Analysis of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth samples shows that, for both associate degree and nondegree community college programs, returning adults experience the same earnings increases as continuing high school graduates. Returning males in nondegree programs receive an earnings effect 8-10% above that of continuing students. (SK)

Unfocused general education should be eliminated in favor of tech prep/associate degree (TPAD) applied academics (along with college prep and vocational education). TPAD programs encourage potential dropouts to stay in school, prepare students for transfer to postsecondary education, and benefit students, employers, schools, colleges, communities,…

Records of 276 registered nurses who took the National League for Nursing Mobility Profile II, a test to validate lower-division credits, were analyzed. Grade point average (GPA) from associate degrees was the strongest predictor of test performance. Baccalaureate nursing programs should consider using GPA as a validation criterion for nursing…

Occupational students constitute the majority of enrollments at community colleges. Moreover, over the last 15 years, the ''vocationalization'' of the community college has been one of the most controversial trends in higher education. However, little is known about how the educational experiences of occupational students compare to those of…

Due to increasing demands from the field, the University of Montana-Western (UM-W) recently began to offer a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education that builds upon the associate degree. Students complete their general education credits, early childhood specialty courses, and an area of special emphasis. Courses are offered online or…

In this article, the author features Bard High School Early College, the first public school in the country to offer a free, full-time college curriculum--and all the credits that go with it--to high schoolers. In Bard's four-year program, students race through high school requirements in 9th and 10th grades, then take college courses in 11th and…

Palm Beach Community College realigned its curriculum to allow students to seamlessly process through career pathways. Students can start in clock-hour-based instruction and transfer that learning into credit-based associate in science degrees. Along this pathway, students can use exit points to employment with recognized certificates.

This research examined the use of visual-spatial representation by deaf and hearing students while solving mathematical problems. The connection between spatial skills and success in mathematics performance has long been established in the literature. This study examined the distinction between visual-spatial "schematic" representations that…

In 2001, Illinois began administering the ACT (American College Testing) test to all 11th graders in Illinois public schools as part of the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE). For the first time, ACT scores and background information were available for most public-school students who would be completing high school one year later, rather than…

As the world economy continues to evolve, businesses and industries must adopt new practices and processes in order to survive. Quality and cost control, work teams and participatory management, and an infusion of technology are transforming the way people work and do business. Employees are now expected to read, write, and communicate…

This report describes graduation rates for the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) in 1994-95 using three different measures: cohort analysis, time to graduation, and a ratio of curriculum students to awards. The first section compares the use of two cohort analyses to determine graduation rates for students who entered in fall 1990. In the…

A 1-year project at Amarillo College developed an associate degree program to train certified realtime caption writers so that they could pass the examination for certification for realtime caption reporting for persons who are deaf. During the project the following actions were taken: (1) curricular materials previously completed and approved…

The authors discuss the care-cure dichotomy (baccaulaureate students were found to be care-oriented; the associate degree students were cure-oriented) and the problems these attitudes present. (Author/BP)

Describes a baccalaureate program in engineering technology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, which is a "plus two" or upper-division-only curriculum, serving as a receiving unit for the graduates of two-year engineering technology programs. (MLH)