DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 217 946 JC 820 322

AtJTHOR Yarrington, Roger; And Others-TITLE Literacy in Community Colleges. Junior College

Resource Review.INSTITUTION ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges, Los Angeles,

Calif.SPONS AGENCY , National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington, DC.PUB DATE 82CONTRACT 400-78-0038NOTE 29p.

T-7-EDITtSTMICI--MF0-1/-PCO2_Rlus Postage.-DESCRIPTORS *Adult Literacy; Allied Health Occupations Education;

Basic Skills; College Role; *Community Colleges; .

.Curriculum Problems; Educational Change; Illiteracy;Interdisciplinary Approach; *Literacy; LiteratureReviews; Program Effectiveness; Transfer Programs;Two ?ear Colleges; Two Year College Students

ABSTRACTThis series of Junior College Resource Reviews 1

focuses on the community college's role in literacy development.After Roger Yarrington's overview of the topic, Robert McCabe andSutan Skidmore consider "The Literacy Crisis and American Education."In light of the changing nature of work and the severe decline in thecommunication skills of youth, the authors urge a careful examinationof the current social environment and a realistiC redesign of theeducational system. "Literacy and Allied Health Programs," by RobertParilla, identifies the knowledge and skills necessary for thedelivery or support of health care by technicians. Next, FlorenceBrawer, in "Literacy, Transfer, and Effectiveness: The CommunityColleges' Accelerating Mission," reviews research and Otherliterature dealing .with issues and approaches todevelopmental/remedial education, special compensatory programs,attrition and achievement, counseling, evaluation, common problems,and available options. Arthur Cohen then recounts "Ten Criticisms ofDevelopmental Education" and responds to each. Jack Friedlander, in"Coordinating Academic-Support Programs with SubjeCt Area Courses,"describes successful programs integrating basic skills instructioninto the regular curriculum. Finally, Richard Richardson andElizabeth Fisk, in "Literacy in'the Community College," review astudy of the -use of written language in the classroom and in studentservices and of administrative priorities and strategies influencingliteracy. (WIC)

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JUNIOR COLLEGE RESOURCE REVIEW

Spring'1982

LITERACY IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES

OVERVIEW

U.S: DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

XPHs document has been reproduced asreceived from the person or organizationoriginating itMinor changes have been made to improvereproduction quality.

Points of view or opinions stated in this docu

byRoger Yarrington ment do not necessarily represent official NIE

position or policy

THE LITERACY CRISIS ANDAMERICAN EDUCATIONby Robert H. McCabeand Susan Skidmore

LITERACY AND ALLIEDHEALTH PROGRAMSby Robert E. Parilla

LITERACY, TRANSFER, ANDEFFECTIVENESS:THE COMMUNITY COLLEGES'ACCELERATING MISSIONby Florence B. Brawer

TEN CRITICISMS OFDEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATIONby Arthur M. Cohen

COORDINATING ACADEMICSUPPORT PROGRAMS WITHSUBJECT AREA COURSESby Jack Friedlander

LITERACYAND THECOMMUNITY COLLEGE-by Richard C. Richardson, Jr.and Elizabeth Fisk

2

OverviewWhat is the role of the community college

in raising the level of literacy in our society?This question is the focus of the series of sixJunior College Resource Reviews from the ERICClearinghouse for Junior Colleges. The authorsinclude adminitrators and researchers who haveconsidered the question of literacy from anumber of viewpoints. Robert Parilla, presidentof Montgomery Community College in Maryland,considers the standards of literacy necessaryfor admission to allied health programs inrelation to the open admissions prevalent inmost other program areas. Robert McCabe,president of Miami-Dade Community College,reports from a study conducted at Miami-Dadethat indicates the lack of literacy rampant atthe secondary level. R.C. Richardson, Jr.,professor of higher education at the Universityof Arizona, reports findings; based on a studyof an urban multicampus ,community collegedistrict, that students are able to cope withproviding bits of information for specificobjectives but their literacy breaks down whenconfronted with the requirement that theycombine information in a comprehensive andthoughtful way. Florence Brawer, researchdirector at the Center for the Study of Com-munity Colleges, considers what some commun-ity colleges are doing to increase literacy andretention of students. Arthur Cohen, directorof the ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges,recounts ten criticisms of developmental educa-tion at the community college level and respondsto each. Jack Friedlander, research associateat the Center for the Study of CommunityColleges (Los Angeles) addresses the questionof literacy by suggesting the coordination ofacademic support programs with subject areacourses.

America and LiteracyLiteracy is a prerequisite for full partici-

pation in American life. The concept of citizen-ship in this democracy is that every citizenhas a right to speak and vote. The ability toexercise individual rights intelligently is rwces-sary for the common good, since good goverrment rests on the people's judgment. Thelarger the number of people who can communi-cate well and make informed decisions, thebetter the democracy, Therefore, it is in thepublic interest to achieve the highest possibleadUlt literacy level.

It is this basic line of reasoning that hasled to tax-supported, tuition-free public schoolsand to publicly-supported colleges and publictuition assistance programs. A judgment left toothers is whether or not the, level of politicaldiscourse emanating from candidates and advo-cacy groups has been significantly raised as aresult. But invaluable and necessary is theability of most citizens to read newspapers andbooks, to view public affairs and televisionprogramming with some discernment, to com-municate their views so that they can beunderstood and debated, and to decide ration-ally who and what they will support. So,when we see the data on how many adults inour country cannot read, write, and computewell, we see not only a loss in individualhuman terms but also in the collective sense.If one citizen is not literate, our chosen formof government works that much less.

The same democratic ideal that fostersnotions of a nation of intelligent voters abhorsany concept of an aristocracy--lineal or other-wise. A problem that accompanies the techni-cal and scientific wonders of today and tomor-row is how to avoid a two-class society: thosewho can invent, maintain, manage, and use thetechnology, and those who cannot graSp itsworkings or uses and, therefore, benefit less.This is clearly a dangerous :possibility that isupon us and can easily produce a society ofthose in control and those controlled.

Connected to these concerns is the uneasyfeeling that every person who fails to gain thebasic skills for meaningful participation in thedevelopment and understanding of new ideas isa lost, possibly valuable resource.

Literacy and the Community CollegeThe basic educational policy issues are

these: who will take responsibility for raisingliteracy levels, to whom will the resources beallocated, and what is the rationale for theinvestment. The queue to take responsibilityfor the problem has not been forming Veryfast. Few people or institutions want to get inline. Community colleges have found them-selves in this line, in some cases, withoutmuch forethought, when their modest remedialservices grew into large, adult literacy pro-grams.

Whether community colleges should play aleadership role, a central coordinating role, ora partnership role--or all of the abbve--islikely to be answered in different ways indifferent states, depending on local history,tradition, and who has what experience andresources. In almost every case, however, itis likely that community colleges will have animportant role of some kind. Their focus onteaching, their connections with local socialservice agencies, their experience in offering awide variety of services to lifelong learnerswith many different educational needs, allserve to direct the adult literacy assignment tothem.

Those with a view that literacy is a

fundamental human right need to meet theobligation, to develop instructional strategiesfor teaching literacy skills and to act asresponsible advocates to encourage a higherpriority for/an investment in literacy.

Roger Yarrington is vice president for research anddevelopment at the American Association for Com-munity and Junior Colleges, Washington D.C.

The Literacy Crisis and American EducationThere is a crisis in literacy in America.

At the same time that the academic competenciesof youth continue to decline, the level of thosecompetencies nceded for most employmentcontinues to escalate. This has created a

growing literacy gap between the capabilitiesof our young people and the requirements foremployment. Nowhere is the problem moredramatically evident than in Liberty City inMiami, Florida. Thousands of reside.fts of thisdeteriorating and depressed community areyoung, black, and unemployed. They passmuch of their time hanging out on streetcorners, excluded from productive society, andharboring deep feelings of hopelessness anddespair. Yet Miami is a city with a boomingeconomy based on international tourism, trade,and banking. Newspapers are filled withadvertisements for positions in such fields asoffice careers, data processing, electronics,health care, and accounting. Some employersare actually paying bounties to employees whorecruit a "qualified" new employee. To a

substantial degree, the difference betweenbeing vigorously recruited and remaining unem-'cloyed is accounted for by lack o_ f- academicskills. Virtually all available jobs require astrong academic foundation, particularly inreading and writing. Among the large seg-ments of our population that remain unem-ployed and unemployable, these skills arewoefully deficient. Economic and social frus-trations result from such patterns of unemploy-ment and form the foundation for unacceptablepoverty and crime. In addition, the nation'sindustry is 'being seriously handicapped ininternational trade by lack of qualified man-power. We are clearly wasting our most pre-cious resource--our people.

Parallels to Liberty City exist across theface of America--it is a frightening and all toofamiliar scene. Culturally and economicallydisadvantaged people, trapped by poverty andlack of education, have become increasinglyfrustrated by their failure to share in thebenefits and rewards of American life. Many

of the major problems facing our cities and thenation as a whole spring from this collectiveinability of individuals to participate as produc-tive citizens in the society. How can such acondition exist in the United States of 1982after years of substantial investment in socialprograms and education? W)lat went wrongwith the earlier hopes and dyeams for progressand social equality that foFmed the foundationof such large-scale investments? One importantanswer to the problem is clear: when viewedin the light of present day American society,all levels of the educational system have failedsignificantly to adjust as societal needschanged -- the evolutionary processineducationseems to have become "stuck" in the 1960s.

Far-reaching societal changes took placeduring the late 1960s: the nation struggled toovercome the consequences of a history ofracial discrimination and to provide equalityand civil rights for all Americans. Individualsfrom previously disenfranchised groups raisedtheir aspirations significantly, and this glimmerof hope caused demands, for immediate equality.In response, the educational system tried tooffer expanded opportunity to all. Institutionsplaced emphasis on removing barriers and onassisting individuals to negotiate their waythrough the system.

The elementary and secondary schoolsstruggled with integration and. conflict. Therewas to be an instant "catching up" in academicprogress for minorities. The public expecteda radically different type of education anddemanded an expanded curriculum to includemany worthy and defensible concerns such asnutrition,. environment, driver education, sexeducation, women's issues, minority issues,ethics, and self-development. The new mis-trust of authority that grew out of the Vietnamera, the demands for greater individual free-dom, less parental control, expectations thateveryone must succeed, and disruption andtensions in the nation all contributed to thesevere erosion of teacher authority in theclassroom.

These same for'c'es extended into highereducation. Expansion and access were keywords as new institutions, led by communitycolleges, emerged to meet the demands of thepost-World War 11 baby boom. As a reflectionof the ,conditions of the larger society, indi-viduals within colleges demanded more rights,more opportunity to de,,elop their own direc-tions, and greater freedom from convention.Much was said about the individual's right tofail; self-advisement became a common practice;and often all courses, regardless of content,were counted toward graduation. StudentsobjeCted to placement in remedial courses orother perceived contraints; and proceduresconsidered to be barriers to admission andregistration, including post-admissions testing,were removed. The focus was on assistingstudents to gain certification and to achieve asense of immediate gratification. Many studentsprogressed° through the entire system - fromkindergarten to graduate school without beingrequired to meet educational standards ofearlier years.

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This rapid evolution in education occurredto correct a system that seemed geared toinhibit minorities and the disadvantaged fromadvincement. Many viewed the educationalsystem not as providing a ladder to successbut ' rather as a mechanism for discriminatoryscreening used to prevent minority and disad-vantaged individuals from acquiring the creden-tials necessary for advancement. In retrospect,it is easy to see that there was overreaction tothese valid concerns in the nation and (ineducation; yet, some good was achkved_ none-theless. Greater numbers of persons completed

_high school and many Americans, previouslyexcluded from higher education, were amongthose who became credentialed and thus able' tocompete for professional positions for the firsttime. However, simply making it easier to-3ain a diploma or degree was not the answer.We still remain a very long way from- equalopportunity for all, and credentials withoutcompetence will not suffice. The approachesof the 1960s are not the answer today and, astimes have continued to change dramatically inrecent years, the educational system hasseriously fallen behind in adjusting its pro-grams to meet current needs.

In the American society of the 1980s wesee greater and greater emphasis on personaldrive and personal achievement; remaining isbroad disillusionment, not with the goals, butwith the efficacy of some of the social programsof earlier decades. While the access revolutionwas surprisingly successful in widening oppor-tunity to include new populations, it was alsoa major contributor to the decline of standards.Institutions, were often more successful atenrolling new populations than in serving themeffectively, The evolutionary process nowgaining momentum in education is reflective ofa pervasive public attitude that places majoremphasis on quality, rather than access.Boyer and Hechinger (1981) report:

Today we hear a rising- chorus ofcomplaints about the quality ofschooling. We see a national rushto reduce investment in education...Tllis flagging coitment reflectsfrustration over falling test scores,conflicts over national priorities,taxpayer revolts, and recognitionthat education is not a panacea tocure every social il,l. (p. 24)

Rightfully, the American people are demandingreform now. A report, The Need for Quality(1981), presented by the Task Force on HigherEducation and the Schools to the SouthernRegional Education Board states:

An imperative need confronts theschools and higher education towork together to improve the

, quality of education at all levels.Current movements to test pupilsat various grades, to test prospec-tive teachers, and to require exitexaminations as a condition forcollege graduation reflect a growing

public belief that educational, quality is unacceptably low.(p. 1)

A well-documented decline in the academicskills of Americans is plaguing all levels ofeducation from kindergarten through graduateachool; even at Harvard University largenumbers of doctoral students require coursesin writing. Scores. on the College Boardexamination have declined for fourteGn consecu-tive years, and the National Assessment ofEducational Progress reports that in the 1970sthe number of seventeen-year-olds able tosatisfactorily interpret reading matter declined20 percent. In addition, academic skill forurban residents lags one year behind the normand minorities with academic skills below mini-mum. levels are doubly represented. Friedlanderand Grede (1981) estimated that "over 50percent of all students entering communitycolleges read below the eighth-grade level, and20 to 35- percent at or below the fourth-gradelevel." At Miami-Dade Ceimmunitytwo-thirds of all entering students tested aredeficient in either reading, writing, or mathe-matics; more than 90 percent of black studentsare deficient in one skill, and more thantwo-thirds are deficient in all three essentialskills.

