This is a description and a progress report of the Basic Studies Program at Tarrant County Junior College (Texas), a 1-year program in general education designed for students who rank in the lower quarter of their junior college class and who have experienced little academic success in the past. Communications, humanities, social science, natural…

Claims recent research involving premature editing--thinking aloud for the study--is too narrow in scope to allow for basic writers whose writing processes do not resemble the model. Using eight basic writers produces evidence to support the claim that many or most basic writers can write without editing prematurely.(NH)

Presents the recommendations of the Montgomery College (Maryland) study committee on how to restructure a community college English program to accomodate the increasing number of college students with poor reading and writing skills. (DC)

This paper from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges is a chronological summary of the legislation and regulations adopted from 1987-1990, which govern basic skills instruction in the community colleges. The Seymour Campbell Matriculation Act of 1986 directs the Chancellor to develop a funding formula for matriculation, and…

The purpose of this study was to identify: the success and retention rates of basic skills students, and the rates of basic skills students' progress from basic skills courses to college level courses, and ultimately, transfer level courses. The study chose its cohorts from the semester of fall 1994. Essentially, four cohorts were identified:…

Describes the National Testing Network in Writing's College Assessment Program Evaluation (CAPE) process, which was developed to encourage local control of writing skills assessment by highlighting relations among testing, curricula, students, and institutional mission. Offers a brief overview of CAPE guidelines and documentation for conducting a…

Innovation for its own sake has led to lowered academic standards and a less valuable educational product. Community colleges must stop catering to academically underprepared students by simply entertaining them with instructional innovations and must return to emphases on basic skills, essay examinations, and academically challenging coursework.…

Interdisciplinary Studies in General Education (IDS) is Valencia Community College's alternative to the fragmented approach to general education reflected in many schools' unrelated requirements of survey courses and laboratories. A two-year course of study, IDS brings together literature, mathematics, social science, natural science, philosophy,…

This study of the Basic Skills Program (to prepare the student for enrollment in a regular course) was undertaken by the Student Service Center at the request of the Language Arts and Mathematics Departments. Its objectives were to examine (1) performance of students in the program, (2) student-measured achievement after one semester, and (3)…

The document addresses remedial or developmental programs in postsecondary California education. It also presents the results of the 1998 basic skills survey of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges' Basic Skills Ad Hoc Committee. Basic Skills courses usually refer to precollegiate basic skills courses. These are courses designed…

As the most recent update of the profile of underprepared students, this enrollment analysis examines: (a) the basic skills deficiencies of the fall 1998 entrants; (b) the basic skills deficiencies of the new county high school graduates within the entrant cohort; (c) the fall 1998 collegewide developmental course enrollment; and (d) the…

The learning lab at Hawaii Community College (HCC) has, for the past year and a half, utilized the PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations) computer-assisted instructional program. PLATO, which is used by students whose preferred learning mode falls into the listening, visual, or reading categories, serves to broaden the learning…

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…

Describes the Community College of Philadelphia's three-level developmental curriculum consisting of basic English and math courses and developmental-content, noncredit courses in history, geography, social science, and psychology. Reviews the objectives, content, and instructional methods of each level of the curriculum and discusses outcomes.…