The Accelerated Learning Program: Throwing Open the Gates

This article reports on the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), a new model of basic writing that has produced dramatic successes for the basic writing program at the Com- munity College of Baltimore County. Borrowing from mainstreaming programs, studio courses, fast track programs, and learning communities, ALP, for four consecutive semesters, has dou- bled the number of basic writers who succeed in passing first-year composition, has cut the at- trition rate for these students in half, has allowed them to accomplish this in half the time, and has done it all at slightly less cost per successful student than traditional basic writing courses.