Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

The main objective of the authors' proposed study is to evaluate the effectiveness of math placement policies for entering community college students on these students' academic success in math, and their transfer and graduation rates. The main research question that guides the proposed study is: What are the effects of various basic skills mathematics paths on the course-taking patterns of community college students? Their study combines descriptive analyses with a regression discontinuity (RD) design to estimate the effect of developmental education. They have two closely related goals: (1) To provide a descriptive analysis of the course taking patterns (basic skills and college level) of community college students; and (2) To use a regression-discontinuity design to test the effect of assignment to different levels of basic skills courses in mathematics on subsequent educational outcomes. The sampling frame for their analysis consists of about 158,000 community college students who were placed into mathematics in one of nine Los Angeles County Community Colleges between June 2001 and September 2009 and for whom a Continuous Placement Score (CPS) is available in the management information system maintained by the Los Angeles Community College District. The authors have been able to identify the assessment and placement practices in 4 of the 9 community colleges. Table 1 describes the placement rules for these 4 colleges. This evaluation provides insights to the district and the state about the effect of placement on successful course sequences that have the potential to promote persistence and save millions of dollars to the state. (Contains 4 tables.)

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