Educators and policymakers increasingly recognize that in middle school, a combination of strong academic preparation, close monitoring, and good support is pivotal to success in high school. But few middle schools have structured themselves so explicitly to deliver the double wallop of academic and counseling attention needed to get their…

Quinsigamond Community College (QCC), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, experienced a decline in enrollment and persistence between 2003 and 2007. The institution responded to this issue through several initiatives, including the creation of an orientation course for developmental students enrolled in its General Studies program, an Event…

In this Brief the authors first report on evidence about the effectiveness (or, unfortunately, in too many cases, the ineffectiveness) of remediation and then provide information about the progression of students through the developmental sequence. They discuss problems associated with the crucial assessments and make a brief statement about…

In this study, the authors examined the college-ready graduate rates of all students (n = 1,099 high schools) in the State of Texas for the 2006-2007 school year. Data were analyzed for students' scores in reading, in math, and in both subject areas combined. Approximately one-third of all students were determined to be college-ready in both…

Working with K-12 schools is a valuable way for institutions and their boards to cultivate college-ready students and equip them with a sense of purpose and direction when they arrive on campus. Key elements to preparing young students for higher education include communicating expectations clearly and consistently, reaching out to underserved…

Measuring the Academic Skills of University Students is a procedure developed in the 1990s at the University of Sydney's Language Centre to identify students in need of academic writing development by assessing examples of their written work against five criteria. This paper reviews the literature relating to the development of the procedure with…

The school dropout rate in America is too high, especially for low-income students and those from nondominant racial or ethnic groups. For many students, the social-psychological and behavioral disengagement from school that leads to dropping out often begins in middle school. Research on early adolescents confirms that increasing the perceived…

The seriousness of the readiness gap--the gap between being fully credentialed and fully prepared--is the reason why the Forum for Youth Investment started the Ready by 21 partnership and the reason why American Association of School Administrators (AASA) joined. Numerous organizations and associations interested in the K-12 system's end…

This paper focuses on training people to carry out the communication component of development programs. The paper begins with a description of some of the issues on the communication frontier that affect development programs, and then notes three kinds of communication training that stand out: designing and managing communication interventions;…

Discusses educational goals in ancient India, western education in India, educational goals in free India, goals and national development, and the problem of poverty and equal distribution of national gains. (Author/PG)

The "Ready-Set-ABE" project was initiated to address the special needs of students entering adult basic education (ABE) programs directly from literacy training or others at a low level of ABE performance. The program was designed to provide these students with the tutoring they need to function successfully in mainstream ABE classes by…

A review of the changes in faculty life since 1965 and in faculty worries since 1971 demonstrates the need for improved faculty development programs. (Editor)

The values, implied in a development ethic based in Euro-American cultural traditions and used as a standard for international aid policies, are questioned with respect to their applicability to Third World needs. (JH)

This statement of criteria and policy for the United States Agency for International Development, AID, is accompanied by proposed areas of educational emphasis: 1) educational economics and analysis, 2) education technology, 3) non formal education, and 4) strengthened higher education for national development. (JH)