Four key topics in the implementation of Title II legislation are reviewed: (1) the Congressional intent of the Basic Skills Improvement Program (BSIP) and its two major focuses--demonstration and coordination; (2) what is meant by "basic skills"; (3) expected outcomes for the BSIP; and (4) standards for demonstration projects. Congress…

A faculty member in a predominately black institution in the University System of Georgia critiqued the basic skills examination used as a placement and exit examination for the remedial program. He found that the local committee that developed the test had not defined what "basic skills" are, set priorities, nor specified degrees of…

This paper describes a developmental course in writing skills designed for college freshmen and offers guidelines for gaining acceptance of the course in the college community. The course consists of six credits of work earned in two semesters. Each week, students are required to attend three class periods, one writing laboratory session, and one…

This paper asserts that the basic skills, the three Rs, should be considered as a means to an end in education rather than the end in itself. According to the author, one of the most important basic skills is the skill of "basic crap detecting" advocated by Charles Weingartner. Students need to develop their own critical insights. Basic skill…

A workship program, designed as a noncredit adjunct to composition classes, was developed in order to serve the individual needs of college students. Close communication between regular course instructors and workshop staff was maintained, and the attempt was made to substitute a developmental philosophy of learning for the usual connotation of…

One response to the call to go back-to-basics is to teach conventions of writing and usage which seem to echo the objectivity and rigor of scientific knowledge. Yet Michael Polanyi gives reason to believe that the "objectivist" concept of science itself is misleading. Polanyi offers a subtly, but fundamentally, different conception which…

Skills that are currently referred to as study skills can be separated into two broad categories: techniques for study and applied study skills. Techniques for study could be acquired given sufficient information, but applied study skills require sequential skill development and practice on the part of students, using material near their…

After considering the implications of the back-to-the-basics movement, the author concludes that there is little value in going "back" to approaches such as those typical of traditional grammar instruction. Instead, he suggests that sentence combining offers a basic approach to the teaching of writing. An experiment which began with four classes…

Proposes a method for describing the relationship between writing error and style shifting rates across communicative situations. Finds that errors diminished in proportion to the tendency of students to select grammatical features that are shared by Black American English and Standard American English in formal communicative situations. (RAE)

Indicates that the basics responsible for successful vocational agricultural programs are (1) supervised occupational experience programs, (2) curriculum design emphasizing problem solving and rational thinking, (3) involvement in Future Farmers of America, and (4) qualified teachers. (JOW)

The purposes of this paper are to present research related to the development of new instructional games (named Survivor's Games), and measure the effectiveness of these games to help students (K-5) master basic fact operations (single-digit additions or factor and single- or double digit sums or products), stimulate the exploration of…

Reflects on the impact of the broad values that motivated Mina Shaughnessy's work and life. Characterizes three of her beliefs--that teaching makes a difference, that the individual is important, and that literacy is power--and expands on their importance. (RL)

This study investigates the impact of activities done in the basic education sub-sector by a consortium of four non-government organizations in four provinces in Afghanistan from January 2004 to June 2005. The evaluation uses the project objectives and components as the evaluation framework, and data collected through survey questionnaires,…

While placement procedures and lack of writing skills are certainly perplexing, classroom practices and procedures remain the most fundamental of challenges for the developmental writing instructor for good reason: time-on-task methods are the most direct means by which students improve skill levels. One instructor found that this approach to…

To do academic work, basic writers must know how to use the forms that express mature thinking. Accustomed to the demands of speech, basic writers often rely on unspecified context to relate ideas, thus failing to establish the connections evident in well-developed thought. While able to use certain cohesive ties such as repetitions,…