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In this document, the first of a projected series of reports on ensuring student success, student equity, and rigorous instructional standards, an overview is provided of the steps taken by Glendale Community College (GCC) to refine and improve student placement in the English curriculum. Following introductory material outlining factors precipitating the college's review of its placement procedures, the report provides background on the GCC's use of the Comparative Guidance and Placement (CGP) test and the College Entrance Examination Board test to assess students' English skills. It also discusses changes in academic standards and students' skill levels and the complications inherent in refining the existing placement system. The next section reviews the statistical procedures used to evaluate and create placement criteria. Several personal and academic characteristics were studied to determine those most highly correlated with success in English 101, including importance to self and others, years out of school, last English and math class, grade in high school math and English, gender, expected hours of employment, primary language, ethnicity, high school grade point average, years of English, age, orientation/guidance course, and CGP reading and sentence scores. The report also describes a second evaluation of the placement system involving a comparison of placement results with the holistic writing scores available on a sub-section of entering students. The final section reviews plans for ongoing evaluation of spring and fall 1989 students and the development of a report on student characteristics for the use of counselors. (JMC)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert