The main objective of the authors' proposed study is to evaluate the effectiveness of math placement policies for entering community college students on these students' academic success in math, and their transfer and graduation rates. The main research question that guides the proposed study is: What are the effects of various basic skills…

As educators, government officials, and foundations leaders have embraced the agenda of dramatically increasing college success and credential completion, they have come to understand the need for better data on student outcomes to guide the improvement efforts of institutions, systems, and states. The data on degree completion and other final…

After surveying 1,827 students in their final year at eighty randomly selected two-year and four-year public and private institutions, American Institutes for Research (2006) reported that approximately 30 percent of students in two-year institutions and nearly 20 percent of students in four-year institutions have only basic quantitative…

Community colleges play an important role in the U.S. economy, providing access to higher education for low-income young people, a path to higher-earning employment for low-income workers, and a supply of well-trained employees for local industry. In order to remain competitive with other major economies, however, the U.S. must sharply increase…

This guide is designed as a reference for District and School personnel working with English learners (ELs). The content of the guide represents a compilation of information, examples, and resources. This guide is a living document and subject to frequent updates. It is recommended to review the document online rather than printing a hard copy.

This paper discusses the importance of institutionalizing practices that promote equitable outcomes for all students within the vast California Community College (CCC) system. The CCC system, which annually provides educational opportunities for almost three million students, exists at the heart of the state economy and future labor pool. Because…

To increase the rate at which adult basic skills students advance to and succeed in college-level occupational programs, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) developed the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training, or I-BEST. In the I-BEST model, a basic skills instructor and an occupational instructor team…

Evaluates the drive toward developing basic education--reading, 'riting, and 'rithematic--and the implications in that objective. (RK)

Compares two philosophies of education: 1) behavioral psychology, represented by Clark plan for Washington, D.C., public schools, and 2) humanism, represented by British free school movement. (RT)

A basic skills model is presented which stresses the skills of writing, reading, study, and research for elementary school pupils. The model focuses on lesson background, the purpose of the reading, independent reading, follow-up discussion, developing related skills, and extending and applying ideas. A lesson about the 1910 British expedition to…

The Council for Basic Education has mixed attitudes towards the current back to basics movement. (PBS)

Current calls for a return to basic education may seem like a rerun from the 1950s and early 1960s, but there are important differences. (Author)

In response to the challenge to teach basics, schools can choose among a number of alternative ways of giving the word "basics" a local definition. Discusses five guidelines for interpreting "basics". (Author/RK)

The current trend in education today is "back to basics". Where, then, does this put music, which is not one of the traditional three Rs? Author makes the case for music education suggesting that music educators must sell music education "now" not only in existing programs but in relatively untapped and unexplored areas such as music for the aged…

Two prominent leaders in education, Charles Suhor and Jane Stallings, are interviewed concerning the present status and significant effects of the basic skills movement, the effect the National Commission on Excellence in Education report will have on basic skills education, and the number one priority for education in the future. (DCS)