Community colleges can improve graduation rates by offering a course that teaches students how to navigate college with lessons on study skills, time management and how to find the bursar's office. Yet while "student success" courses are increasingly common, resistance remains strong at many community colleges. (Inside Higher Ed, 02/21/12)
adults without basic reading or math skills return to school for basic skills in KY. Programs teach job skills and workplace vocabulary and encourages dual enrollment in ABE and community college.
The Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges (SPECC) project focused on teaching and learning in basic skills mathematics and English at 11 California community colleges. This report discusses the ways the participating colleges have used both traditional measures of student performance, as well as more innovative forms of assessment and data collection to improve pedagogical practice and enhance student learning.
(Lloyd Bond, A Report from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Strengthening Pre-Collegiate Education in Community Colleges, 2009)
Basic Skills for Complex Lives details five principles for creating powerful classrooms and offers a new vision for professional development. Included are recommendations drawn from the work of the 11 community college campuses that participated in SPECC-a three year, multi-site, action research project of the Carnegie Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2008)
Examines the effects of CSU-Bakersfield's move to online developmental education math courses in response to budget cuts. Student pass rates plunged, but rebounded when the college revised the courses to include both online lab work with teaching assistants and weekly lectures. (Inside Higher Ed, 06/09/11
Paper on the early results and plans for the Statway initiative supported by the Carnegie Foundation on the Advancement of Teaching. The paper was prepared for the National Center for Postsecondary Research Conference on Developmental Education
Research on community college student engagement in mathematics. It examines how instruction is delivered and student response to various delivery models.
Examines the impact of learning communities on community colleges finds that this approach is well suited for the teaching of basic skills. (Cathy McHugh Engtrom and Vincent Tinto, Pell Institute, 2008)
The task force's final report identifies ways to strengthen the governance of Ohio's adult learning system; ensure that its structures, programs and funding are aligned with employers' workforce needs and learners' expectations; and improve the performance and productivity of Ohio's talent development system with instructional programs that capitalize on best practices, state-of-the-art technology and high-quality teaching. (Final Report of the Ohio Advisory Committee on the Transfer of Adult Career-Technical Programs, June 2008)
This literature review was conducted for the California Basic Skills Initiative. It reviews research on the most effective practices for teaching basic skills to college students. (Center for Student Success, 2007)
Under the I-BEST model, basic skills instructors and college-level career-technical faculty jointly design and teach college-level occupational courses for adult basic skills students in both these areas. This paper presents findings from a study on the o
Wonderful research on the success of the I-BEST model. I-BEST is maybe the best example on how to effectively use data to assess the need for reform and the impact of the reform. It is a model that other states should consider strongly.
In this editorial, Kevin Carey, policy director of think tank Education Sector, argues that colleges are not fulfilling their mission to students: costs are rising and students are not learning (or even graduating). He argues for transparency and studies of the effectiveness of teaching and learning, and warns of the education-related lobbies that keep the rest of us in the dark about higher education. (Kevin Carey in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Issue #15, Winter 2010).