Students and Teachers Achieving Results (STAR) is a student-centered learning project developed by Long Beach City College, in California, to increase the success and retention rates of underrepresented students. Through STAR, students are provided with a program of linked courses that develop communication skills, utilize interdisciplinary curricula and cooperative learning, facilitate faculty involvement, build self-esteem, and offer academic and social support. In the project, 400 letters were sent to students who had placed at the lowest level in reading and writing assessment processes, with 24 students enrolling in the project's 12 and one-half core units of basic skills courses. STAR was designed to create a learning community by developing the cohort of students and linking courses through the theme, "college success for the basic skills student." In evaluating STAR, the college sought to determine the factors influencing the student cohort, identify desired program outcomes, use quantitative and qualitative assessment methods, and develop a strategic action plan. The college determined that STAR had significantly improved reading and writing skills, advanced a larger number of underrepresented students to higher course levels than usual, improved retention, reduced the number of underrepresented students on academic probation, increased their completion ratio, and elevated self-esteem. Appendixes provide the STAR linked curriculum, a description of the basic skills and competencies emphasized in the project, and a learning communities action plan. (TGI)