high school. The pilot program,…

Summarizes the literature on developmental reading and writing programs by discussing strategies for addressing remedial needs and obstacles to remediation. Presents the results of internal evaluations of developmental reading programs conducted at four colleges. Defines 16 strategies used by community colleges to implement effective remedial…

Presents an action plan for the many developmental educators who have been enraged by the entry of private companies into the developmental education field. Asserts that developmental educators should combine the best that learning assistance has to offer with the best that the private companies have to offer, within a framework and language that…

Examines the dropout/stopout patterns of community college developmental education students. Finds that student success is associated with enrollment patterns, initial skill deficiencies, and age, and that community college students who enrolled for consecutive semesters outperformed students with other types of enrollment patterns. (Contains 26…

The Pittsburgh Public School district is one of many urban school systems across the country that is struggling to boost student performance and regain the respect of its community. Achievement gaps are wide; student achievement is low; and public confidence is fragile. To begin addressing these issues, the Council of the Great City Schools…

Utilizing the regression-discontinuity research design, this article explores the effectiveness of a developmental English program in a large, multicampus community college. Routinely collected data were extracted from existing records of a cohort of first-time college students followed for approximately 6 years (N = 1,473). Results are consistent…

The Easy Steps to Reading Independence (ESTRI) Program is a reading program to be used to support whole language or basal reader programs by enabling limited ability or non-readers to begin reading, or to remediate reading disabilities, at age and grade appropriate levels immediately, without requiring the students to know sight words before…

A study investigated whether differences exist in the freshman-level course grades between the "high-risk" college freshmen enrolled in a linked-course developmental program and the other freshmen who were not required to participate in the developmental program. Subjects, 286 "non-developmental" freshmen and 71 freshmen…

A study described the 1990-91 and 1991-92 Chapter 1 Developer/Demonstration Program, Learning to Read through the Arts (LTRTA), and evaluated the effectiveness of its implementation. The program offers intensive holistic reading and reading-oriented arts instruction to Chapter 1-eligible students, using an interdisciplinary, thematic approach that…

In November 1994, a study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (M-DCC), in Florida, to determine outcomes after 1 year for first-time-in-college students who began in fall 1992. Specifically, the study sought to determine the percent of first-time students continuing enrollment at MDCC beyond their first year, the effect of student…

An overview is provided of Colorado's participation in Chapter 1, the largest federally funded program designed to provide services to elementary and secondary students. Chapter 1 provides financial assistance to state and local education agencies to meet the special needs of educationally deprived children who reside in areas with high…

This report evaluates a program funded under Chapter 1, Part B, of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act in New York (New York). The New York City Division of Special Education administers the Institutionalized Facilities Program to provide instruction to neglected and delinquent children and adolescents residing in group homes and…

These five serial issues focus on the outcomes of developmental education. Featured are the following articles: (1) "Developmental Instruction: What Really Makes a Difference?" by Hunter R. Boylan, which reviews several research-based models or theories of learning, including the Carroll model, the Bloom model, and the Bruner model, and discusses…