The Second Change: A summary Report.

This summary contains instructors' discussions of an independent research report which evaluated the compensatory education program at El Paso Community College, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Because of open admissions policies, many students enter this college without the prerequisite basic skills necessary to understand their texts. Over 75% of entering students have been found to need one or more reading courses in order to successfully pursue college-level courses where the textbook may be written at an eleventh to thirteenth grade reading level. Over 35% of the entering students have been found to read at only sixth to eighth grade reading level. Similar deficits are found in English and mathematics. One important conclusion discussed is that students with a need for compensatory courses do become more competitive in the college level courses after taking skills courses. A random sampling of students who needed but did not take skills courses showed a 73% failure in college freshman English and an 80% failure in a comparable level of math, while those who took skills courses because of their placement scores showed a 29% failure in college English and a 20% failure in math. (MKM)