ERIC Number: EJ873945
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1067-1803
EISSN: N/A
Improving Academic Performance among Remedial Community College Students
Rochford, Regina A.
Community College Journal, v75 n5 p60-66 Apr-May 2005
At Queensborough Community College, the City University of New York, 60% of incoming freshmen were placed into remedial-writing classes in 2001, and 43.9% of these incoming freshmen were from foreign, non-English speaking countries. Before these students could advance into credit courses, they were required to pass both their remedial-writing courses and the ACT Writing Sample Assessment. Although many students passed their remedial-writing courses, they were unable to pass the ACT Writing Sample Assessment. Therefore, they could not register for most credit courses and were at risk of dropping out of the college. Thus, the college faculty and administration desired to improve performance on the ACT Writing Sample Assessment. Traditionally, most college instructors have prepared remedial students through lectures and chalkboard usage. Although this approach to learning is beneficial to some learners, it does not result in achievement for others. Research has demonstrated that the less academically successful students are, the more important it is to accommodate their learning-style preferences, because these are the learners who often are placed into remediation and are unable to successfully negotiate college-credit courses. This article reports a research that explored the use of learning-style responsive materials to prepare underachieving remedial-writing students to retake the ACT Writing Sample Assessment test. This research has implications for community college faculty and administrators who grapple with the issue of underachieving students inasmuch as it provides a research-based method that has proven to be successful among students who struggle to meet the requirements to enter college level courses.
Descriptors: Community Colleges, Non English Speaking, College Freshmen, Special Needs Students, Remedial Programs, English (Second Language), Writing Skills, At Risk Students, Underachievement, Cognitive Style, Student Evaluation, Workshops, Learning Modalities, Teaching Methods
American Association of Community Colleges. One Dupont Circle NW Suite 410, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-728-0200; Fax: 202-833-2467; Web site: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/bookstore
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New York
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Productivity Environmental Preference Survey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A