Developmental Education: Readings on Its Past, Present, and Future offers twenty-two selections on historical efforts to serve underprepared students, on the state of developmental education today, and on innovative practices and possible directions for the future. Compiled by Hunter R. Boylan, Director of the National Center for Developmental Education (NCDE) and a professor of Higher Education at Appalachian State University, and Barbara S. Bonham, a professor in the Department of Leadership and Educational Studies at Appalachian State University, each chapter also includes introductions and questions for discussion and reflection.
Examines how states, schools, and postsecondary institutions might best help improve college readiness and completion. Though more students are entering college, many drop out, especially those who are low income and/or of color. To address this problem, educational stakeholders have focused on the concept of college readiness, or the preparation a student needs to succeed in college. However, what it means to be college ready and how to help more students become ready are questions without clear answers. By way of historical and contemporary analyses, this book uses California as a case study to demonstrate how the state has endeavored to make postsecondary opportunity accessible for all students. The contributors also explore the challenges that remain and address what states and schools can do to improve college readiness and completion. This book adds important information to the debates and discussions around this critical topic. Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner, coeditor of Understanding Minority-Serving Institutions
Based on the most extensive research on community college teaching to date, this book examines the nature of teaching and the institutional forces that shape it in a variety of course settings, ranging from innovative approaches to complex subjects to conventional didactic instruction. Drawing on observations of and interviews with over 300 instructors and administrators, this book documents the idiosyncratic instructional practices of teachers who learn to teach primarily by trial and error. It argues that in order to realize their enormous potential, community colleges must take greater advantage of the many institutional influences on the quality of teaching--such as personnel policies, instructor training, and the culture established by administrators--only then will they be able to successfully carry out their many roles in both mainstream education and in workforce development.
The State of Developmental Education is the first book to provide a thorough, comparative picture of how developmental education is carried out at higher education institutions and investigate how different state-level policies and priorities change the availability, types, and quality of developmental education available.
"Once touted as the single best way to measure students from diverse backgrounds, schools, and experiences, standardized college admissions tests are now criticized for being hopelessly biased in favor of traditionally privileged groups. Out of this has emerged the test-optional movement that seeks to allow students to apply to schools without sitting through the rigors of the SAT. This book takes a step back and applies rigorous empirical measurements to these rival claims. Drawing upon the expertise of higher education researchers, admissions officers, enrollment managers, and policy professionals, this edited volume is among the first to investigate the research and policy implications of test-optional practices. It was conceived in response to the editors' frustration with the fragmented and incomplete state of the literature around the contemporary debate on college admissions testing. Many students, teachers, parents, policymakers--frankly, nearly anyone immediately outside the testing industry and college admissions--have little understanding of how admissions tests are used. This lack of transparency has often fueled beliefs that college assessments are biased, misused, or overused. Decades of research on various aspects of testing, such as the predictive validity of assessments, makes a compelling case for their value. But all-too-frequently researchers and admissions officers talk past one another instead of engaging substantively. This collection intends to remedy the situation by bringing these disparate voices together. This book is designed for provosts, enrollment managers, and college admissions officers seeking to strike the proper balance between uniformity and fairness"--
Examines the widespread phenomenon of poor literacy skills in adults across the globe This handbook presents a wide range of research on adults who have low literacy skills. It looks at the cognitive, affective, and motivational factors underlying adult literacy; adult literacy in different countries; and the educational approaches being taken to help improve adults' literacy skills. It includes not only adults enrolled in adult literacy programs, but postsecondary students with low literacy skills, some of whom have reading disabilities. The first section of The Wiley Handbook of Adult Literacy covers issues such as phonological abilities in adults who have not yet learned to read; gender differences in the reading motivation of adults with low literacy skills; literacy skills, academic self-efficacy, and participation in prison education; and more. Chapters on adult literacy, social change and sociocultural factors in South Asia and in Ghana; literacy, numeracy, and self-rated health among U.S. adults; adult literacy programs in Southeastern Europe and Turkey, and a review of family and workplace literacy programs are among the topics featured in the second section. The last part examines how to teach reading and writing to adults with low skills; adults' transition from secondary to postsecondary education; implications for policy, research, and practice in the adult education field; educational technologies that support reading comprehension; and more. Looks at the cognitive processing challenges associated with low literacy in adults Features contributions from a global team of experts in the field Offers writing strategy instruction for low-skilled postsecondary students The Wiley Handbook of Adult Literacy is an excellent book for academic researchers, teacher educators, professional developers, program designers, and graduate students. It's also beneficial to curriculum developers, adult basic education and developmental education instructors, and program administrators, as well as clinicians and counselors who provide services to adults with reading disabilities.
Compiled by Russ Hodges of Texas State University-San Marcos, Michele L. Simpson emeritus of University of Georgia, and Norman A. Stahl of Northern Illinois University, Teaching Study Strategies in Developmental Education presents twenty-nine selections that discuss the theory and practice of teaching college students to be efficient and effective learners. Topics addressed include the needs of students in developmental education and learning assistance programs, current psychological and sociological principles that promote — or hinder — learning, and the role of effective learning strategies and assessment on instruction and student learning.
Identity Development of College Students Building off the foundational work of Erik Erikson and Arthur Chickering, Identity Development of College Students adds broad and innovative research to describe contemporary perspectives of identity development at the intersection of context, personal characteristics, and social identities. The authors employ different theoretical perspectives to explore the nature of context—how it both influences and is influenced by multiple social identities. Each chapter includes discussion and reflection questions and activities for individual or small group work. Praise for Identity Development of College Students "Susan R. Jones and Elisa S. Abes have provided us with a comprehensive and beautifully written overview of the evolution of identity development theory. This book reads like a novel while at the same time conveying important ideas, critical analysis, and cutting-edge research that will enhance student affairs practice." —NANCY J. EVANS, professor, Student Affairs Program, School of Education, Iowa State University "The authors masterfully present a holistic, integrative, and multi-dimensional approach to the identity development of today's college student. This text should be required reading for those engaged in research and practice in the areas of student affairs, counseling, higher education, and cultural studies." —SHARON KIRKLAND-GORDON, director, Counseling Center, University of Maryland, College Park "Susan R. Jones and Elisa S. Abes's work is ground-breaking—charting new scholarly territory and making one of the most significant contributions to identity literature in many years. Building on contemporary and traditional theoretical foundations, Jones and Abes offer new models of identity development essential for understanding a diversity of college students." —MARYLU K. MCEWEN, associate professor emerita, University of Maryland, College Park
Despite decades of substantial investments by the federal government, state governments, colleges and universities, and private foundations, students from low-income families as well as racial and ethnic minority groups continue to have substantially lower levels of postsecondary educational attainment than individuals from other groups. The State of College Access and Completion draws together leading researchers nationwide to summarize the state of college access and success and to provide recommendations for how institutional leaders and policymakers can effectively improve the entire spectrum of college access and completion. Springboarding from a seminar series organized by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, chapter authors explore what is known and not known from existing research about how to improve student success. This much-needed book calls explicit attention to the state of college access and success not only for traditional college-age students, but also for the substantial and growing number of "nontraditional" students. Describing trends in various outcomes along the pathway from college access to completion, this volume documents persisting gaps in outcomes based on students’ demographic characteristics and offers recommendations for strategies to raise student attainment. Graduate students, scholars, and researchers in higher education will find The State of College Access and Completion to be an important and timely resource.