Coordinate with the decline in academicdevelopment, dramatic shifts have occurred inthe nature of work in America. Prior to WorldWar II, unskilled jobs accounted for 80 percentof employment; today this is less than 20percent. Further, the information technologyexplosion is dramatically increasing the level ofcommunications skills necessary for employment.In 1950, 17 percent of all jobs involved informa-tion processing; today 54 percent of all jobs inthis country require information processing.We suddenly recognize that the most importantvocational skills are the academic skills. Arecent study, Reading, Thinking, and Writing(1981)`states:

In a world overloaded with information,both a' business and a personaladvantage will go to those individualswho can sort the wheat from thechaff., the important informationfrom the trivial. Skills in reducingdata, interpreting it, packaging iteffectively, documenting decisions,explaining complex matter in simpleterms, and persuading are alreadyhighly prized in business, education,and, the military, and will becomemore so as the information explosioncontinues. (p. 5)

Employers nationwide consistently reportthat those seeking employment have inadequatecommunications skills. William Klein of FloridaPower and Light states that, "Even entry leveljobs will require greater ability to communi-cate," and, further, that only 6 to 7 percentof those applying for employment at FloridaPower and Light have the basic skills needed,with emphasis on the ability to read and to

4

write (Klein, 1981). Clearly, the standard ofskills needed to be functionally literate--thatis, employable and able to participate effec-.tively in the society--is, rising rapidly. Thelevel of academic skill acceptable ten years agosimply will.not suffice today.

One recent societal change has importantimplications for the high school curriculum.Today, a majority of high school graduates goon to postsecondary education, and this furthereducation is essential for most people tobecome employable. National data show thatwithin, seven years of high school graduation,64.8 percent have attended college, and whentechnical and trade schools are added thisfigure is nearly/75 percent. The FloridaDepartment of , Education reports that 47.5percent of the1 Florida high school graduatesgo on directly to postsecondary education; inDade County over 50 percent of the highschool graduates attend Miami-Dade CommunityCollege within five years of graduation.Ernest Boyer and Fred Hechinger, 'in HigherLearning In The Nation's Service (1981), sumup the situation well:

We are underscoring the fact thatthe workplace- is changing drama-tically, that traditional notionsabout pre-work preparation arebecoming obsolete, and that moreeducation will be required to meetth'e nation's diverse social andeconomic needs. (p. 28) It is ourconclusion that, from now on,almost all yOung people will,, atsome time in their lives, need someform of postsecondary education ifthey are to remain economicallyproductive and socially functionalin a world whose tasks and toolsare becoming increasingly complex.(p. 2930)

The combined effect of the changingnature of work in America, along with a severedecline in communications skills of youth, haveresulted in a societal dilemma so serious that itcan fairly be called a crisis. Quite simply,the increased requirement for academic skillsfor employability, combined with the decline inthese skills among young Americans, leavesliterally millions of Americans inadequatelyprepared, unable to gain employment, and thusunable to sustain themselves as productivemembers of the society. As Yarrington (1981)states, "There is the unhappy vision of adependent class of persons who, through lackof literate skills, become a dependent drag onthose who are literate and thus more produc-tive in a complex world."

How better could education help ourcountry than by assuring that no new legionsof young people are added to the street cor-ners of our Liberty Cities? Nothing could bedone to improve oUr deprived communities morethan to substantially increase the 'level ofliteracy, thus opening up opportunities forexisting jobs. Helping these individuals intcgood employment would provide them with the

economic resources to elp improve theirneighborhoods. This wil not happen throughoutside agencies.

Those who advocate increased standardsfor higher education by limiting admission makea serious mistake. While higher admissionstandards for selected universities might "wellbe productive, retaining the open-door conceptfor the community colleges is more essentialthan ever. The nation cannot afford to giveup on those -who have academic skill deficien-cies. ,America needs more, rather than fewer,well-educated individuals. As Dan Morganreported in the Washington Post (AUgust 7,1981), "The Business Roundtable, repr'esentinga blue chip roster of corporate America, hascalled for 'a national policy to deal with a'growing imbalance between the supply ofworkers and the skills demanded.'" Only ifthis imbalance is diminished will we be able toimprove the ability of people to build their owncommunities by strengthening their economicbases and to permit this nation to continuecompeting successfully with other nations ofthe world.

It is time to carefully examine the currentenvironment and to realistically redesign treducational system to focus on our crisis ofliteracy and tc aid in improving our society.Important' changes are required in all segmentsof the 'system. According to Boyer andHechinger (1981, p. 30), "The conclusion isclear. Higher learning must redouble its effortsto meet more effectively the needs of thosewho have been inadequately served by educa-tion in the past." The community collegesmust maintain their commitment to the opendoor and must remain the pivotal institutionsin salvaging opportunity for large numbers ofAmericans whose academic and occupationalskills have not prepared them to participate insociety nor to achieve any measure of success.At the same time, community colleges mustplace emphasis on achievement and hold tohigh expectations 'for program completion--inother words, the goal must be excellence foreveryone. Ultimately, no one benefits whenindividuals simply pass through a program andbecome certified while lacking the competenciesindicated by those certifications.

While community colleges will concentrateon improving deficiencies in reading/ writing,and mathematics for many years to come,substantive change must also occur in thesecondary schools so that these problems areaddressed earlier. A recent study conductedat Miami-Dade Community College clearly illus-trates the need for reshaping the secondaryschool curriculum. High school graduates frompublic and private schools, including DadeCounty's, were tested and placed in develop-mental courses. Overall, these students didnot achieve substantial academic training orexperience in high school. Results of thestudy show that:

1. Less than one student in sixreported that his/her highschool work required morethan 50 pages of reading perweek;

2: Less than half reported usingthe library more than fivetimes while in high school:

3. Just Tess than half agreedwith the statement, "I hardlyever had ,,to do my homeworkat home";

4. Less than half reportedtaking more than five essaytests in high school;

5. More than half stated thatthey did not "study a lot";

6. Two out five reported thatthey intentionally selectedeasy courses;

7. As a group, less than half oftheir work was in standardhigh school courses.

When asked what they would do if theycould begin high school again, these studentsdelivered a clear message, identifying theessential high school curriculum skill areas:

1. More than half of the studentswould take more sciencecourses;

2. More than 80 percent wouldtake more mathematics courses;

3. More thanwould takecourses;

4. More thanwould takecourses thatwriting;

three-quartersmore English

three-quartersmore Englishrequire more

5. More than three-quarterswould take courses thatrequire more reading;

6.. More than 80 percent wouldread more.

A striking agreement in all groups was thatduring their high school years the studentswere unaware of the expectations of postsecon-dary institutions. It is imperative that schoolsrespond to this situation with a reevaluation ofeducational policies and share such informationwith students as they begin high school. Inaddition, the public must communicate to youngpeople the importance of academic achievementin fulfilling their goals and must strongly sup-port teachers as they raise expectations, ofstudents. Parents must insist on homework,provide a location conducive to this task, andhelp develop and maintain appropriate home-work schedules.

High schools must provide essential aca-demic training for all students by raisingstandards and increasing the share of the

curriculum assigned to academic subjects. Thefirst pGiority must be to build a strong base ofacademic competence before permitting studentsto significantly diversify their curricula. Thecurriculum of every student must includesubstantial requirements in reading, writing,and mathematics. Those who begin hi schoolwith deficient academic skills should not beplaced in a curriculum that is less academic,as this only contributes to the functionalcrippling of the individual. Rathqr, thesestudents should be placed in prograr"s similarto the developmental programs 'currentlyoffered in community colleges. It akes noInsense for students to ignore deficient es duringhigh school and later to be, faced with develop-mental program course requirements uponadmission to college. For many it is too lateat the time of college admission to achievesuccess in overcoming substantial academicdeficiencies. The development of academicskills should be addressed early and with

° persistence throughout all levels of the educa-tional system. ,

A prototype for the cooperative planningso urgently required in American education hasbeen initiated by the College Entrance Examina-tion Board in its Project EQuality (1981):

In its simplest terms, ProjectEQuality is an effort to enlistschools and colleges in a concertedcooperative campaign to strengthenthe quality of secondary educationand at the same time to carryfurther the hard-won gains ofequal opportunity- made over thepast 20 years. (p. 5) The CollegeBoard believes the need is for a

cooperative search by schools andcolleges together for solutions toimprove both academic preparationfor college and access to postsecon-dary opportunities for all Americans.Project EQuality is designed toprovide a framework for such aneffort (p. 7).

-7;

It is essential to this nation that theschodts and colleges prepare individuals toparticipate fully in the society and to, becomeemployable, productive, and contributingcitizens. We must work together to instituteneeded reforms and to uphold the combinedgoals of providing both equity and excellencein the American educational system.

Robert H. McCabe is president of Miami Dade Com-munity College, Florida. Susan Skidmore is assistantto the president at Miami Dade.

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References

Boyer, E. L., and Hechinger, F. HigherLearning in The Nation's Service.Washington, D.C.: The Carnegie Founda-tion for the Advancement of Teaching,1981.

Friedlander, J., and Grede, J. Adult BasicEducation in Community Colleges. JuniorC011e e Resource Review. Los Angel's:ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges,August 1981. 6pp.. (ED 207 649)

Klein, W. "To Get the Right People for FutureJobs, Schools, Employers Must WorkTogether," The Miami News, _ April 8,1981, p. 15A.

Morgan, D. "Bosses, Unions Want FederalHelp in Closing Brain Power Gap,"Washington Post, August 7, 1981, p. A2.

The Need for Quality: A Report to the SouthernRegional Education Board by its Task Forceon Higher Education and the Schools.Atlanta, Ga.: Southern Regional EducationBcard, 1981. 33pp. (ED 205 133)

Project EQuality. New York: -College EntranceExamination Board, 1981.

Reading, Thinking and Writing: Results fromthe 1979-80 National Assessment of Readingand Literature. Denver, Colo.: NationalAssessment of Educational Progress, 1981.

Yarrington, R. Issues in Literacy. JuniorCollege Resource Review. Los Angeles:ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges,1982. (ED number not yet assigned.)

Literacy and Allied Health ProgramsThis paper addresses the issue, of basic

literacy necessary for Admission to and successin allied health programs. The working defini-tion of literacy includes not only fundamentalreading, writing, and counting, but also theknowledge and skills necessary to functioneffectively as a practicing technician in thedelivery of health care or in the support ofdelivery of health care.

For approximately three decades, com-munity colleges have been offering programsdesigned to train technicians for the deliveryof health care services. A large number ofhealth programs currently exist to train peopleto assist in medical and dental laboratorytechnology, dental hygiene, surgery, physicaltherapy, radiology, nursing (both RN andLPN), medical records technology, and dietarytechnology as well as to assist physicians anddentists. Allied health programs tend to beamong the most visible community collegeprograms and are frequently cited as goodexamples of a cc!!ege's growth and success.Moreover, considerable attention is received byallied health programs because they

O are one of the few communitycollege programs to -maintainselective admissions requirementsand to restrict the number ofstudents admitted;

O establish well-defined curriculathat are similar throughout thecountry;

O demand relatively strict stan-dards of student progress andachievement, for the student toremain in the program;

O usually adhere to specific accred-itation requirements promulgatedby national associations or to stan-dards for program approval eL,tab2lished by the states;

O often lead to licensure or certifi-cation through a state or nationalexamination;

O result. in well-defined job oppor-tunities in the health careersand in a work setting familiarto the general public.

c......,imunity colleges are open-door institu-tions, admitting students who are generallyrepresentative of the socioeconomic crosssection of the community. These studentsdisplay a wide range of abilities and prepara-tion and are generally representative of theethnicity of the, parent community (Clark,1960; Trent and Medsker, 1968; Parilla, 1973;Cohen, 1980). Community colleges have tradi-tionally recognized this diversity and _haveprovided programs to improve student chancesof success. These programs include outreach,

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diagnostic and placement testing, counselingand tutoring (Gold, 1981), adult basic educa-tion, remedial and pre-transfer offerings,adaptions for handicapped students (Lombardi,1979), and for bilingual students (O'Hara,1980). Allied health programs at communitycolleges face additional challenges becausethese programs admit students selectivelywithin an open-admissions environment.. Manycommunity college students desire to matricu-late in health programs because of the highvisibility of the programs and as a means toimprove their socioeconomic standing (Hoistromand others, 1976). Many students, althoughworking to improve their basic English andmathematics literacy, do not meet health pro-gram standards because the programs fre-quently require for admission demonstratedliteracy in English, mathematics, and in otherareas such as the natural sciences (Leiken andCunningham, 1980).-Accreditation -Guidelines

Most health programs are affiliated withnational organizations that establish criteria forand conduct institutional visits to accredit thehealth programs. Educators often perceive theimportance of accrediting criteria differently(Schermerhorn, 1980). A review of criteria todetermine, whether or not these program accred-iting organizations address academic require-ments other than the specific health programcourses reveals that the evaluation processincludes graduation and program requirementsof individual institutions, although the accred-iting organization does not usually prescribespecific courses. The National League forNursing (NLN, 1967) and the National Accred-iting Agency for Clinical Laboratory, Sciences(1979) and other accrediting groups requirethat the sponsoring institution develop admis-sions criteria and that the program of instruc-tion be a comprehensive one including generaleducation, related subject matter, and thegraduation requirements of the parent institu-tion. NLN also requires that the faculty beresponsible for "the development of standardsfor the admission, progression, and graduationof students," that students have access to"accurately and clearly stated information"about program and graduation requirements,and that learning experiences should bedesigned to develop knowledge concepts,understandings, skills, and facts pertaining tocultural diversity (NLN, 1967, p. ; 12-13).These accrediting requirements show that thefaculty of a parent institution have substantialresponsibility for the program design and thatstudents should be responsible for self-direction and should perform capably in aculturally diverse work setting. These kindsof requirements not only assume that thestudents substantial proficiency in basic Englishand mathematics skills but also assume that thestudents can accept responsibility and besensitive to social differences (Brewer, 1978).The MLT-AD Survey Guide has similar require-ments regarding general education and inte-

grating general education and laboratorysegments but adds another requirement: "Alibrary containing current reference materials,to , and scientific :periodicals pertaining toaboratory medicine must be readily accessibleto students and faculty" (National AccreditingAgency, 1979, p. 7). This library requirementappears in the guidelines of other healthprograms accrediting agencies as well andsuggests the additional concept that literacyincludes the ability to use the library as areference and research tool. Such require-ments suggest that health program graduatesare not completely literate' in th4 field unlessthey can use a library, particularly withintheir field of specialty.

