Changes in admission policies and curriculum and their current/projected effects on enrollment, academic standards, student retention, and costs are discussed. (MSE)

Reports on monetary awards made by MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Awards to two colleges: West Hills Community College (WHCC), California; and Sinclair Community College (SCC), Ohio. The awards spotlight the singular role outstanding community colleges play in helping underserved youth and adults succeed in college and career.…

Proposes human potential seminars on topics such as "study skills" or "library use" as alternatives to traditional freshman orientation courses. Examines the implementation of the seminars at Lurleen B. Wallace Junior College and discusses their effectiveness in improving the self-concept and retention of high-risk students.…

The welding training program at Kirkwood Community College, Iowa, combines modular instruction, video tape technology, variable entry and exit registration, competency-based evaluation, self-pacing, and student-centered learning environment. Each learning module includes behavioral objectives, tests, lessons and materials, and completion…

In 1993-94, Ohio implemented an interdistrict open-enrollment policy, allowing student transfers only to adjacent districts. Districts can be open or closed, but cannot prevent transfers. A 1994 survey found that open districts were small, rural, racially homogeneous districts with declining enrollment. Closed districts were suburban, with…

Finds that open admissions at City University of New York in the early 1970s resulted in a dramatic increase in degree attainment by Blacks and Hispanics. Concludes that more flexible aid programs, improved high school curricula, and stronger preparation in two-year colleges can increase future attainments and narrow educational inequalities. (DM)

The English education system is undergoing radical change initiated by central government. Extensive delegation of financial control to the school level has been paralleled by introduction of a national curriculum and open enrollment. This paper explains England's educational finance structure and the central government's interest in delegated…

Provides an update on community college responses to the new student majority who lack the skills to succeed in college-level work. Defines "at-risk students," identifies college responses to literacy problems, describes promising instructional strategies, and highlights problems in evaluating programs for at-risk students. (DMM)

Presents Mina Shaughnessy's 1976 speech, given at a time when great financial crisis threatened to result in the wholesale disestablishment of basic writing programs. Notes grave perils, and outlines some of the truths uncovered through the experience of Open Admissions in higher education, truths that are indestructible despite retrenchments and…

The author discusses an outreach framework focused on retaining nontraditional students at small open-admissions institutions. By using both campus and community resources, this approach integrates social work and counseling disciplines in an attempt to meet the needs of this populations more effectively. Components of the program, implementation…

As part of an effort to improve the image of Mercer County Community College, in New Jersey, a faculty member conducted interviews of 15 colleagues and 4 students to determine their perceptions of the college. Participants were asked about their present attitudes towards the college, their views when they first began, what the college does best,…

Proper placement of students into either remedial writing or Composition I can be crucial to their success in higher education. Using a database of nearly 6,000 students who entered an open admissions community college in Texas, the researchers attempted to discover the best predictor of student success in Composition I. For students who took a…

This document presents findings of a study that identified patterns of use among a broad array of open-enrollment options available to elementary and secondary students in Minnesota. During the period 1985-91, the Minnesota legislature passed several pieces of new legislation designed to: (1) increase the educational choices available to students,…

The metaphor of "open admissions," a consistent communication tradition at Mount Ida College, Massachusetts, is an oral tradition that has survived the many metamorphoses the college has experienced and provided consistency for the college mission and population. Begun as the Mount Ida School for Girls, the school was both Mount Ida…