In response to decreasing nursing program enrollments, less qualified enrollees, and decreasing scores on the national licensing board exams, a study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) to examine factors that might contribute to success or failure among students entering the nursing program. In order to identify "high risk"…

To examine the developmental process of communication competence and the resulting relationship between competence and college success, a longitudinal study of college students was undertaken. In this study, pertinent background factors and measures of communication skills were collected on the same population over the course of a student's…

This report is based on data from the 1979, 1980 and 1981 waves of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth Labor Market Experience. These data were collected for a nationally representative sample of 12,686 youth in 1979, 12,141 in 1980 and 12,195 in 1981. This report contains four analytical chapters. Chapter One investigates those…

Since 1974, student surveys have been conducted in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) to gather information on student goals, plans, academic preparation, characteristics, financial aid, and evaluations of college services. In spring 1987, a random sample of 15% of the current enrollment at each college in the LACCD were surveyed…

This paper reports on a study of the Biomedical Sciences Preparation Program (BioPrep), a rural component of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation's funded projects. The program was intended to give Alabama students (particularly minorities) academic competency in mathematics, science, and oral and written communication relevant to medical professions.…

This report examines the ways that credit-based transition programs (CBTPs) may help middle- and low-achieving students enter and succeed in college. It highlights promising practices used by CBTPs to help students who might have been considered noncollege-bound prepare for college credit course work. The report also discusses the challenges that…

The high school diploma is no longer the credential for a lifetime and it has not been for decades. Since the 1970s, there has been a growing consensus that training or education beyond high school is necessary to qualify for "family wage" jobs, jobs that pay enough for a family to live reasonably comfortably. Despite this widespread…

Asserts that taking Introduction to College Writing, a fundamental writing course at Central Missouri State University, improves student academic achievement by developing their basic writing skills and preparing them for more advanced, general education writing courses. (VWC)

Describes a study conducted at Iowa State University with minority high school graduates that investigated student propensity to learn library skills independently and to determine whether learning was enhanced through the use of culturally oriented materials. Highlights include a review of literature concerning bibliographic instruction and…

This study found that 246 regular and 42 special education high school teachers had dissimilar views of their ability to provide learning-disabled students with competencies considered important for college entry by 82 college faculty. Special educators and college faculty were quite similar in perception of students' needs. (Author/JDD)

This research assessed whether Israel's "second-chance" educational programs, the academic preparatory programs (APP) that challenge the sorting criteria of the mainstream, succeed in enhancing social equality in education. Successful outcomes of the APP are analyzed in light of the reported failure of community colleges to moderate…

This study examined the influence of racial/ethnic dynamics on the process of social and academic integration. Students of diverse racial/ethnic and academic backgrounds were interviewed throughout their first-year and again at the beginning of their sophomore year about their pre-college and in-college experiences. Results yielded a qualitative…

Texas has made good progress in education since the school reform movement began in earnest 15 years ago. State test scores are up for all groups of students in all grades in all subjects. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Texas is close to the top in student performance in math, and has finally begun to make real progress in…

Several studies in the 1980s found that Black students were more likely to be enrolled in college-preparatory programs than Whites of equal achievement and family background. These findings contradict suspicions that tracking systems create more Black-White inequality than would occur without them. However, a weakness of one study supporting this…

The Florida Board of Community Colleges conducted a survey of the current state of preparatory programs (i.e., math, reading, English, and English as a Second Language (ESL)) in the state's 28 community colleges. Data was gathered through a literature search, a survey of directors of developmental programs, Bureau of Research and Information…