College Catalog Review.Allied health program accrediting stan-

dards do not specify admission and graduationrequirements for individual colleges. A reviewof community college catalogs, shows someuniformity of requirements for the completionof an associate degree. These requirementsinclude successful completion of a year ofEnglish composition or writing and some profi-ciency in reading. The required year ofEnglish may take a variety of forms; somecolleges may substitute a course in speech fora course in English; the amount of literatureand theme writing varies from college to col-lege. Colleges also require completion of amathematics proficiency course or acceptablegrades in high school mathematics courses oron mathematics placement tests. In addition,colleges require some course work in thehumanities, the social sciences, and the nat-ural sciences to meet the associate degreerequirements. These distributive requirementssuggest that both the colleges and the alliedhealth accrediting agencies recognize the needfor an educational program to include morethan health-content courses if it is to addressa broad educational foundation in addition tothe specific skills of the career area (Agriesti,1980).

Revieiwing the admissions requirement for,.various health programs establishes that stu-dents must have basic reading, writing, andcomputational skills but also must have anunderstanding of biology and chemistry funda-mentals. A requirement of Triton Collegehealth program applicants (Triton CollegeCatalog, 1981) is completion, with a grade of Cor better, of one year of high school algebra,one year of high school chemistry, and oneyear of high school biology, or appropriatecollege-level courses. The science coursesmust include related laboratory work(Los Angeles Harbor College Catalog, 1978).It is also common to stipulate that the sciencecourses must have been completed within fiveyears previous to application (Highland Com-munity College Catalog, 1977). Some health'programs have science and/or mathematicsrequirements regardless of previous coursecompletion or proficiency. The requirementmay be a mathematics course related to thespecific program. For instance, medical mathe-matics courses frequently are required for

students to learn processes for calculatingdrug dosage and to learn the chemistry ofsolutions and foods. Some colleges, such asEssex Community College (Essex CommunityCollege Catalog, 1980) require the successfulcompletion of one course in computer science.This requirement recognizes the fact thatoffice procedures, laboratory procedures, andclinical procedures are becoming more and more__dependent upon computer- technology. Healthtechnicians may have to work increasingly withelectronics, in general, and with computers, inparticular.

Most health programs also require satisfac-tory academic progress once the student isadmiitted. Progress is usually interpreted asmaintaining an average of C or, better for all

-courses including specific career courses.Some institutions such as De Anza College(De Anza College Catalog, 1978) have a manda-tory review of a student's standing if thestudent receives a grade of less than C. It isnot uncommon for a student to be dismissedfrom a health program if satisfactory progressis not maintained or if one grade less than Cis received. The review of college catalogsreveals that students must have a basic com-mand of reading, writing, mathematics, andthe sciences in order to be admitted, andcertainly in order to "progress successfullythrough and complete a health program.

Related StudiesThe few studies of the successful nursing

student bear this out. (It should be noted0 that few studies of successful allied health

students other than nursing students havebeen made.) A study conducted in Ontario,Canada, to assist the colleges of applied artsand technology in selecting the most promisingstudents for the two-year nursing programconcluded that the number of pure and appliedscience courses completed successfully was thebest predictor of eventual success in nursing;the grade average in high school English andmathematics was the second best predictor(Weinstein, Brown, and Wahlstrom, 1980).Ferguson (1979, p. 8) found that speed inreading, comprehension, vocabulary, and testitem vocabulary is a fairly reliable predictorfor success and that "reading skills for thenursing student need to be near the twelfthgrade level for success to be anticipated" (p.12). In a study completed at Westark Com-munity College, Efurd (1978) found that nurs-ing students with the highest reading levelsachieve high grades and that vocabulary wasmore important than reading rate as a predic-tor of academic success.

A study completed in Hawaii emphasizesthat English, and mathematics skills are usuallyrequired for, admission to the health programs(Selected Characteristics of Fall 1980 EnteringStudents, 1980). A comparison of English andmathematics skills of the students entering thehealth program with those entering the liberalarts, business, food service and hotel opera-tions, public services, as well as with a num-ber of unclassified students, shows the read-ing skills of the entering health students bare

8

near the twelfth-grade level and the mathemat-ics skills are at the elementary algebra level.The skill levels for the entering healtn servicestudents are higher than those of the otherentering students. Another study concludesthat strict academic criteria, frequent studentappraisals, and, individualized approaches tostudent needs are "likely to succeed in attrac-ting; educating, and graduating students whoare career oriented, mature, and intellectuallyable" (Schwirian and Gortner, 1979, p. 358).However, these _authors also point out 'thatacademic criteria are poor predictors of clinicalperformance (p. 352) and that, while academicperlormance standards are necessary, arpcept-able clinical performance is a more driticalfactor in a student's progress (p. 357). Thisfinding suggests that laboratory science ratherthan academic skills are a better predictor ofsuccess in the development of necessary psy-chomotor skills in health professions.

SummaryThe basic literacy and skill levels neces-

sary for community college health programs canbe deterMined through a review of accreditingrequirements and through the admissions,standards of progress, and graduation require-ments of individual college health programs.Although more research is needed to corrobo-rate these findings, that already completed isgenerally supportive. Requirements varysomewhat from program to program, but incomposite the .programs require proficiency in

_English, mathematics, and natural sciences.In some institutions, students lacking entrancelevel academic achievement may be admitted tohealth programs', but they are expected toincrease their proficiency in English, throughspecial and standard, courses. Some institu-tions have found that developmental readingprOgrams stressing general vocabulary and theterminology of the specific health program areeffective in improving reading skills (Ferguson,1979). At least twelfth-grade reading compre-hension appears necessary for satisfactorycompletion of a health program.

Special mathematics courses have beendeveloped to assist students both to improvetheir basic mathematics proficiency and tolearn practical applications of mathematicsprinciples to specific health program problems.A fundamental understanding of elementaryalgebra seems to be the minimum mathematicscompetency for successful completion of healthprograms. Some office-related health programsrequire application of mathematical, understand-ing to master certain bookkeeping and account-ing skills.

Proficiency in the natural sciences seemsto be related not only to understandinC scienceconcepts but also to learning manipulativeskills In science laboratory exercises. Inaddition to science admissions requirements,some health programs require general coursesin biology and/or chemistry, and others require-some specialization: For example, dentalhygiene may require specialized work in headand neck anatomy; radiology may require somework in physics; and dietary technology, some

9

knowledg of food chemistry and nutrition.These science requirements suggest a studentmust be able to learn and to-apply abstrattconcepts.

Health programs require proficiency intyping and shorthand if they are designed toprepare individuals to work in office settingsor to assist in medical records technology ordental or medical offices. This, preparation,along with the manipulative skills required invarious laboratory settings, points out thatbasic psychomotor skills are as important asbasic literacy skills to successfully completesome health programs. In a few instances,courses in computer applications and operationsare required. While this practice is not wide-spread, more students in health programs willbe required in the future to learn computerbasics and perhaps to develop a more sophisti-cated understanding of how electronics ingeneral are used in various health care deliverysystems.

Most processes of health programs accredi-tation require a review of the library holdingsin a specific program area. College catalogsdo not clearly indicate whether or not manyhealth programs require demonstrated profi-ciency. in the use of the library as a referenceand research tool. English class requirementsprobably include library usage, but this formof literacy should be reinforced within thehealth program courses. Unless health pro-gram graduates can use a library, their abilityto maintain technical proficiency will be sub-stantially limited.

All health programs require students tocomplete the requirements for the associatedegree mandated by the parent institution.Several health programs, however, determinethe courses to fulfill the specific requirementsfor graduation from the program. Some pro-grams require a course in ethics to fulfill ahumanities requirement (Pfeiffer, 1980). Otherprograms may require courses in child growthand development, adolescent psychology, orcourses dealing with stress to fulfill institu-tional social science graduation requirments(Clavner and Sumodi, 1981); most programsspecify the necessary science courses. Ingeneral, health program students do not electcourses to fulfill their general education gradu-ation requirements but take designated generaleducation courses.

Successful health programs require notonly basic literacy for admission but alsorequire more sophisticated knowledge of English,mathematics, and science. Students must beable to apply these skills in problem solving.Therefore, successful allied health studentsmust be capable of mastering the highest typesof learning and must be able to take responsi-bility for and initiative in their education. Ofthe eight types of learning and the conditionsrequired for each (Gagne, 1970); the highestforms of learning include concept learning,rule learning, and problem solving. Gagnestates that the requirements for successfulcompletion and successful work experience inthe allied health programs would certainlyinclude the student's ability to deal with these

more sophisticated forms of learning.The trend over the past ten years has

been to allow students to entera

programsdespite their chances of success, perhapsbased on a "right to fail" premise, MoreoVer,many colleges have permitted students todevelop their own programs and to set theirown, schedule of progress. It would seem thatmore structure may be required to improve thechances for student success in these highlydemanding programs. The ,,sequence of coursesin allied health programs should be arrangedto ensure that necessary academic skills aredeveloped in a timely fashion and that studentsbe required to remain in sequence once started.

Certainly, those students who will besuccessful in allied health programs arerequired to demonstrate or to develop academicand psychomotor skills not usually required foradmission to other community college programs.Selective admissions has helped to maintain ahigh caliber of students and a highly visible,successful program.

Robert E. Parillajs president of Montgomery Commu-nity College, Maryland.

References

Agriesti-Johnson, C. "The Relationship betweenAllied Health Pr.actice and Academic Prepar-ation programs: An integrating Curricu-lum Framework." Journal of Allied Health,9 (2): 112-124, May 1980.

Brawer, F. B. Academic Courses for theHealth Programs. Junior College ResourceReview. Los Angeles: ERIC Clearing-house for Junior Colleges, December 1978.6pp. (ED 162 687)

Clark, B. R. The Open Door College: A CaseStudy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.

Clavner, J. B., and Sumodi, V. The OtherCourses: Nurses Cannot Live on MedicalTerminology Alone. Paper presented atthe "Health Careers: Prescription for the'80s" Conference, Cleve!and, Ohio, March29-.April 1, .1981. 19pp. (ED 203 926)

Cohen, A. M. The Minority Controversy.ERIC'Junior College Resource Review.Los Angeles: ERIC Clearinghouse forJunior -Colleges, February 1980. 6pp.(ED 183 228)

De Anza College Catalog, 1978-79. Los AltosHills, Calif.: Foothill-De Anza CommunityCollege District, 1978.

Efurd, M. A Comparative Study of Reading,Success and Grade Point Average ofWestark Community College FreshmanNursing Students. Fort Smith, Ark.:Westark Community College, 1978. 11pp.(ED 187 418)

Essex Community College Catalog, 1980-81.Baltimore County, Md.: Essex CommunityCollege, 1980.

10

Ferguson, C. K. "Reading Sk'lls versus.Success in Nursing school." Journal ofNursing Education, 18 (3): 6-8,11-12,March 1979.

Gagne, R. M. The Conditions of Learning,(3rd ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehartand Winston, 1977.

Gold, B. K. Summary of Responses to Follow-Up Questionnaire Sent to Nursing Grad-uates in Five LACCD Colleges.Los Angeles: Los Angeles City College,1981. 16pp. (ED 203 938)

Highland Community College Catalog, 1977-79.Freeport, Ill.: Highland CommunityCollege, 1977.

Holstrom, E. I., and Others. Women andMinorities in Health Fields: A TrendAnalysis of College Freshmen. Volume II.Freshmen Interested in Nursing andAllied Health Professions. Washington,D.C.: American Council on Education,Policy Analysis Service, 1976. 277pp.(ED 143 255) (Available in microficheonly).

Leiken, A. M., and Cunningham, B. M. "ThePredictive Ability of the Allied HealthProfessions Admission Test.", Journal ofAllied Health, 9 (2): 132-138, May 1980.

Lombardi, J. Four Phases Of DevelopmentalEducation. ERIC Junior College ResourceReview. Los Angeles: ERIC Clearing-,house for Junior Colleges, March 1979.6pp. (ED 165 858)

Los Angeles Harbor College Catalog, 1978-79.Los Angeles: Los Angeles CommunityCollege District, 1978.

National Accrediting Agency for Clincial Labora-tory Sciences. MLT-AD [Medical Labora-tory Technician-- Associate Degree'] SurveyGuide. Chicago: National AccreditingAgency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences,1979.

National League for Nursing. Criteria for theEvaluation of Educational Programs inNursing Leading to an Associate Degree.Revised Edition. New York: NationalLeague for Nursing, Department of Assoc-iate Degree Programs, 1967. 18pp. (ED'026 471) (Available in microfiche only).

O'Hara, L. F. A Successful Training Programfor Bilingual (Spanish/English) NurseAides. Unpublished paper, 1980. 7pp.(ED 186 059)

Parilla, R. E. A Lifestyle Analysis of Regis-tration, Attrition, Transfer, and Gradu-ation of Full-time Students Who EnteredCuyahoga Community College in The Fallof 1968. Unpublished Doctoral Disserta-tion. The Florida State University, 1973.

Pfeiffer, R. S. Final Narrative Report onNursing Ethics at Delta College. Uni-versity Center, Mich.: Delta College.1980. 14pp. (ED 202 562)

Schermerhorn, J. W., and Others. "EducatorPerceptions of Accreditation." Journal ofAllied Health, 9 (3): 176-182, August1980.

Schwirian, P. M., and Gortner, S. R. "HowNursing Schools Predict Their SuccessfulGraduates." Nursing Outlook, 27 (5):352-358, May 1979.

Selected Characteristics of Fall 1980 EnteringStudents. Student Flow Program, Report 8.Honolulu: University of Hawaii, KapiolaniCommunity College, 1980. 27pp. (ED 194177)

Trent, J. W., and Medsker, L. L. BeyondHigh School: A Psychosociological Studyof 10,000 High School Graduates. SanFrancisco: Jossey-Bass, 1968.

