The purpose of this study was to improve the mean scores on the COMPASS college placement test after guiding students through a PowerPoint presentation referred to as COMPASS orientation. Scores obtained from college placement tests indicated a large number of entering college students were not prepared for college-level classes. During the 2006–2007 academic year, 1,427 COMPASS placement tests were administered to students enrolling in the Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC). Of that number, over 70% produced scores at or below the level requiring developmental education. Data showed that only 28% of the students taking the COMPASS placement tests required no developmental course work and could enter college-level general education classes and receive college credit. This study proposed that a short orientation immediately preceding the COMPASS placement test would increase COMPASS placement test scores. Findings from the study showed that a 5-minute pre-test orientation did not significantly improve the mean test scores in reading, writing, or pre-algebra on the COMPASS placement tests. The study showed that algebra scores had a significantly improved mean score on the exam after intervention with the COMPASS orientation tutorial PowerPoint presentation. Recommendations from this study suggest that orientations and workshops should be mandatory for all college applicants. Online web sources should contain materials and web links for COMPASS study questions, COMPASS Web site addresses, and college pre-test workshops and orientation dates. Stakeholders such as local advisory committees, community businesses, and high schools should be involved with college application requirements. How underprepared college students impact the available workforce pool and the local economy should be discussed, and these businesses should be enlisted to suggest avenues for improving testing outcomes and college success.

Orientador: Raquel Salek Fiad / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T23:26:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Miranda_FlaviaDanielleSordiSilva_M.pdf: 5344515 bytes, checksum: 9dda85b18f8d163ec459455c553b46dd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: Neste trabalho, analiso enunciados publicados em fóruns on-line de quatro comunidades virtuais da rede social Orkut, a fim de investigar práticas letradas no meio digital e suas relações com/para contextos off-line, em especial, formados pelas instituições escolares. Para tanto, faço uso de metodologia qualitativa, de cunho etnográfico em que os registros foram gerados em navegações na Internet e abarcam o período de janeiro a dezembro de 2010, compondo um total de 499 enunciados selecionados. Com base nas concepções enunciativas sócio-históricas, de dialogismo e sobre os gêneros discursivos de Bakhtin, assumo que todo enunciado é elo de uma cadeia complexa formada por outros enunciados com os quais dialoga em uma atitude responsiva. Logo, não adoto posição taxativa que considere on-line e off-line como "mundos" separados e incomunicáveis. Pelo contrário, acredito em sua interconexão e continuidade, sendo essencial conjugar, portanto, alguns pressupostos ligados ao(s) letramento(s) e aos gêneros digitais, visto que o corpus foi formado por meio da web. Na busca por compreender os processos de produção escrita que se davam nos fóruns examinados, percebi que a publicação, correção e composição de textos no ambiente Orkut eram feitas como forma de treinamento para exames vestibulares, bem como concursos e tarefas escolares em sua maioria. Dessa forma, constatei que os gêneros produzidos em supremacia pelos internautas eram os mesmos praticados no Ensino Médio e que os principais critérios com que os textos eram analisados também eram similares aos empregados por professores, destacando-se a reescrita como estratégia fundamental. Por um lado, a retomada de práticas do letramento escolar no meio digital pôde evidenciar tanto o embricamento entre on-line e off-line, quanto lacunas no currículo escolar e a necessidade de repensar suas práticas mediante os multiletramentos colocados em foco, sobretudo, pelas novas tecnologias digitais. Por outro lado, pude identificar como as práticas de escrita na rede são favoráveis ao ensino-aprendizagem da escrita em função do maior número de pares que os orkuteiros têm, bem como devido ao fato de que, ao escreverem no computador, podem visualizar suas atividades, elaborando reflexões e percepções mais claras sobre o processo de escrever em uma meta-análise de suas produções escritas. Além disso, verifiquei como ideias sobre atividades de escrita carregadas pelos orkuteiros entrelaçavam-se a concepções de sujeitos que circulam ou já circularam na sociedade, revelando o dialogismo como (rica) propriedade da linguagem / Abstract: This research aims at examining published statements in on-line forums in four on-line Orkut's communities in which topics permeate the writing or rewriting of texts, in order to observe the peculiarities of literacy practices that circulate in the digital, as well as analyzing their connections with off-line and schools. It is a kind of qualitative research situated in the field of Applied Linguistics studies and ethnography. The registers were generated from a corpus formed by access of the Internet during the year of 2010. According to socio-historic Bakhtin's notion of dialogism and discursive genre, I believe that all statements are links in a complex discursive chain formed to other statements with which they dialog in a responsive way. This research doesn't take on-line and off-line like separated worlds, otherwise I believe that there is interconnection and continuity between them. This work is also based on studies on the literacy and digital literacy considering that the corpus was constructed in the web. In the study I realize that the textual production on Orkut was a kind of train for student's tests in examinations in general. The analysis of the orkuteiro's texts pointed out that the majority produced genres were the same that ones produced in High School as well as the way to make the corrections was similar to the teacher's action, in this way rewriting the text is the principal strategy. On this side, resume scholar practices on digital media shows the relation between on-line and off-line, as well as gaps in the scholar curriculum. It's time of thinking about scholar practices in relation with the multiliteracies on focus, especially, for the new digital technologies. On the other hand, I could identify how practices of writing on the network are good for the teachinglearning of writing in the light of the highest number of peer the people who use Orkut have. When they write in a computer they can display their activities drawing up reflections and perceptions about the writining process in a meta-analysis of their writing productions. Moreover this work examined the concepts of writing and language expressed by the members in the social network and in the society, indicating the dialogism like (rich) feature of language / Mestrado / Lingua Materna / Mestre em Linguística Aplicada

This qualitative multiple-case study explored the supports and barriers experienced by nine first-generation Hispanic male high school students who met the college entrance requirements for the University of California and California State University systems. Research indicates that Hispanic males lag behind other underrepresented populations when it comes to college readiness, application, and enrollment rates. Given that parent education level is a strong predictor of degree attainment and that Hispanics have some of the lowest parent education levels, it is essential to examine how first-generation college-bound Hispanic males experience supports that help mitigate the barriers they face when pursuing college enrollment. Particularly in California, where the Hispanic population continues to rise exponentially, it is important for educational practitioners to develop a better understanding of how to support first-generation Hispanic students. This study aims to contribute to the research on improving college access for underrepresented populations using resiliency theory as the lens through which to examine this issue. Rather than look through a deficit-oriented lens, resiliency theory focuses on the protective factors or supports that help mitigate risk factors or barriers. Using data collected through interviews and document analysis, the findings here showed the significant role of supports such as academic capital and college knowledge, a systematic focus on college readiness, college readiness and bridge programs, and a strong counseling program for these students. In addition, it was evident that the students’ familial connections to college had a significant impact on the level of academic capital of each of them, reinforcing the need to look beyond the label of “first-generation”.