A Coordinator of Performing Arts at Western Piedmont Community College in North Carolina describes the challenges and rewards posed by an open-door educational philosophy in which community service is as important as artistic excellence. The college's mission is to serve the special needs of the community, which primarily consists of state…

This retrospective picture of college students over the past 30 years reflects what has been written about students in "Change" magazine between 1969 and 1999. Using the analogy of a museum gallery, the student portraits are grouped into five eras; each of which dominated the literature for approximately 10 years. The Gallery of Student Protest,…

Greater attention is now being directed at issues associated with the professional development of new school leaders. This paper identifies some of the major concerns of beginning school leaders across different nations, some of which include needs for knowledge about basic managerial skills, adequate socialization to the job, and a sense of self.…

Between now and the end of this century, the People's Republic of China will attempt to become an international economic superpower by attempting to quadruple industrial and agricultural production. The Chinese educational system is the primary institutional partner with the government in this venture. After a decade of confusion and decline in…

In the city of Saskatoon (Saskatchewan), parents and students have a unique opportunity to choose between nondenominational public schools and publicly supported Roman Catholic schools, with no penalties or fees attached to either choice. The research described was carried out principally through face-to-face interviews with the officials of both…

In order to help underprepared students entering college in an open admissions program learn to write original research papers, a method was devised which relates the students' experiences in the nonacademic world to their academic assignments. Students first visit a local business, store, or institution with which they are familiar and write an…

The importance of diagnostic testing for appropriate student placement at open door colleges is discussed, along with approaches to upgrade teacher skills. It is suggested that colleges typically select students who are skilled and motivated enough to acquire knowledge by the approaches currently offered, and that colleges thus act as screeners…

The open door of the community college too often becomes a revolving door when student needs are not met and program quality decreases. Case studies highlight instances in which community colleges' open access policies, teamed with inadequate advising and hard-sell recruitment tactics, can frustrate the goal achievement of underprepared students.…

The eight course projects listed in this paper are designed specifically for a freshman-level open admissions course in children's literature, but they can be adapted to fit the needs of any beginning "topics" literature course that has students with widely varied preparation, ability, and goals. The projects include telling and reading stories;…

Florida's mandate of open enrollment for the community colleges and maintenance of the state universities as a limited access system is examined from the perspectives of its origins, perpetuation, problems, and the need for articulation. (MSE)

Supplemental Instruction (SI) has been firmly established as a tool for helping college students succeed in beginning writing courses. The SI model is based on a Piagetian-constructivist theoretical framework, which holds that learning is an active process in which learners "construct" their own knowledge, making it an essential part of…

Teaching basic writing at an open-admissions, urban, commuter community college involves the instructor with a clientele of student writers with a wide variety and complexity of needs and abilities. According to much research, demands by some scholars for having students write more than just "themes" is inappropriate for such students.…

The purpose of this paper is to give those who work in distance education a better awareness of the factors at work in developing nations and to help those whose profession is national development gain a fuller understanding of distance education. It begins with a discussion of the process of national development which focuses on the factors that…

This document examines the data on changes in the ethnic composition of the schools in Milwaukee, and relates them to student achievement. A consideration of the relationship of ethnicity and academic achievement is said to entail six questions as follows: how ethnic proportions of pupils have changed over a ten-year period; their patterns of…

The report explores the inner life of the Italian university system and describes the results of increased student access to a university that remains essentially elitist. It highlights the tensions and constraints that have placed Italian higher education in a state of suspended animation between mass entry and elitist structures. It is predicted…