Triton College Catalog 1981-82. River Grove,Triton Cole, 1981.

Weinstein, E\. L., Br n, I., and Wahlstrom,M. W. "Characteristics of the SuccessfulNursing) Student." Journal of NursingEducation, 19 (3): 53-59, March 1980.

Literacy, Transfer, and EffectivenessThe:Community Colleges' Acceler' ating MissionCommunity colleges developed during the

twentieth century as a distinctly Americaneducation form combining several missions, andwere designed to offer four types of educa-tional experiences: capstone education forthose who would not progress much.beyond thesecondary school; the first two years of collegefor those who would pursue baccalaureatedegrees and perhaps graduate studies; occupa-tional programs for those who sought employ-ment; and casual, community-based educationfor those who desired an occasional course.As these institutions evolved, they assumedthe role of expanding access for- everyone whomight otherwise- -by excluded from higher

-education: the women, the poor, the minori-ties, and the-ignorant or illiterate.

These colleges have - tended to enroll olderand part-time students as well as recent highschool graduates. They are viewed as open-access institutions whose main contribution isto provide equal opportunity for all to engagein postsecondary studies, regardless of eth-nicity, sex, age, family income, or physical ordevelopmental handicaps. This function putthem- in the forefront of democratizing educa-tion, a role that most people perceive asproviding opportunities for everyone to pro-gress to the limits of their ability.

The community colleges have alwaystended to let everyone in. To some extent,they also guide their enrollees to programsthat fit their aspirations and offer some chanceto succeed. Students who ,qualified for thetransfer programs were never a serious prob-lem; their courses were similar to those offeredin the lower division of the four-year collegesand universities. Technical and occupationalaspirants were not a problem either, sinceprograms were, organized to teach the trades.Internal selectivity was the norm; failingcertain prerequisites, applicants were barredfrom health professions and technology pro-grams. Students who wanted to satisfy per-sonal interest found courses primarily in thedivision of continuing education and in thetransfer programs.

Many students who failed to learn basicskills, in earlier years are among those forwhom the community colleges have opened their

doors. This h4s been the case since the incep-tion of the ji4nior colleges, but it is moreevident today irice so many enrollee's lack agrasp of the' basic skills. This handicapaccelerates a decline in ability which appar-ently began in the 1960s and continues to growin the 1980s, and is due to the coalescence ofseveral social and educational forces: thecoming of age of the first generation reared ontelevision, a breakdown of respect for authorityand the professions, a pervasive attitude thatthe written word is not as important as it( oncewas, the imposition of various nonacademicexpectations on the public schools, a wave ofpeople new to this country who are not onlyilliterate in English but poorly prepared intheir native languages, and a decline in aca-demic requirements and expectations at alleducational levels.

Just as literacy is -related to life, it isalso related to success in college. Mdst transfercourses demand proficiency in reading, writing,and/or mathematics. The licenstire examinationsthat admit students to practice after completingtechnological programs typically demand literacyproficiency. Despite gencral institutionalaccess, many programs are closed to studentswho cannot pw an entrance examination basedon literacy. Administrative tasks such asfilling out applications, understanding informa-tion about deadlines, requesting assistance,and carrying out other noninstructional, butnonetheless important tasks relating to studentsuccess, all demand literacy. Although thecolleges admit all students, some level ofliteracy is a requisite for entry to--and successin--Most institutional operations.

Because of all the social and educationalforces, the remedial, or developmental, activi-ties of community colleges have increaseddramatically. Indeed, the public communitycolleges have taken the brunt of the poorlyprepared students. Few colleges maintainadmissions standards, hardly any demand a

minimum high school grade point average, lessthan one in five imposes an entrance test, andone-third do not even require a high schooldiploma. The relaxed admissions requirementsand availability of financial aids at some uni-versities, a severe decline in the scholastic

abilities of high school graduates, and a greaterpercentage of applicants who have taken feweracademic courses in secondary schools are allfactors resulting in a group of entering com-munity college students who are illiterate inmany areas.

The poorly prepared group of studentswho passed through high school is swelling thenumbers of college entrants and, by definition,is hindering institutional success. What to dowith marginally literate people who aspire toattend college but do not know why? How todeal with someone who wants to be an attorneybUt who is reading at a fifth-grade level?Shunting these students into the technologicalprograms was the favored ploy that gave riseto Burton Clark's (1960) cooling-out thesis.Another ploy was to offer students a smatter-ing of remedial courses or to entertain themuntil they drifted, away. But the decline inachievement exhibited by secondary schoolgraduates and dropouts in the 1970s hit thecolleges with full force and, by most accounts,has increased in intensity as the 1980s gotunderway.

The issue of the marginal student iscentral to instructional planning. Indeed, thesingle thorniest problem for community collegestoday is the guiding and teaching of studentsunprepared for traditional college-level studies.Some institutions tend to award certificates anddegrees for any combination of courses, units,or credits and send people away with theillusion of having completed a successful collegecareer. Other institutions have mounted massivespecial' instructional _and counseling servicesfor lower ability students; such stratagems aredesigned to puncture the balloon of priorschool failure. But in most programs in mostinstitutions, -expectations for and indications ofstudent achievement have simply declinea.The weight of the low ability students hangslike a heavy anchor on the community colleges.

Issues and ApproachesDespite lowered expectations and a prepon-

derance of unprepared students, the communitycolleges have tried to redress learning deficien-cies with compensatory. programs. The collegeshave developed a number of disparate coursesdesigned to prepare students _to_ enter collegetransfer programs, courses that were usuallynot accepted for credit toward an academicdegree. Students were placed in these reme-dial courses on the basis of entrance tests orprior school achievement. Today most publictwo-year colleges offer some special services,special programs, special courses, or remedialactivities for the academically disadvantaged.

The most widespread euphemisms forthose special- courses designed to teach thebasks of reading, writin , and arithmetic areremedial, compensatory, and developmental.Regardless of the term used, enrollments arehigh. It is impossible to determine how high,however, because few reliable surveys havebeen conducted. Courses at different collegesare difficult to compare because course titles,content, and numbering vary. What is "Reme-dial Writing" in one college is "English Composi-

12

tion" or "Developmental Studies" in another.Despite this inconsistency the magnitude

of compensatory education can be estimated bycounting the number of class sections offeredin remedial English. Using the 1977 catalogsand class schedules from, a national sample of175 public and private colleges, the C, 'ter forthe Study of Corownity Colleges (Los Angeles)tallied sections in all academic areas and foundthat nearly one-third of the offerings in mathe-matics were precollege level, and aroundtwo-fifths of all English (excluding literature)was remedial reading or composition (Cohenand Brawer, 1982).

Clearly the colleges have been devotingmajor portion of their- institutional effort to thepoorly prepared students. However, severalquestions still remain--questions that rangefrom program effectiveness to institutionalpurpose:

O What are the placement proce-dures for learning-handicappedstudents?

O Do the programs really teachpeople to read ana write?

O Should poorly ' lified studentsbe segregated- , special pro-grams or should they be allowedto enter the regular classes?

O Holt: does remeaial educationrelate to dropout rate?

O Can a college devote such agreat proportion of its effort toremedial studies without jeopard-izing its standards and its placein higher education?

O How many times should thepublic pay the schools to try toteach the same competencies tothe same people?

Numerous research reports indicate thatcolleges, have little trouble identifying the poorstudents,'' and, where separate compensatorycourses and programs have been established,they seem to have the intended effect. Theplacement procedures seem valid: in a studyof remedial Eng!ish classes in 14 communitycolleges, the student& writing ability at theend of'the course was found to be, on aver-age, equivalent to the writing ability of stu-dents r who were beginning regular collegeEnglish classes (Cohen, 1973).

Many such programs also seem to lowerstudent dropout rate. Staff members paycloser attention to the students, integrateteaching with counseling, provide a greatervariety of learning materials to these specialstudents, and seem to cause their enrollees todevote more time to their studies. In short,students tend to remain in school when specialtreatment is applied; when students are givensupplemental counseling, tutoring, and learn-ing aids; and when they are singled out for

1 ()4. to

additional work and given special attention.Nothing surprising in that: special treatmentof any sort usually yields special results.What is surprising is that reliable data onconsistent program effects are not readilyavailable.

Special Compensatory ProgramsSome compensatory education programs

have been designed for people not regularlyenrolled in college. These vary from programsfor Navajo Indians (Smith, 1979) and inner-city adults working in , construction jobs(Howard, 1976) to programs that include bothacademic and vocational skills and personalizededucational placement and counseling for any-one with minimal income, low reading level,erratic employment pattern, or arrest record(Conti and Others, 1978).

Compensatory education thus involves thecolleges not only with students who come tothe campus seeking academic programs,degrees, and certificates, but also with adultbasic education, even though adult studies areoften funded and organized separately. Some-times, especially when the colleges are responsi-ble for the adult education in their district,entirely separate structures are created. Forexample, the Urban Skills Institute operatedby the City Colleges of Chicago enrolled 45percent of the district's students in 1980.The College Centers maintained under theaegis of the San Francisco Community CollegeDistrict provide another case in point. Bothof tnese structures take some of the pressurefor compensatory education away from thecolleges' regular programs.

Other institutions have adopted differentprocedures for furthering student literacy anddirection to further education or employment.Miami-Dade Community College, for example,has taken giant steps to deal with studentswho need developmental help. It has estab-lished goals for general education, it requiresdemonstrated proficiency in the basic skifisbefore a degree is awarded, and it leansheavily on academic advisements to students,developmental education resources, credit byexamination, and evaluation of its generaleducation program (Lukenbill and McCabe,1978). All students who have completed threecourses at Miami-Dade must take examinationsin mathematics and English to determine theirproficiency. Subsequent placement into sup-port courses, the general education core, orspecialized courses, is dependent upon resultsof those ,tests.. Taking a similar approach,Passaic County Community College (New Jersey)tests all entering students in reading, writing,speech, and math. Students who lack profi-ciency in any of these areas are placed in asequence of precollege courses (Meilander,1980). Penn Valley Comrhunity College's devel-opmental studies program integrates develop-mental education into the main stream of thecollege by establishing the Learning SkillsLaboratory (LSL) as an extension of the mathand English classrooms. Students may com-plete LSL instructional activities either beforeprogressing or, upon faculty discretion, con-

currently with a course (Ford, 1976).

AttritionWhat effect does special training have on

attrition and classroom grades? A follow-upreport of a developmental education program inOhio found that those students who partici-pated in developmental programs tended to dowell once enrolled in regular courses, tendedto have better retention rates, and adjustedmore easily to regular courses than those whohad not been in such programs (Romoser,1978). At Triton College ( Illinois), a develop-mental education program was established toincrease' retention and graduation rates amongacademically disadvantaged students. Varioussupport systems were employed, faculty polic-ies were restructured, and student orientationand counseling procedures were established tohelp academically disadvantaged students(Helm, 1978).

In Fall 1978, Sacramento City College(talifornia) instituted a higher educationlearning package to promote both success andretention of students with basic skill defici-encies while mainstreaming them into regularcourses. Students worked with instructorsand tutors in small groups and on a one-to-onebasis, and instruction was built on studentexperiences. Progress was measured relativeto established competencies (Bohr and Bray,1979). At Los Angeles City College, theLearning SKills Center, (LSC) is an individual-ized learning laboratory that offers assistancein communication and learning _skills and alsoprovides tutoring in all college level courses.One tangible result is the lower dropout rateamong student participants (Benjamin, 1976).

Counscling and EvaluationMany efforts to cope with problems of

literacy also include special counseling andguidance. While these interventions most ofteninvolve personal counseling, efforts to motivatestudents, and skills training, the focus isgenerally on the acquisition of basic skills.

Conti and Others (1978) describe a pro-gram that provides broad base quality educa-tion, both academic and vocational skills train-ing, and personalized educational placement.At Clackamas Community College (Oregon), agovernment studies program was developed todeal with functional illiteracy. Its specific aimis to increase student ability to express desirescoherently and to convey feelings about them-selyes positively. The attrition rate for stu-dents enrolled in this program was reducedconsiderably (Epstein, 1978).

What types of evalution procedures areused to assess the effectiveness of thesespecial programs? Some evaluations are basedon pre- and post-test results. Others useindividual survey data. Many are worthy ofnote. For example, the success of the Devel-opmental Skills Program offered at Los AngelesSouthwest College, a 96 percent Black institu-tion, is indicated by an average student gradeequivalent gain of 2.3 years in one semester; afive-year average accelerated academic growthrate that is 5.9 times the previous academic

13 1.i

growth rate of blacK inner-city students, andan increased retention rate of 80 percentSpecific methodologies related to this program'ssuccess include pre- and post-testing, place-ment techniques, group orientation, closeinstructor contact, use .of skills specialists,course uniformity, nontraditional readingassignments, firm deadlines, and requireddepartmental meetings (Wallace, 1977). It isapparent that many of these activities incorpo-rate traditional approaches to teaching andlearning.

About two-thirds of the students at EssexCounty College (New Jersey), including thosewhose reading ability at the beginning of theclass was in the third- to seventh-grade level,successfully completed a remedial English,-course. Ten percent scored well enough foFplacement in regular English classes .(Drakulich,1980). Because the percentage of enteringfreshmen with very low composite AmericanCoilege Test scores increased from 1967 to1975, remedial English courses at San AntonioCollege (Texas) were replaced by a multimedialaboratory that includes self-pacing, computer-assisted instruction, and special tutoring(Rudisil and Jabs, 1976).

Perhaps the most prominent developmentin compensatory education in the 1970s was theintegrated program that combined instructionin the three Rs with special attention to indi-vidual students. Self-pacing procedures,tutoring, counseling, study skills assistance,and reproducible learning ; media were allbrought together in various combinations forespecially identified low ability students.Numerous reports of these types of programsmay be found. As an example, Loop Collegein the Chicago City system developed a blockprogram for low ability students that includedpeer tutoring, intensive study skills training,special advisement, career counseling, and theuse of audio-visual materials--all under themanagement of a special course in psychology.

