The presence of academically underprepared students at Vassar College from 1865 to 1890 and at Cornell University from 1868 to 1890 was a source of controversy in both institutions. Vassar took on the burden of providing for comprehensive preparatory education for academically-deficient students within the context of the college. Cornell, although…

A survey of 60 managing editors of daily newspapers was conducted to determine the qualities editors look for in the reporters and copy editors they hire, the specific academic preparation they would like reporters and copy editors to have, and specific problems editors have with their present staff members. This paper describes the methodology of…

Presents skills necessary for student success in college. Outlines what college deans consider solid preparation in seven subject areas: arts, English, foreign language, history, literature, mathematics, and science. (MD)

The level of preparation for college entrance tests, university mathematics placement tests, and beginning college mathematics courses was studied for students who completed the Standards-oriented curriculum "Contemporary Mathematics in Context" (A. Coxford, J. Fey, C. Hirsch, H. Schoen, E. Hart, B. Keller, and A. Watkins, 2001), the…

Because relatively few black males successfully complete college, this study sought to determine how black male freshmen at a predominantly white university differed from other freshmen in their values, aspirations, and assumptions about college life. In the fall of 1989, the ACT Entering Student Survey, plus 30 locally developed questions, was…

Project THISTLE: Thinking Skills in Teaching and Learning was designed to improve both the reflective thinking capabilities of urban high school students and their pre-college preparation. This study was conducted to elicit teacher perceptions of factors inhibiting reflective thinking in schools. Most important among the perceived constraints on…

When the English-placement examination essays of college freshmen who had passed the examination were compared with essays of students who had failed, it was found that the most-important differences between the two groups of essays occurred in the area of content development and organization rather than in spelling, grammar, or punctuation. A…

This paper traces the concept of the "gifted disadvantaged" child and reviews the development of educational resources for this special population. The National Merit Scholarship Program is described as an example of a program which, though designed to provide opportunities for students from all social strata, until 1964, did not…

This paper presents part of an ongoing project on teacher's beliefs and practices in state schools and in privately owned exam preparation schools in Turkey. Extracts from an interview with a teacher who uses a technique that he disapproves of will be reported and discussed. The paper considers how the teacher reconciles his practices with his…

The Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) program was implemented in a partnership between the University of Tennessee (UT) and two rural East Tennessee school systems. The study addressed the residual impact of UT GEAR UP on middle school teachers and schools that were left behind as the cohort progressed to…

Hispanics are one of the largest and fastest-growing minority groups in the United States. Projections indicate a need for an increase of 20% of practicing engineers by 2010. Despite the growing number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers in the American economy, education statistics suggest that too few Hispanic students…

Captioning is the process of providing a synchronized written script (captions) to accompany auditory information. This article describes programs available for captioning digital media on computers, and discusses the results of a study on color-coding and placement of captions. Seventy-two students in the Preparatory Studies Program (PSP) at…

This study compared critical thinking skills of 98 college freshmen as measured by the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal instrument during their first week in the course with their final grades in a freshman course. Results indicated that there were significant differences among the three groups on the three subtests of Inference,…

This paper reports on research that examined longitudinal data on students entering Tennessee Board of Regents institutions of higher education after the implementation of a state-mandated developmental studies program. The program identifies and helps at-risk students to persist in college to graduation. Data analysis is presented from a 1986…

The transition from high school to college can be challenging and stressful for any student; it can prove to be an overwhelming experience for disabled students. Among major problems disabled students experience are: the perception that disabled persons are passive and need assistance in all areas; a lack of awareness of their rights and…