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ERIC Number: ED470284
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2001-Sep
Pages: 14
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Labette Community College, Parsons, Kansas. PLATO Evaluation Series.
Brush, Thomas
Labette Community College (LCC), Parsons, Kansas, a public comprehensive community college, received a 5-year Title III grant from the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen their academic programs through the implementation of computer-assisted basic skills instruction coupled with a comprehensive retention program. To study the progress being made toward Title III goals, LCC requested that PLATO conduct a preliminary evaluation of their use of the PLATO reading and writing curricula as a support for their basic writing and reading improvement classes. This report includes an analysis of data from the fall 1999-spring 2000 academic year and fall 2000. Results of this preliminary evaluation reveal that the inclusion of computer assisted technology in the redesigned reading and writing courses is an important component of students' success. Mandatory computer lab time was positively related to the students' success in Basic Writing I classes. With the Compass test used for pretest and posttest, students posted an average gain of nearly 56 points. Fourteen of the 19 students received passing scores on the posttest (74%). In Basic Writing II, in which computer study was optional, students posted an average gain of only 10.95 points, and the range of achievement gains was much wider. In Basic Reading I, which used PLATOs Advanced Reading Strategies and Reading for Information, students demonstrated a 46 point increase in pass rates when compared with data from fall 1999, a pass rate increase of 20% to 66%. LCC plans to incorporate PLATO software into its mathematics curricula during fall 2001. (SLD)
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: PLATO Learning, Inc., Bloomington, MN.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A