ProblemsIn common with traditional programs,

these special programs exhibit several problemsrelated to standards.. A major problem is thedifficulty in setting fixed exit criteria forcourses and programs that have no set entryrequirements. If anyone may enroll regardlessof ability, a wide range of students will beattracted. Thus, the exit criteria must eitherbe fluid, (with a different standard for eachstudent), the time and type of instructionmust be greatly varied, or the expectations

-- .must_ be maintained at an exceedingly modestlevel. --Alt three options are at play to somedegree in practically all programs.

Standardized expectations of accomplish-ment, or exit criteria, suggest social norms ascontrasted with standards for individuals, andsocial norms suggest that people who wouldfunction adequately in particular settings (theworkplace, further schooling) must act accord-ing to certain standards. On the other hand,relating accomplishment to individual desires orentering abilities suggests that any progress issatisfactory and that the institution has suc-

14

ceeded if any gain in individual ability isshown. This conflict between social andindividual standards becomes an issue of theabsolute versus the relative, an issue thatstrikes at the heart of compensatory education.

Another question relates to the denial ofadmission to certain academic programs. Is thisjustified? The community colleges' open-doorphilosophy indicates tnat students shoUld- notbe denied access. The fact that they can betaught to succeed suggests that they shouldnot be denied. And the fact that studentswho are denied access to academic programsare typically denied exposure to the humanisticand scientific thought on which they are basedmandates that they must not be so denied. Thecommunity colleges have succeeded in openingaccess to all; if that access is limited to acompensatory program that offers primarily thesame type of basic education that failed thestudent in the lower schools, that student hasbeen cruelly denied access to higher learning.The colleges cannot afford to operate' separateprograms for the less qualified. They mustteach literacy in the transfer programs, andthey must provide whatever assistance it takesto get the student through them.

Here is where the community colleges canreconcile their conflicting philosophical bases.They say they exist to meet everyone's needs.If so, they cannot rightfully deny anyoneaccess to a desired program. They, say theyare a stepping stone to higher learning; hence,they cannot condemn a sizable percentage oftheir student body to a form of education thatis less than college level. They say theyrespond to community needs, but they mustacknowledge that curriculum is dictated moreby internal institutional dynamics than byexternal pressures. They say they havesomething for each student; and therefore theymust mount a sizable effort to provide a varietyof media necessary for each student to succeed.

Teaching the basic skills to people whofailed to learn them in the lower schools isdifficult and expensive. Questions of effect oncollege staff, and image pale before the issue ofcost. No form of teaching is easier, hencecheaper, than the course for self-directedlearners; the teacher-student ratio is limitedonly by the size of the lecture hall. None,not even education in the higher technologies,is more expensive than the varied media andclose monitoring demanded by slow learners.Many college leaders .2., fear publicizing theextent of their compensatory education pro-grams, lest their funding be threatened bylegislators and members of the public who raiseembarrassing questions about, paying severaltimes over for the education that was supposedto be provided in the lower schools.

Since the necessary funds to support ablestudents through the courses of their choiceare not likely to be forthcoming, some compro-mises will have to be made. But these mustnot take the form of segregated remedialprograms; many more balanced measures areavailable. As an example, Miami-Dade Com-munity College is operating a massive generaleducation/student advisement system for its

39,000 students. A computerized academicalert system monitors student progress bychecking course attendance and completionthen sending individualized midterm progressreports to each student. An Advisement andGraduation Information System (AGIS) providesadditional data, matching all students withtheir degree aspirations and informing them oftheir academic progress. And a Standards ofAcademic Progress model warns students ifthey are failing to make satisfactory progresstoward completing a program and places themon suspension if they do not reduce their loadand take advantage of the special interventionsavailable to them.

In short, Miami-Dade has not mounted acompensatory education program for deficientstudents until they are ready to enter theregular courses. The college has restructuredthe curriculum by building truly integratedgeneral education courses required for allstudents,. and they have built a computerizedadvisement system that keeps the studentsapprised of their progress toward completing aprogram. All of this has been done within theframework of directives and standards suchthat the students know exactly what they mustdo. These sets of institutional aids and expec-tations -may- be as close as a college--not anindividual within that college--can come toshowing its care for students. That aloneshould have a notable effect on the develop-ment of literacy.

Chicago has taken a different tack.Since student achievement in remedial coursesdid not result in improved performance in reg-ular college courses or in increased retention- -and since enrollment in remedial courses had ahighly adverse effect upon the students' selfconcept (Chausow, )979)--the concept ofmastery learning was instituted. Althoughstudent achievement and retention rates havenot been superior in classes using the masterylearning concept to those attending remedialprograms, they are generally higher than theachievement and retention of students inregular courses taught in nonmastery fashion.The City Colleges of Chicago have also foundthat well-planned support services can compen-sate for poor college preparation. Cooperativestaff and faculty efforts in improving thelearning process can result in more successfulcollege learning experiences for more collegestudents.

Remediation does not have to come in theform of segregated remedial courses. It wouldseem that the community colleges have fewoptions. Dropping, failing, or otherwisesending poor students away is not one ofthem. The pool o, illiterate students is toolarge and the competition too great to allowthat luxury. Segregating students in compen-satory programs seems desirable only to thefaculty who want classes comprised of self-learners and to the universities that want thecommunity colleges to screen out the unworthy.

OptionsSeveral options are available. The first

option involves defining the exact competencies15

required to enter and succeed in each"academic" course. College-level academicstandards are not sufficiently precise, andthere exists too much variation betweencourses in the same program--indeed, betweensections of the same course--for these criteriato hold. Standards are too often relativeinstead of absolute. Screening tests can beemployed at the point of entry to each class,but only if precise exit criteria, also known asspecific, measurable objectives, are set.

The second option is to allow all studentsto enroll in any course but to limit the numberof courses that poorly prepared students cantake in any term and to mandate that thosestudents take advantage of available supportservices. Those especially designated studentsmay only take one course at a time and mustparticipate in learning laboratories on the basisof three hours for each credit-hour attempted.

The third option is for colleges to aban-don the pretext that they offer freshman- andsophomore-level studies. They can enroll highschool dropouts, adult basic education stu-dents, - occupational students, and jotsupgraders, offering the services they needoutside the structure of credit classes.

To some extent, all three options are nowin play at some colleges. Colleges that areinvolved in mastery learning and ,,..ner tech-niques relying on precisely specified measure-ment of student progress have built theirprograms on absolute standards. Those insti-tutions that monitor student progress .andassist students to participate in auxiliaryinstructional services have moved well towardbuilding the kind of effort; that teaching thepoorly prepared student demands. Those thathave erected separate institutes to concentrateexclusively on adult basic education haveabandoned collegiate studies de facto. As anexample, the Urban Skills Institutes in Chicagoand San Francisco make no pretense at mixingcollegiate studies with basic literacy.

One more option might. be for the collegesto reconcile their relations with the secondaryschools from which they have broken away.Education on any level demands prior prepara-tion of students. Decline in the secondaryschools in the 1970s was one of the mostnotable events of the decade in education, andmuch of the blame can be placed at the doorsof colleges that failed to communicate to thesecondary school staffs just what they expectedof their students. Whether or not communitycolleges pick up seventeen-year-olds who didnot gain literacy in their high schools or thosewho left high school early, or whether theyserve as a bridge between high school andwork for older students, the colleges areinvolved in a mission of connecting people withopportunities. They will be involved in compen-satory education in one form or another for along time to come. Consciously choosingamong the available options is a neci3ssary firststep.

Florence B. Brawer is research director at the Centerfor the Study of Community Colleges, Los Angeles;

7n

and editor/writer at ERIC Clearinghouse for JuniorColleges, Los Angeles,

References

Benjamin, B. C., and Others. Evaluating andAuditing a Community College SkillsCenter Program. Los Angeles: LosAngeles City College, 1976. "16p. ED 121408.

Bohr, D. H.; and Bray, D. HELP: A PilotPrig) ram for Communit College High-RiskStudents. published paper.

_Sasr_amento, Calif., 1979. 12p. ED 168635.

Chausow, H. M. Remedial Education: APosition Paper. Unpublished paper.Chicago, 1979, 16p. ED 170 013.

'Clark, B. R. "The 'Cooling Out'. Function inHigher Education." American Journal ofSociology, 1960, 65 (6), 569-576.

Cohen, A. M. "Assessing College Students'Ability to Write Compositions." Researchin the Teaching of English, 1973, 7 (3),356-371.

Cohen, A. M., and Brewer, F. B. TheAmerican Community College.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers,1982.

Conti, G. J., and Others. New Start.General Education (G.E.D.), Job Skills& Job Placement: A Summary, July 1,1977-June 30, 1978. Canton, Ill.: SpoonRiver College, 1978. 26p. ED 169 983.

Drakulich, J. S., and Karlen, J. M. ReverseTransfer Student Characteristics --Fall 1979. Research Report No. 80-3.-Newark, N.J.:- Office of InstitutionalResearch, Essex County_ College, 1980.32p. ED 184 647.

Epstein, D. B. Community Colleges andLiteracy. Pomona, Calif.: Cla-remontGraduate School, 1978. 23p. ED817.

Ford, M. L. "Penn Valley Community CollegeLearning Skills Laboratory: A ResourceCenter for Developmehtal Education ." InJ . R . Clarke and others, DevelopmentalEducation in Higher Education. AdvancedInstitutional Developmental Program (AIDP)Two-Year College Consortium. Vol. .2,No.. 5. Washington, D.C.: McManisAssociates, 1976. 44p. ED 134 272.

Helm, P. Proposal: Developmental EducationProgram. River Grove, TritonCollege, 197,8. 58p, ED 152 386.

Howard, J. H. Adult Basic Education Career- Development Center in the Newark Cities

Area, for the Period Ending December 31,1974. Final Report. Newark, N.J.:Essex County College, 1976. 72p. ED133. 027.

16

Lukenbill, J. D., and McCabe, R. H. GeneralEducation in a Changing Society: GeneralEducation Program, Nasic Skills Require-ments, Standards of Academic Progress atMiami-Dade Community College. Miami,Fla.: Office of Institutional Research,Miami-Dade Community College, 1978.98p. .ED 158 812.

Mellander, G. A. "Did the 'Massacrel`Lead toa Miracle?" Community and Junior CollegeJournal, 1980, 50 (7), 12-14.

Romoser, R. C. Results of Second AssessmentStudy of Developmental Education Pro-grams in Ohio. Ohio, 1978. 90p. ED157 587.

Rudisill, V. A., and Jabs, M. L. MultimediaInstruction in Basic English. San Antonio,Tex.: San Antonio College, 1976. = 12p.ED 128 056.

Smith, M. F. Communications Workshops forNavajos in a Community Setting: ACourse Plan. Graduate seminar paper.Tucson: University of Arizona,. -1979.31p. ED 174 297.

Wallace, A. Competency Evaluation and Expec-tations of the Public ComprehensiveCommunity College Librarian: A NationalSurvey of Chief Instructional Officers.Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Toledo,Ohio: School of Education, University ofToledo, 1977.

Ten Criticisms of Developmental EducationDevelopmental education is a timely

topic. Community colleges are going to beinvolved with it for the next decade at least.It affects all, their work. an example, thepercentage of traditional collegiate coursesthey offer has been declining for the pastfifteen years. Why? Occupational educationand students' desire for jobs is part of thereason, put only a part. Much of the declinein the liberal arts can be traced to the declinein students' level of literacy. The liberal artsrest on literacy. They suffer when studentscome, to college unable to read and write at alevel that fits them for any semblance of thehigher learning. Despite all its otherpresumed outcomes, developmental educationis successful only to the extent it teachesliteracy.

Is developmental education effective?Much depends on the definitions employed.Literacy is probably most often defined as"the ability to read, write, and computeadequately in context." The words, "incontext" are an important part of the definit-ion. They suggest that there are no absolutestandards of literacy, no way of -saying that aperson is literate or illiterate. The person isor is not literate in the context of a job, ofbeing a citizen of a community, of being astudent in a classroom.

Developmental education has beenapplauded and it has been criticized. Someof the criticisms are valid, some are not.Some- are answerable,while others defy aresponse. Following are ten of the morecommonly heard denunciations.

First, The community college is thewrong place to do developmental education.The contention is that developmental educationbelongs better in *the adult schools, in theprivate sector, or in corporate, on-the-jobtraining programs. The obvious responsethat the community colleges may not be thebest place to do developmental education, butthey are stuck with it. It is going to get alot more important in the next decade that ithas been. Remedial or developmental educa-tion will become the general education for thecommunity colleges of the 1980s.

Developmental education's importanceshould be no surprise. It stems from thetypes of students coming to the colleges, anhistorical phenomenon, In the early part ofthe nineteenth century, colleges opened forwomen, and coed colleges followed. There-upon, it became immoral to bar women fromcollegiate studies. In the latter part of thecentury the land grant colleges ,opened,making it possible for children of the lessaffluent to go to college. It then 'becameimmoral to bar people of modest income. Thecivil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960sled to the belief that it was immoral to barmembers of ethnic minority populations fromgoing to college. More recently, the variousfinancial aid programs have made it immoral tobar the indigent. Most recently, it has

17

become immoral to bar the physically handi-capped. And the open access, open doorcommunity college finds it unfeasible and,indeed, iMmoral to bar the ignorant. It hasbecome immoral to deny anyone access tocollege just because that person cannot read,write, or compute. The colleges' involvementwith developmental education rests on that.

In the 1960s and the 1970s, the com-munity colleges were dedicated primarily toone theme: access. Open the door, geteveryone in, build programs for returningwomen, veterans, drug abusers, displacedhomemakers, people with too much time .ontheir hands, people Without enough time tolearn what they need to know to progress intheir specialized area of work. The com-munity colleges built programs to attractpeople from every corner of the community.And the enrollments swelled. Now that every-one who can reasonably be enticed to come tothe institution has enrolled, the next issue isgoing to be that they must be taught. Andthat suggests literacy development.

