Why take developmental English and reading classes?
College students read and write a lot: textbooks, library research, PowerPoint presentations, lecture notes, research papers, and reports. That’s a lot of information to absorb, process, and use to advance your own comprehension and create new knowledge. Our developmental English and readings classes are in place to prepare you for the challenge.
Parkland’s Comprehensive Assessment ensures that students are placed into classes at the appropriate level of skill and difficulty to give you the greatest chance of success. If your assessment places you into developmental English or reading, you will need to complete, or concurrently enroll in, those classes before you will be able to take many college-level courses. If you have questions about your placement, be sure to speak with your academic advisor or the Humanities department chair.
At Parkland, you'll have the advantage of small class sizes, taught by master faculty—never teaching assistants. Your success is our priority.
Classes
Writing Skills Review I and II (ENG 098 and ENG 099): Both courses provide extensive writing practice and review of grammar and sentence structure. ENG 098 focuses on paragraph development and organization within multi-paragraph essays, and ENG 099 continues this focus on essay structure, organization, and development of ideas.
Critical Comprehension Skills I and II (CCS 098 and CCS 099): Both courses focus on developing college-level readings skills, including essay analysis, note-taking (annotating), and critical thinking. Students who place into CCS 099 may enroll in college-level, reading-intensive courses if they are concurrently enrolled in CCS 099.
Will my classes transfer?
Developmental level courses at Parkland may fulfill developmental requirements at other institutions, but they do not transfer as college-level classes.
For more information about transferring, speak with an academic advisor and visit the Parkland Course Matrix.