Do Reading Skills Courses Help Underprepared Readers Achieve Academic Success in College?

Student enrollment in colleges and universities has increased markedly during the last three decades. Between Fall 1970 and Fall 2000, enrollment in all degree-granting institutions rose from 8.5 million to about 15.1 million students. Simultaneously, there has been a proliferation of developmental skills programs in higher education institutions, largely in response to an increasing proportion of underprepared college students. This paper presents some empirical evidence of the effectiveness of three reading skills courses offered at a midwestern, regional, four-year state university. Regression analysis is used to explore possible determinants of students' academic performance in college. The study's findings suggest that underprepared readers' success in college is directly and significantly related to taking and passing a reading skills course.