Sc and criticism: Developmental educa-tion costs too much. How many times shouldthe public have to pay: toi teach the sameperson how to read? The-;argument is thatdevelopmental education yields a low benefitfor a high cost, that the taxpayers will notbe willing to spay for the same type of instruc-tion over and over. Many of the communitycollege leaders have responded that it costsless to teach developmental education incommunity colleges than in universities andother institutions. It is time they stoppedsaying that. They should stop talking aboutthe economies of the community college versusthe university. It makes them _soundlike arestaurant owner who says, "Our food is notgood, but it's cheap." That is not a veryapt way of advertising.

Nonetheless, there are many ways ofmaking developmental education better withoutspending more. The practitioners of instruc-tion, faculty and administrators alike, haveyet to understand that paraprofessional aidescan greatly enhance developmental education- -as, indeed all other types of education--whileholding costs down. Using senior citizens,other lay people, and advanced students asaides to the faculty and tutors to the studentswho need assistance can be quite salutary.They can assist in numerous ways and theywill work for a pittance. Yet, few collegestaff members have understood or want tounderstand ;how to take advantage of ;thegreat pool of economical assistance available inthe person of advanced students and senior,citizens. The mores of the educators seem tomitigate their understanding that successfulteaching does not necessarily depend on a$30,000 a year professional person working ona one-to-one basis with a student.

Third criticism: Because the academicfaculty do not want or know how to teachliteracy,/ developmental education should be

operated as a separate department. That is_wrong. The_community_ col I eges _are so_deeply

involved in developmental education that itmust involve the total faculty. Every facultymember is affected. In the open accesscommunity college the only programs that cancontrol entry are those that are in highdemand such as the high technology and theallied health programs. They can afford tobe selective and can demand literacy. But,'none of the other programs enjoy that preroga-tive. In all the other curriculums the stu-dents must be taught whether or not they canread and write at the outset. Separatedevelopmental studies programs or depart-ments only serve to widen a gulf that alreadyexists between faculty with high pretensions;i.e., those who neither know how nor want toteach literacy, and those who are involvedwith developmental education all the way. Aseparate developmental studies departmentalso suggests tracking, a concept that hasadverse connotations.

Every program, every department shouldhave a developmental education componentwithin it. Developmental education should bebuilt into the courses in all departments;either separate courses within the depart-ment, or, better, literacy in every course.Less than five percent of the students incommunity colleges nationwide complete twoyears and transfer to the university. Lessthan 10 percent are enrolled in courses forwhich there is a prerequisite. The entireinstitution has become a combination of intro-ductory courses and, developmental studies.The community collede is well on its waytoward becoming a grade -13 -plus- less -than-college -level institution. It is in danger oflosing the sophomore year. Separate develop-mental studies departments- serve only _toaccelerate that trend. Developmental educa-tion should be integrated into every course.

Fourth criticism: There is insufficientarticulation with the secondary schools. Thatis a justified criticism. When the communitycollege was young, grown out of secondaryschool districts in many states, many of itsinstructors taught in the high school in thedaytime and in the community college atnight. Most of the full-time community col-lege instructors were, former secondary schoolteachers. Now, that connection has beenweakened. The community' colleges demandedthe right to become a part of higher educa-tion and, as they did, they tended to turntheir backs on the secondary schools. If lessthan. five percent of the community collegestudent's complete two years and go to theuniversity, but practically all of them comefrom the neighboring secondary schools, thecommunity colleges are facing the wrong way.

Educational leaders in some states aretrying to rebuild the links between highereducation and the secondary schools.California public colleges and universitiesrecently issued a joint statement contendingthat students in college preparation programsin grades 9 through 12 should include a

minimum of four years of English and a mini-18

mum of three years of math. A report from .

,t±Lew Jersey notes-, "The levelor proficiencyrequired to complete three years of highschool English and math is considerably lowerthan the proficiency expected of enteringfreshmen in the institutions of this state."(ED 185 098). And the president of Miami-Dade Community College has recently collecteddata on the preparation level of enteringstudents and presented those data to thesecondary schools in his area.

Criticism five: The faculty don't knowhow to teach literacy. That criticism may lotwarranted generally, but there is much varia-tion among instructors. Surely, few instruc-tors enjoy teaching students who do not knowhow to read and write; most want bright,capable, literate individuals eager to learn themost 'specialized bits of subject matter. Butthose .students are not forthcoming. Thissuggests a role for the developmental educa-tors. They should treat the faculty in thecollegiate programs as their students.Instead of isolating "themselves in a separatedepartment to which the collegiate- facultyhappily send their poorer students, theyshould work directly with that faculty. Thatis one of the reasons for integrating develop-mental studies within the academic depart-ments; it brings the developmental educatorinto association with the collegiate faculty. Itallows the developmental educator to becomean educator of instructors.

Criticism six: There is too much experi-mentation and too few results. That is a

justifiable criticism. We know what types ofprograms work. 'Every college, president canpoint to a special program where a few dozenstudents are getting a high intensity experi-ence. Every college has a few studentscoming_ through_a program- in wh ichthey- arelearning to read so well they are moving upthree grade levels in one semester. Butthose programs are not feasibly extended tothe population at large. Throwing a highfaculty/student ratio, special additional funds,and a high level of involvement for supportpeople at small groups of students yieldswondrous results. But it is time now tointegrate developmental education into thefabric of the institution.

Criticism seven: We ask too little. Thatmay sound strange, but few teachers usereaders or paraprofessional aides to assist inreacting to students' writing; they just assignfewer papers. Writing is a skill learnedthrough practice, just as speaking is a skilllearned through practice. We become literateby reading and writing, whether by joy orcoercion or some combination of both. Liter-acy is developed by doing it. People learn towrite by sitting down and writing. Most ofthe problems in literacy development that arebeing faced in the community colleges today,that is, the portions of the problem that arein the control of the schools to accommodate,can be traced to declining demands. Theschools haven't asked people to do as much.They don't demand as much reading andwriting all the way through the school system

-----as they -did a generation ago. Ask less, getless.

Eighth criticism: There are inconsistentstandards in the classrooms. This criticism iscertainly warranted. Different demands areplaced on students in different fields and indifferent classes in the same field. An alertstudent can track a path through the collegeand never have to write a paper. As long asthat option is available, it becomes difficult tomaintain any type of literacy development inthe. institution. Surveys have found tremen-dous variation in reading and writing require-ments, not only between fields, but alsobetween instructors in the same field. Theremay be as much variation between instructorsteaching the same types of courses in thesame disciplines as there is between disciplinesThe inconsistency is not between the demandsof science and humanities or between college-level and remedial. It is between-one instruc-tor, one course section, and another.

Criticism nine: Placement and diagnostictests are not valid. The tests are usuallyseen as culturally biased and are not relevantexcept to English and mathematics. Theseobjections can be countered. Every test ofanything is culturally biased; the entireschool system is culturally biased. A culture-free test for admission to certain classes inschool would be biased if it did not teststudents' ability to succeed in those, classes.The classes are culturally biased; thus, aculture-free test would not be valid.

Of course, the tests are not relevant tocourses other than English and math becausefew. people know what instructors in thoseother courses expect. It is not valid to askapplicants to take a reading _test_ if_ they maygo through the institution taking courseswhere they just have to watch films. Whichtests should be used? And when? Whoshould administer them?

Miami-Dade Community College has aprocedure whereby any student who enrollsfor more than three classes all at once or insequence, or any student who enrolls for aclass in English or math, is sent to thetesting center to take a placement examinationin English and mathematics. On the basis ofthe results the student is counseled intocertain S iCtions of those courses. But, thattypeof student flagging depends on a sophis-ticated student monitoring system. Few insti-tutions are set up to do that. Students maygo along taking course after course withoutever having been tested. Only when theysign up for an English or math class does thetesting procedure come into effect. And eventhen, it may be a homemade test devised bythe members of that department. NonethelesS',more testing is better than less in the currentclimate.

Last criticism: The support services arenot worth what they cost. Counseling,tutorials, learning laboratories, and othertypes of student learning areas that havebeen built outside the formal classrooms havebeen accused of being too costly for whatthey provide.. That may be so, but there is

19

good reason for it. The reason is that theclassroom instructors have tended to havelittle affiliation with the supportivg activities.The learning laboratory is managed typicallyby a learning resource director. The tutorialcenter may be managed by some other group.There is very little association between cqursecontent and any of the ancillary services.Few instructors work with support people.

That suggests another role for thedevelopmental educator. They must bring thesupport activities and the instructors together,showing the instructors how they can use thesupport services as a way of bolstering theirown instruction. The instructors need to behelped to integrate the work they are doingin the classrooms with the services available.They, themselves, need to feel confident intheir use of support services.

In conclusion, there is hope for astrengthening of instruction in the 1980s.The slide toward curricular anarchy has goneas far as it can go. Various demands forincreased linearity in curriculum and studentplacement are being made. Sophomore-levelachievement tests are on the horizon. And,if the colleges are to maintain their transferfunction, developmental education must bebuilt into it. It is difficult to defend thetransfer function when less than ten percentof the enrollment is in courses with prerequi-sites. Yet, that is what is happening-, thatis what separate areas of developmental studiesenhance.

The solution is not to undertake mist-guided action. For example, it is impossibleto limit the number of courses an -employedstudent may take; more than 70 percent ofthe students work now. Nor is it feasible tohold students out of the collegiate coursesuntil they prove they can read; too fewstudents can read at the level we would like.But support services can be mandated; andtutorials and learning laboratory activities/ canbe integrated with classroom instruction.Every instructor can demand reading andwriting in every classroom. Exit tests can beoffered so that the colleges can demonstratewhat their programs have actually done,whether or not the students transfer. Liter-acy development can become the communitycolleges'` strength.

Arthur M. Cohen is president of the Center for theStudy of Community Colleges, Los Angles; and direc-tor of the ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges,Los Angeles.

4ll

Coordinating Academic Support ProgramsWith Subject Area Courses

In the last fifteen years, educators con-cerned with learning skills have made greatstrides in developing effective techniques forteaching college students how to improve theirskills in the areas of reading, writing, speak-ing, computing, and studying. Instructionalmaterials and equipment hove become mornsophisticated. Learning centers have becomebetter organized and managed. Developmentaleducators have gained valuable experience inworking with the wide range of studentsattending- community colleges; and academicsupport services have become readily acces-sible to all students.

Despite these advances, academic supportprograms (e. g . , learning skills instruction,counseling, advising) are still beset with a

number of serious problems. (1) Only a smallpercentage of the students 1/ho could bestprofit from the assistance provided, by theacademic support staff take advantage of theseservices (Friedlander, 1978; 1982a). (2) Manystudents are enrolled in classes for which theyare ill-prepared in general learning skillsas well as in .the content of the classes(Friedlander, 1982b; Johnson and Others,1980). (3) Many students report that they donot take advantage of a needed support servicebecause they do not have the necessary timeto do so (Friedlander, 1982a). (4) Communitycollege students frequently have difficultyapplying skills learned in reading, writing,mathematics, and study skills classes to actualcontent in their occupational and academicclasses. (5) Many students are dissatisfiedwith their learning skills courses because theyfeel the material is too far_ removed! from theiracademic course work and attainment of theireducational objectives. (6) And few nondevel-opmental education faculty have the training orthe desireto assist students in applying thelearning skills they acquired in- their develop-mental education programs to the requirementsof the content courses. As a result, studentscompleting developmental studies programsoften suffer the effects of regression inachievement on tasks requiring the applicationof basic skills (Arwardy and Chaffin, 1980).

A major factor contributing to the prob-lems faced by academic support staff is thattheir programs, in most instances, are segre-gated and isolated from the content courses.Currie (1978) has observed that as long asthe reading/study skills area remains segre-gated and isolated, it cannot serve all studentsit should be reaching, it cannot adequatelyintegrate its curriculum with the contentcourse, and, above all, its faculty cannotcooperate in a unified manner with the col-lege's entire academic community to meet thechallenges of a diverse student body"(p. 234).

Purpose of PaperIn an effort to improve the effectiveness

20

of their programs, a number of colleges areattempting to coordinate their academic supportservices with particular subject area courses inthe following ways: (1) learning skills staffare targeting their services to specific college-level courses; (2) learning skills courses arebeing offered in conjunction with subject areacourses; (3) learning skills instruction, subjectarea. courses, and academic counseling arebeing presented together as part of a coordin-ated block program; and (4) faculty in nondevelopmental courses are being encouraged toteach basic learning skills in their classes. ThisJunior College Resource Review will describeeach of the above approaches.

Working With Subject Area FacultyA sizable proportion (about 20 percent or

higher) of the students enrolled in communitycollege freshman-level courses lack proficiencyin basic learning skills needed to succeed intheir courses. This problem is compounded bythe fact that few community college facultymembers have training in presenting theircourses to academically underprepared stu-dents. Ncr are most faculty experienced inpresenting their subject to a class of studentswhose learning skills run the gamut from poorto excellent.

Learning skills instructors can helpsubject area faculty be more successful intheir teaching by engaging in one or more ofthe folldwing activities. They can visit thecontent /area classroom early in the term toshow udents how to use a study system withthe curse textbook, attend class prior to anexam nation to show students how to study andtake the test they will be receiving, andco-teach with the content area instructor a

special help session for the course (Currie,1978). Currie notes that such visits lead toimproved learning of course content, morereferrals to learning skills programs, sincestudents see for themselves how applicable thelearning skills offerings are to their college

. work.Learning skills staff can also assist sub-

ject area faculty by helping them to identifyearly in the term those students who are inneed of some assistance. This is importantsince faculty may be reluctant to send stu-dents to an appropriate academic .support ser-vice for the reason that they do not feel compe-tent to identify students with learning difficul-ties. Currie (1978) recommends that readingspecialists develop a short test to see. if stu-dents are able to read the content area text-book. Students who score low on the testshould meet with the faculty member and learn-ing skills specialist to discuss how they canimprove.

Pairing Learning Skills Instruction With SubjectArea Courses

Many college learning skills specialists

attribute the problems associated with remedialcourses and programs to their being removedfrom the ,student's ongoing academic coursework (Moran, 1980). Reports published in thejournal literature and the ERIC files show thata number of colleges are attempting to incorpo-rate reading, writing, and study skills instruc-tion into college-level content courses.

