In 1999, Fairmont State College (FSC) received a U.S. Department of Education grant to implement Project GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) in nine primarily-rural counties of West Virginia. GEAR UP encourages disadvantaged youth to have high expectations, stay in school, and take academically rigorous…

A study was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of reading comprehension strategies in improving the reading skills of underprepared students at a community college. The instructional strategies, which included determining main ideas of passages, drawing inferences and conclusions, and building vocabulary within the context of readings, were…

In the fall of 1993, Quebec's Heritage College implemented a reception and integration (i.e., "d'accueil") session to help first term incoming students identified as "at-risk" and "undecided" succeed in their collegiate studies. This report describes the development and implementation of the project, focusing on…

The central purpose of this study was to identify factors that increase the likelihood that high school seniors will plan to attend a four-year college, paying particular attention to variables that are associated with college attendance by low-income students. Logistic regression was applied to data from three sources: telephone interviews with…

This study, part of a 3-year project designed to determine specifically and in-depth the reading, writing, and verbal demands made of students in university-level academic courses, college students by examining academic literacy requirements and involving the cooperative efforts of high school and university faculty members. This paper discusses…

Project STAR was designed to demonstrate model instruction, retention, transition, and preparation practices for use with hearing-impaired community college students. The project consisted of a detailed student assessment, an extensive faculty inservice training component, and extensive instructional and counseling support for project students.…

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…

In an effort to improve the writing performance of non-native English-speaking students in a college preparatory composition course, a project was undertaken to reduce problems of self-esteem caused by communication apprehension through a speech assignment involving critical thinking and peer reviews. To evaluate the effect of the assignment, the…

This report is the result of more than 2 years of extensive review of the education of Latino students in the New York City school system. The investigation found that Latino students, who numbered 355,000 during the 1992-93 school year, now account for 36 percent of the total student population. Over one quarter of these students have limited…

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…

In 1990, a survey was conducted of students at Miami-Dade Community College (M-DCC) to determine their perceptions of their high school preparation for college. The survey was distributed to a 5% random sample of English classes. Surveys were returned from 502 students in 26 of the 31 sampled classes for a response rate of 84%. A comparison with…

The academic characteristics of freshmen entering the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), major problems in secondary education, and ways that the university can affect the quality of secondary education are examined. Data on entering freshmen for 1970-1980 indicate that UCB freshmen have consistently scored higher on admissions tests than…

The federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, strives to equalize low-income students' access to higher education by increasing their participation in rigorous coursework, providing expanded opportunities for low-income students and parents to learn about postsecondary educational opportunities and…

A 12-step plan for investigating colleges and making college choices is presented for college applicants. In addition to information on selective college admissions, the 12 chapters cover the following steps: knowing admission requirements and procedures, determining the student's strengths, following a demanding curriculum, taking advantage of…

A random sample of the records of all juniors and seniors tested under the American College Testing Program (ACT) during 1986-87 was selected to assess the relationships among the number and type of college preparatory courses students take, their grades in those courses, and their ACT test scores. Focus was on the impact of differential…