The staff at Norwalk Community Collegein Connecticut (Sherman, 1976) have developeda program which teaches literacy skills simul-taneously with academic course content. It isdesigned to be effective with low-achievingstudents in teaching them basic reading andwriting skills and helping them transfer theseskills to an academic area.

The program combines the teaching of thefundamentals of reading and writing into onecourse which is taught in conjunction with acollege-level introductory psychology course.All students enrolled in the fundamentals of-reading and writing are likewise' enrolled inthe introductory psychology course. Althoughthe psychology course is available to all stu-dents, those with low scores on a placementexam are required to enroll in the fundamen-tals of reading and writing classes along withthe psychology course.

The skills classes are coordinated withthe psychology course in the following manner.Instruction in reading is based on assignedtextbook chapters in the psychology course;instruction in writing focuses on showingstudents how to write about the chapters theyhave read; and the study skills component ofthe course focuses on specific techniques fororganizing the material in the chapters andmethods of test taking on the chapters(Sherman, 1976). Two of the advantages ofsuch an approach are noted by Sherman:teaching reading and writing in integrationwith an academic course may facilitate transferof skills to other academic fields; and academicfaculty by working with the fundamentals skillsinstructors can learn to work with academicallyunderprepared students.

Several colleges have initiated back-to-back course arrangements in which a learningskills instructor and a subject area instructorschedule one or two sections so that all thestudents in the subject class are also enrolledin the learning skills course. In such anarrangement, the learning skills specialist usesthe actual texts, class *tures, and tests fromthe content courses as 'be reading/study skillscourse materials (Bergman, 1977).

The Adjunct Program at the University ofCalifornia, Riverside is a structured, formalprogram designed to teach reading and studyskills to students enrolled in a particularcollege-level course (Moran, 1980). Thesereading and study skills courses are coordin-ated with introductory courses in the followingareas: biology for majors and non-majors,beginning chemistry, Black studies, Chicanostudies, history, political science, psychology,religious studies, and sociology. The primaryfunction of the instructor of the reading andstudy skills class (adjunct class) is to assessthe demands of the content course in which

21

the skills class is paired and then present theskills needed by the students to succeed inthe course. The following topics are covered inthe adjunct class: effective reading of thetextbooks for the content course, underliningand other note taking techniques, lecture notetaking, reviewing for tests, test taking tech-niques, and preparation in writing essay examsin those courses in which written exams aregiven.' Topics covered in science and mathadjunct courses reflect the demands of thecontent courses in these areas. Evidence ofthe success of the Adjunct Program is that ithas become the major means at the Universityof California, Riverside, of delivering reading Iand study skills to its students. A completedescription of the reading and writi.mg adjunctcourse that was organized around the lecturesand text of the introductory course for biologymajors is available in Tomlinson and Tomlinson(1975).

Coordinating Support Services With ContentCourses

The adjunct program at the University ofWisconsin, Eau Claire, consists of freshmanlevel content courses with two extra classsessions added per week (Harding, 1980).The learning skills stressed in these extrasessions include lecture note taking, textbookreading, and studying for exams. Theseadditional class meetings are used to coordinatethe teaching of learning and study skills withthe material presented in the regular coursecontent. A unique feature of this adjunctprogram is that all of the support servicesneeded by high-risk students are coordinatedwith' the content course--assessment advise-ment, instruction in basic skills areas, and useof materials in the learning resources center.

Those educationally underprepared stu-dents who enroll in adjunct courses areassigned to a special advisor. These specialadvisors are provided with students' scores ontests in reading, writing, math, and studyskills, as well as the results of tests given inthe content courses. The special advisor andthe students sign contracts in which the latteragree to use the specified support servicesand have their academic progress monitored.Advisors and adjunct instructors meet fre-quently to review the progress of each studentin their courses. They meet with each studentat least once a month to discuss the student'sprogress and, when necessary, recommendneeded support services.

Harding (1980) reports that the adjunctcourses at the University of Wisconsin, EauClaire, have resulted in increased courseretention rates, improved learning skills, andgreater self-confidence and satisfaction withtheir college work among high-risk students.The growth of the program from two coursesin 1976 to ten courses in 1980 provides furthertestimony of the program's success.

Block ProgrammingGreater Hartford Community College,

Connecticut, and Chicago's Loop College haveinitiated block programs that consist of basic

Try4+,40

skills courses, academic support services, anda college-level content course. Studentsenrolled in the ASTRA Program at GreaterHartford Community College have their sched-ules planned for two semesters. In the firstterm, students are enrolled in an interdisci-plinary program of composition, reading, andspeech. Tbis curriculum, designed by thecollege's English faculty, is unique in thatstudents are asked to work on similar objec-tives each week from the perspective of theirreading, writing, and speech courses. Thesecond term is comprised of an interdiscipli-nary course arrangement of Western Civiliza-tion, reading, speech, and composition. Inthe reading class, students improve theirreading and study skills by using the textfrom the Western Civilization course. In thecomposition course, students write themes,answer essay type questions, and work on aresearch paper for the content course. Inspeech, student presentations are based ontheir research paper and the content of theirWestern Civilization course (Eddy, 1979).

Assessment, tutoring, and counseling arebuilt into the ASTRA Program. Students'abilities are tested at the beginning of theprogram. Tutors are used regularly duringclass time and also are available in the learn-ing center. Counselors meet each week withthe instructors for the purpose of monitoringstudent progress in their courses. They alsomeet frequently with students to discusspersonai, academic, and career goals.

The first semester of the IN Program atLoop. College (Barshis, 1979) consists of a 12credit-hour block of work in reading, composi-tion, psychology (self-development), educa-tional and vocational counseling, and a contentcourse chosen by the students to correspondto their educational objectives. In manyinstances, the content course (e.g., bioiogy,sociology,, child development) is team taughtand coordinated with the basic Skills course inreading or writing. For example, in thecombination biology-English composition course,the English instructor uses materials from thebiology course for assignments and the biologyinstructor requires writing assignments in andoutside of class ( Barshis, 1979). As with theASTRA Program, academic assessment, tutor-ing, counseling, learning laboratories, and theclose monitoring of student progress are inte-grated into the IN Program.

*.-".7Reinforcing Basic Skills In An CoursesStudents finishing developmental studies

programs frequently experience difficulty intheir college-level content courses. Factorsattributed with this- low success rate amongstudents who complete a developmental educa-tion program include: student difficultyapplying skills learned in reading, writing,and study skills courses to actual contentcourses; regression in student ability to applybasic skills due to a lack of continued practicein using those skills in their content courses;and student reluctance to seek needed assist-ance from the academic support services pro-vided by the college. Such problems arise

22

when no mechanism exists for the purpose ofproviding continuing academic support tostudents after they progress from their develop-mental-studies program.

The academic program at Miami-DadeCommunity , College contains two componentsdesigned to provide continued academic sup-port to all students, high-risk and others, intheir content courses. One aspect of theprogram is that "...all faculty share theresponsibility for assisting students in improv-ing their reading and writing skills by givingassignments, when appropriate, by reinforcingthe importance of these skills, by pointing outdeficiencies, and by directing students tofaculty who can provide the assistance needed"(Lukenbill and McCabe, 1978, p. 49). Incorpo-rating basic skirls instruction into all contentcourses gives 'students additional time todevelop proficiency in those skills and itenables faculty to identify students who needassistance in those areas.

Monitoring of student progress, advise-ment, and counseling are built into all coursesat Miami-Dade through its computerized Aca-demic Alert and Advisement System (Anandam,1981). At midterm, all faculty members provideinformation on questions pertaining to studentperformance and attendance in their courses.This information, combined with other dataabout the student (such as credit load, pre-vious performance, native language, age, andbasic skills test scores), is used to provideup-to-date information on student progress.This information is made available to students,faculty, and advisors, thus providing thecollege staff with a means for encouragingstudents to meet with their instructors andadvisors and, where appropriate, to refer themto basic skills laboratories or other supportunits.

Advantages Of Coordinated Skills And ContentInstruction

Advocates of integrating the teaching oflearning and study skills into the teaching ofthe regular college courses sight a number ofadvantages of this approach over presentingthis instruction in separate skills courses andlearning labs. Coordinating the teaching ofbasic skills with the content of an academiccourse should, through the transfer of. skillsto actual academic situations, help the studentsbecome effective in both the attached contentcourse and their courses in other areas.Sherman (1976) notes that students are likelyto master the skills necessary for success in aparticular subject if, in the skills component ofthat course, they are provided with directinstruction in reading an assigned textbookchapter; if they are shown specific techniquesfor organizing the material in that chapter; ifthey are giv n practice in verbalizing theimportant concepts of that chapter; if theyreceive guidance in writing about that chapter,and learn methods of preparing for and takinga test on that chapter.

Additional advantages of coordinatingservices typically, provided in separate develop-mental education programs with a particular

23

ti content course include the following. Studentshave a chance to earn academic credit andimprove their skills while taking courses thatthey perceive as relevant to the attainment oftheir educational goals: Academic faculty, byworking closely with skills instrustors, areprovided with a form of in-service trainirig---on---teaching nontraditional students. Academicsupport staff are given a direct means ofreaching students who could profit from theirprograms. And, learning skills staff canimprove the prestige of their program byletting students and faculty see for themselveshow applicable the services are to their courses.

ConclusionA high proportion of students are entering

community colleges with deficiencies in thelearnirig and study skills that are needed tosucceed in their courses. The literaturereviewed in this paper suggests that teachingliteracy skills simultaneously with academic

'course content is a valuable alternative to thetraditional approach of placing the academicallyunderprepared in separate remedial courses.

Jack Friedland& is research associate at the Centerfor the Study of Community Colleges, Los Angeles.

References

Anandam, K. Promises to Keep . . . AcademicAlert and Advisement. Miami, Fla.:Miami-Dade Community College, 1981.11pp. (ED number to be assigned)

Arwardy, J. W., and Chafin, C. K. TheTransitional Curriculum Program: TowardLearner Independence Through Develop-mental Education. Paper presented at theNational- Developmental Studies Conference,Atlanta, Ga., November 7, 1980. 28pp.(ED 197 662)

Barrow, L, "Providing Assistance to CollegeScience Teachers." In Pinette, C. andOthers (Eds.), Forum for Reading:The Journal for College Reading Improve-ment. Volume 12, No. 1, pp. 1317; Dec1980. (ED 197 288)

Barshis, D. The Loop College IndividualNeeds (IN) Program: An Analysis of ItsSuccess and a Guide to the Implementa-tion or Adaptation of Its Techniques.Chicago: Loop College, 1979. 24pp.(ED 181 946)

Bergman, I. B. "Integrating Reading Skillswith Content in a Two Year College."Journal of Reading; 20 (4): 327-329; Jan1977.

Currie, S. R. "Referring Community CollegeStudents to the Reading Program." Journalof Reading; 21 (5): 409-415; Feb 1978.

Eddy, i... M. Project ASTRA. Paper presentedat the 23rd Annual Meeting of the CollegeReading Association, Boston, Mass.,November 1-3, 1979: 8pp. (ED 184 071)

23

Friedlander, J. "Are College Support Programsand Services Reaching High-Risk Students?"Journal of College Student Personnel; 21

(1): 23-28; Jan 1980,Friedlander, J. Science Education for Women

and Minority Students in the Urban Com-munity College. Los Angeles: ERICClearinghouse for Junior Colleges, 1982a.(ED number to be assigned)

Friedlander, J. "Should Remediation Be Manda-tory?" Community College Review; Fall1982b (In press).

Harding, I.. B. Adjunct Classes: OrganizingResources for High Risk Students. Paperpresented at the 8th Annual Meeting ofthe Plains Regional Conference of theInternational Reading Association, Bismarck,N.D., September 25-27, 1980. 17pp. (ED197 280)

Johnson, J. A., and Others. One State'sEfforts to Get Serious about the HighRisk Student: Assessment, FacultyAdvisin Career Plannin. and Develomental Education in Oregon's CommunityColleges. Salem: Oregon State Depart-ment of Education, 1980. 133pp. (ED188 732)

Lukenbill, J. D., and Mcpabe, R. H. GeneralEducation in a Changing Society. GeneralEducation Program, Basic Skills Require-ments Standards of Academic Progress atMiami:-..Dade Community College. Miami,Fla.: Office of Institutional Research,

+. Miami -Dade Community College, 1978.98pp7.. (ED 158 812)

Moran, la; J. Piggybacking Reading and StudySkills onto College Courses. Paper pre-sented at the 25th Annual Meeting of theInternational Reading Association, St.Louis, Mo., May -5-9, 1980. 11pp. (ED186 879)

Sherman, D. C. An Innovative CommunityCollege Program Integrating the Funda-mentals of Reading and Writing with aCollege Level Introductory PsychologyCourse. Paper presented at the 20thAnnual Meeting of the College ReadingAssociation, Miami, Fla., October 20-23,1976. 6pp. (ED 131 433)

Tomlinson, B., and Tomlinson, M. IntegratingReading and Study Skills into CollegeBiology. Paper presented at the 1975National Reading Conference, 1975. 8pp.(ED 124 903)

4A.

Literacy and the Community CollegeTwo opposing views of literacy are at the

core of most public debates about the effective-ness of schools and the decline in academicability of college students. The symbolic viewmaintains that literacy is an individual traitmeasurable by standardized examinations inreading, writing, and recognizing correctusage in connected discourse. Typically,measures based upon the symbolic view areused to determine whether individuals shouldbe admitted to selective colleges and universi-ties or should be given preference in civilservice employment.

However, performance in classrooms orwork settings depends as much on motivationand the ability to get along with others as ontechnical competencies in reading and writing.A . second or transactional view of literacyconsiders the entire range of characteristicsrequired for groups to attain- their goalsrather than focusing primarily on the abilitiesof individuals to achieve high scores on stan-dardized tests.

The educational effectiveness of schoolsand colleges has most commonly been judgedby the standard examination scores of theirgraduates or matriculants. Consequently, lessthan half of the variation in predicting successin the classroom or on the job has typicallybeen considered in such evaluations. This isnot to say that schools and colleges cannot orshould not improve their teaching of readingand writing. Rather it suggests the constraintof resources in the form of time, staff, facili-ties, and equipment along with expandedresponsibilities to teach a more diverse clien-tele new subjects including specific careertraining, the free enterprise system, drivereducation, and so on. Something has to give.

The recently completed Oakwood study atArizona State University was funded by theNational Institute of Education to examine whatgives in a community college setting. Thestudy, conducted over a three-year period onone campus of an urban multicampus communitycollege district, used naturalistic observationand qualitative description to consider (1) theuse of written language in classrooms and inservices to students, and (2) how administra-tive priorities and the strategies used toachieve them indirectly influenced literacy.

Defining LiteracyConsistent with current trends, in defining

literacy (Bormuth, 1975; Kirsch and Guthrie,1979), the Oakwood study adopted a transac-tional view. From this perspective literacywas not considered a static trait or an indi-vidual's abilities but as a dynamic aspect ofsituation-specific and goal-related social activi-ties. Literacy was defined as the use ofreading and writing to pursue a goal within

I the activity, of a specific setting. This defini-tion led researchers to describe varietiesrather than levels of literacy and to interpretthese varieties in terms of associated contextsand purposes. In this way, the types of

24

reading and writing behaviors observed werenot attributed to an abstract notion of studentability but were examined in terms of partici-pants' motivations as well as the ambiences oftheir interactions.

In addition, literacy requirements on thecampus were studied in relation to studentservices, administrative activity, and theconstraints of the larger setting in which thecollege functioned.

Literacy at OakwoodAs a result of directed and nondirected

change during the three-year period of thestudy, Oakwood Community College expandedits educational missions and increased the sizeand diversity of its student population. Thesechanges had an effect on the educationalprogram and the campus environment. Liter-acy within this dynamic institutional settingtook on a form which we called "instrumentalbitting" because it involved the context-dependent use of bits of written language toaccomplish specific objectives. Interestingly,our observations of literacy at Oakwood wereconsistent with the literacy bahaviors describedin other education and work settings. (Heath,1980; Mikulecky and Diehl, 1980; Scribner andJacob, 1980). However, the findings contra-dict the commonly held expectation that collegeliteracy should involve the independent compre-hension and composition of extended writtendiscourse. To understand why the literacyobserved was different from popular concep-tions of college literacy, we must considerexternal influences, institutional responses,the college campus as it is experienced bystudents, and the effects of those contextualvariables on student and faculty behavior inthe classroom settings. Oakwood College waspart of a district with financial constraints,first in the form of declining percentages ofstate support of the operating budget, andlater in the form of a legislatively mandatedlimit on increases in property taxes; both ofthese constraints pervaded the decision-makingprocess.

In addition, a changing and more diversestudent clientele placed pressure oh educa-tional programs and services designed for aprevious clientele much more likely to befull-time, White, middle-class students inter-ested in earning baccalaureate degrees. Whenthe Oakwood study was conducted, the modalstudent was an older woman taking one courseand not interested in earning a degree. Inaddition, significant numbers of students wereunderprepared for the literacy demands placedupon them in traditional programs and ser-vices.

District administrators responded to andattempted to influence these aspects of institu-tional environment by establishing prioritiesfor the allocation of human and fiscal resources.The most important priorities for the educa-tional program included recruiting and servingnew clientele, improving student retention;

strengthening programs in de4elopmentaleducation, and enhancing and increasingopportunities, in occupational education.

Faculty members at Oakwood werepredominantly tenured and experienced. Theyidentified strongly with their disciplines, andtheir goals were associated with transferPrograms in a "junior college" environment.Changes in student demographics and in pro-gram emphases were difficult for faculty mem-bers to accept, and throughoUt the study,most remained uncommitted to the District'spriorities for change.

Each of the administrative priorities hadimportant but largely unrecognized conse-quences for the types of literacy observed inclassroom settings. The priority of recruitingand serving new clientele increased the divers-ity in student objectives and in reading andwriting skills. With more diverse objectivescame pressures for adaptations in classroomdemands, as faculty and students negotiatedtheir expectations of each other. The emphasison retention placed pressure on faculty tomodify their expectations, especially in regardto reading and writing demands, in order toensure an acceptable level of student success.The focus on developmental education assigneda priority to students who lacked the readingand writing skills essential to success in thetraditional programs. Finally, the administra-tive emphasis on occupational education pro-moted a more functional task-specific form ofliteracy.

Jhe priorities of attracting and servingnew clientele and of promoting developmentaleducation continued throughout the study toproduce significant resistance from faculty andadministrators. These priorities seemed tooffer the greatest threat to continuing institu-tional emphasis on prototypical or symbolicforms of college literacy.

While literacy was affected by administra-tive strategies for change, it was also influ-enced by less visible adaptations to the increas-ing numbers of nontraditional students.Institutional inertia led initially to the develop-ment of alternative programs and servicesdesigned at least as much to limit the effect ofnontraditional students on traditional programsand services as to respond effectively to a newclientele. The existence of special studentsupport services changed many campus literacydemands for students from reading and writingto speaking (primarily questioning) and listen-ing. Special educational programs for nontradi-tional students focused on teaching readingand writing skills within a highly structured,supportive classroom environment. Specialservices and programs also recruited effec-tively and helped nontraditional students tonegotiate the mysteries of the registr'ationprocess and the financial aids office. Inaddition, the clientele often found these ser-,vices and programs played advocacy roles withother institutional services or offices.

The creation of special programs as a

strategy for institutional adaptation to nontradi-tional students seemed inadequate because themodal student at Oakwood was nontraditional in

25

age, background, educational goals, andpreferred literacy behaviors. Adaptation of allservices and programs was required. 'Since noexplicit institutional policy had been developedto guide ,this adaptation, it occurred implicitlythrough of nondirected change notalways pre red or even anticipated by admin-istrators and faculty.

Faculty anditafffrequently complainedthat over the years they had been required todrop literacy demands because of perceiveddeclines in student ability and motivation. Thereading and writing observed in both classroomand nonclassroom settings throughout thecolleges contrasted with most people's concep-tions of college literacy.

Faculty and staff gava the students a

great deal of oral guidance for most writtenlanguage tasks. The amount of independentreading and writing expected of students wasreduced to a minimum. In addition, writtenresponses required in classroom settings, insuch administrative tasks as registration andadmissions, or in using supportive servicessuch as financial aid and career counseling,seldom necessitated that students comprehendor compose extended discourse. Usuallyreading and writing involved only bits oflanguage and fragmented meanings needed toaccomplish specific tasks. This type of lang-uage use was called "instrumental bitting" incontrast to a more extensive, holistic, andintrinsically rewarding form of l'anguage usetermed "texting". Texting w4s rare atOakwood; instrumental bitting was the norm.

The predominance of instrumental bittingdid not seem surprising in light of the institu-tional priorities and the characteristics of thestudents and f culty. Most students wereadults whose student role represented only oneof a, number of significant roles and responsi-bilities. They enrolled briefly on a part-timebasis for specific, often job-related purposes-.Since student networking was thin and orienta-tion and advisement activities haphazard, theexperience of students on the campus was notlikely to promote' a stronger rationale forinvesting large blocks of time in the studentrole. In classrooms, these students metrequirements and/or used specific information;',thus contributing to an environment increas-ingly hostile to those few, knowledge seekerswho may have wanted to becoine involved withlearning for its own sake. Since little' in theexperience of the students in the, formercategory caused them to develop or to want todevelop texting ability, their dominant presenceled to the almost exclusive use of bitting formsof reading and writing in classrooms and otherinstitutional settings. The teaching style ofOakwood faculty also promoted instrumentalbitting. Faculty were selected on the basis ofextensive training and experience in the con-tent area they taught, but were confrontedwith students typed as requirement meetersand specific information users. The institu-tion, becuase of the nature of its funding, aswell as the time constraints of heavy teachingloads, encouraged instructors to serve asinformation disseminators, setting specific

knowledge-level objectives for their coursesand then making it as easy as possible forstudents to obtain the bits of informationneeded to meet course requirements.

Administrators contributed to the deempha-sis on prototypical reading and writing. Theyscheduled staff development sessions to teachfaculty alternative approaches to servingstudents with different learning_ styles andcharacteristics. They placed heavy emphasison mediated ,instruction and the, use of simplywritten learning objectives tested for loWer,level cognitive outcomes. Larger class sizesand overload assignments further reduced thetime available for reading and evaluatingessays or term papers.

Implications of the Study

-Studies of literacy in secondary schools,job settings, and homes all seem to indicatethat instrumental bitting is a societal phenome-non typifying language use in most areas of anaverage adult's life. (Heath, 1979; Jacob andCrandall, 1979). The community colleges'priority to meet societal needs for both philoso-phic and economic rea.ons causes them tomirror societal trends in langUage use. Theeffort "to be all things to all people" hasproduced a curriculum incorporating virtuallyall facets of human knowledge for which thereis any demand for a structured learning experi-ence. The literacy behaviors expected of anonselective clientele cannot differ too markedlyfrom those prevailing in the larger societywithout discouraging students who are neededto V:nance the enterprise.

-There is of course, nothing wrong withoffering people what they want in a convenientand easily accessible format. But choices. mustbe made when resources are scarce, and thenature of these choices has important implica-tions for the future of community colleges andthose they serve.

A continuing emphasis on instrumentalbitting to the exclusion of prototypical textingmay increase the problems experienced bystudents transferring to four-year colleges anduniversities, the gate keepers for higherstatus occupations. A concern about thispossibility caused the Commission on theHigher Education of Minorities (1982) torecommend the establishment of a college withina college to preserve some of the character-istics of more traditional learning experiences.Reducing tune differences between college andcommunity, as sortie advocates of community-based learning centers and lifelong lea lingrecommend, may prove counterproductive interms of the responsibility of the communitycollege 'to facilitate upward social mobility.

At the same time, there is some evidenceto suggest that different expectations forliteracV behaviors in the community college maycontribute to successful attainment of baccalau-reate degrees by some students with academichigh. school backgrounds. (Breneman andNelson, 1981 p. 74). The prevalence of instru-mental a bitting and the relative absence ofrequirements for reading- or writing-connected

26

dis:ourse may make it possible for highly mot-ivated students with deficiencies in academicpreparations, as measured by their perform-ances on standardized examinations, to bypasslower division university courses where readingand writing abilities may be viewed as ends inthemselves.

Schools can teach traditional texting formsof reading and writing to relatively homogen-eous groups of students, or they can offer abroad range of content to extremely diverseclientele through efficient instrumental bittingprocedures. The evidence to date suggeststhey cannot do both and preserve the individ-ual performance standards characteristic of anearlier era with a less cluttered curriculum.The presence of large numbers of nontradi-,tional students whose objectives extend only tomeeting minimum requirements' for discretecourses or to obtaining needed information asefficiently as possible, led to unanticipated andperhaps unwanted adaptations in activities anddemands characterizing the learning environ-ment at Oakwood.

.Before community colleges commit them-selves to concepts and clientele that may proveincompatible with traditional concepts of access'and upward mobility, they urgently need to

'research the relationships between forms ofliteracy and other valued outcomes includingcognitive, development, knowledge acquisition,learning style, and social status. The choiceof emphasis in the classroom between tradi-tional forms of reading and writing. and effici-ency of information transfer througn instru-mental bitting is ultimately a mottor for publicpolicy. We would argue that the decisAr-should be guided by knowledge of cause andeffect and should not occur by default.

Richard C. Richardson Jr. is professor and chairmanof the College of Education, Arizona State University.Elizabeth Fisk is d graduate student at Arizona StateUniversity.

References

Bormuth, J. R. "Reading Literacy: ItsDefinition and Assessment." In: J. B.Cerro! and J. S. Chall (Eds.) Toward aLiterate Society. New York: McGraw-Hill,1975.

Breneman, D. W. and Nelson, S. C. FinancingCommunity Colleges: An Economic Per-spective. Washington, D. C . : BrookingsInstitution, 1981.

Commission on the Higher Education of Min-orities. Final Report of the Commissionon the Higher Education of the Minorities.Los Angeles: Higher Education ResearchInstitute, Inc., 1982. 44p. (ED numbernot yet assigned)

Heath, S. B. "The functions and uses of

9 t..1410

literacy." Journal of Communication,1980, 29, 123-33.

Jacob, E., and Crandall, J. A. Job-RelatedLiteracy: A Look at Current and NeededResearch. " Unpublished Manuscript.Arlington, Va.: Center for -AppliedLinguistics, 1979.

Kirsch, I., and Guthrie( J. T. "The conceptand measurement of functional literacy."Reading Research Quarterly, 1979, 4,485-507.

Mikulecky, L. J., and Diehl, W. Job Literacy:Literacy requirements in business and

Research Center, School of EducationIndiana University, 1980.

Scribner, S., and Jacob, E. Industrial liter-acy project. Progress report. Arlington,Va.: Center for Applied Linguistics,1980.

Information About The ClearinghouseERIC (Educational Resources InformationCenter) is a nationwide information network,sponsored by the National Institute of Educa-tion, for the collection and dissemination ofinformation about education. Since 1966, -ERIChas operated through sixteen subject-specialized clearinghouses, each responsible forproviding access to'the literature of educationin its scope area.

ERIC/JC (the ERIC Clearinghouse for JuniorColleges) is located at UCLA. It specializes ininformation about all aspects of two-yearcollege education. Included in our collectionare published and unpublished materials onpublic and private community and juniorcolleges, technical institutes, and two-yearbranch unjversity campuses. These materialscover administration; faculty, students, instruc-tion, curricula, support services, libraries,and community education.

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27

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Clearinghouse Publications. The ClearinghouseproduCes several series of publications whichsynthesize recent information about the two-year. college field. We will be happy to sendyou copies of the most recent publications inthe following series: Junior' College ResourceReviews, Topical Paper monographs, and FactSheets.- Also edited and coordinated at theClearinghouse are the Horizons monographicseries in conjunction with AACJC, and theNew Directions for Community Colleges quarterlypublished by'Jossey-Bass, Publishers. Ideasand outlines for these publications are welcome.Contact Gayle Byock, Associate Director.

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Fund Raising at the Community College

WM

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IntactiscipLinaAy Humanities

1Uno.2ty Students at Two - ;'east. College

Nontnaditionai Vocational Education eon Women

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