A Foundation Priority: Catalyzing a Networked

Improvement Community for a Statistics Pathway

Anthony S. Bryk

September 2009

Ambitious Learning

For All Students

Establishing the Context:What are we working towards?

ASSUMPTION

We live in a knowledge-based economy

More EfficientSystems

ASSUMPTION

Fierce competition for resources

Current

“Hot Topics” in

the Academy

Current

“Hot Topics” in

the Academy

Foundation “Y” Strategic

Priorities

Foundation “Y” Strategic

Priorities

Local

Institutio

nal

Consideratio

nsLocal

Institutio

nal

Consideratio

ns

Comm

ercial

Market

IncentivesCom

mercial

Market

Incentives

R P

R

P

PP

R

R

RR

P

RR

R P

A Dense Array of Fragmented Activity

Key: = Individual Researcher = Individual Practitioner

R

P

But We Live in an Incoherent Environment for Improvement

Ambitious Learning

For All Students

More EfficientSystems

“The Horizon”

Networked improvement communities needed

The current educational R&D system will not get us to our goals

• Problems of Practice Improvement Focus• Rapid prototyping-test-refine-retry (Engineering)• Co-development in an open resources environment• Not just can it work; How to make it work reliably

• A major institution for advancing social equity and fueling 21st century labor needs.

• Yet many students find their path to success blocked by developmental ed requirements.

• A “bridge problem” between K-12 and post-secondary.

• So let’s remove the wall and figure out how to effect greater success for larger numbers of students.

Why Focus on Developmental Mathematics

in Community Colleges?

• Nationally: – 60 percent of students enrolling in community

colleges take remedial classes. – 90 percent for low-income and minority students at

some community colleges.– The number of students moving from remedial

education classes to college-level courses can drop as low as 15 percent

A Failure of Basic Education:The Problem is Everywhere

Many Different Claims about the Problem and Promising Solutions

A samplerP: Assessments misplace students in developmental math ( taking test “cold turkey”)

S: Summer Bridge Programs

P: Assessments misplace students in developmental math ( taking test “cold turkey”)

S: Summer Bridge Programs P: Weak instructional

practices

S: faculty improvement community

P: Weak instructional practices

S: faculty improvement community

P: Incoherent Curriculum structure/schedule( too many discrete hurdles)

S: Integrated, intensive, course pathways

P: Incoherent Curriculum structure/schedule( too many discrete hurdles)

S: Integrated, intensive, course pathways

P: Weak counseling support servicesS: case management system

P: Weak counseling support servicesS: case management system

P: Not allocating our best people to our hardest problems

S: Change incentive/ rewards systems

P: Not allocating our best people to our hardest problems

S: Change incentive/ rewards systems

P: Targeting the wrong learning goals for many students?

P: Targeting the wrong learning goals for many students? P: Students weakly

connected to institution/peers

S: learning communities

P: Students weakly connected to institution/peers

S: learning communities

P: We are out of touch. 21st century studentsS: exploit technology

P: We are out of touch. 21st century studentsS: exploit technology

P: a problem analysis S: a promising solution claim

A Big Orienting Question: Are We Aiming at the Right

Learning Goals?

• What is that students actually need to know and do for success in work and life?

• And taking a step back, what are they likely to know upon entry into a community college?

Revisiting the Question of Rigor:An “Immodest Proposal”

• More content for more students along the path to Calculus?

• Or, robust instructional systems where all students attain:• Deep understanding of basic concepts• Attain procedural fluency in use• Apply these fundaments in analyzing basic problems in work and personal life

• Coupled with statistics, data analysis, quantitative reasoning• the mathematics for many occupations• the mathematics for many professions• the mathematics for citizenship--making decisions under uncertainty about our life in an increasingly complex commons

An Improvement Network Organized Around Solving This Problem

– A common analytic frame for organizing local improvements

– Common measures (student background, processes, and outcomes) to inform continuous improvement

– A shared technical capacity to support and build local capacity

– Linked together in a community of participation (face-to-face and web 2.0)

What do we need to

know about the

students?

Mathematics skills, understanding&

background

Literacy and language capacities

Schooling histories/Experiences

Work-family factors affecting

persistence

What do we need to

know about the

students?

Mathematics skills, understanding&

background

Literacy and language capacities

Schooling histories/Experiences

Work-family factors affecting

persistence

P: Assessments misplace students in developmental math ( taking test “cold turkey”)

S: Bootcamps

P: Assessments misplace students in developmental math ( taking test “cold turkey”)

S: Bootcamps P: Weak instructional practices

S: nurture faculty-research improvement community

P: Weak instructional practices

S: nurture faculty-research improvement community

P: Incoherent Curriculum structure/schedule( too many discrete hurdles; no “race course”; no continuity faculty & students)

S: Integrated, intensive, course pathways

P: Incoherent Curriculum structure/schedule( too many discrete hurdles; no “race course”; no continuity faculty & students)

S: Integrated, intensive, course pathways

P: Weak counseling support servicesS: case mngt. systems

P: Weak counseling support servicesS: case mngt. systems

What must students know/do & do we know if we’reImproving?

Computational skills

Math understanding necessary for subsequent success

Dispositions to succeed in college

Acquired social capital to persist

What must students know/do & do we know if we’reImproving?

Computational skills

Math understanding necessary for subsequent success

Dispositions to succeed in college

Acquired social capital to persist

P: Not allocating our best people to our hardest problems

S: Change incentive/ rewards systems

P: Not allocating our best people to our hardest problems

S: Change incentive/ rewards systems

P: Targeting the wrong learning goals for many students

P: Targeting the wrong learning goals for many students P: Students weakly

connected to institution/peers

S: learning communities

P: Students weakly connected to institution/peers

S: learning communities

P: We are out of touch. 21st century studentsS: exploit technology

P: We are out of touch. 21st century studentsS: exploit technology

A Student-Centered Statistics Pathway

An Open Resources Infrastructure

Program Improvement MapProgram Improvement Map

Research

Nodes Practice NodesR P

R P

PP

R

R

RR

R P

P

RR

R

P

P

RP

P

P

R

An Improvement Network Organized Around Solving the Problem

Core R&D Relationships

R&D RelationshipsEnhanced/Scaledvia CommercialPartnerships

OER/D-EE-D Platform

Program Improvement MapProgram Improvement Map

Research

Nodes Practice Nodes

Hub

R P

R P

PP

R

R

RR

R P

P

RR

R

P

P

RP

P

P

R

An Improvement Network Organized Around this Problem

Capacity 1:Instructional

Core• Learning

Goals/Curriculum Framework

• Core Instructional Practices

• Advancing student success -- how to engage the learner and provide social supports for learning

Capacity 2:Integrated

Assessments• Entry assessments to

inform and individualize instruction—understanding better who our students are

• Embedded formative assessment tasks

• Summative performance assessment

Capacity 3:Faculty Learning

• Nurture faculty community around this instructional system and its continuous improvement

• Resources to enhance faculty expertise at they engage “this instructional system with these students”

• Develop teaching performance assessments ( learning teaching)

Building knowledge development & management capacity 3

Infusing special attention to ELL students/language/literacy issues2

Investigating the technology value-added possibilities1

Cro

ss-c

uttin

g C

apac

ities

Capacity 4:Organizational

Change• Leadership

engagement support and press for change

• Building capacity of change agents internal and external

Seed the Network with Core Technical Support

Math English GE1 GE2 . . . Transfer LevelCredits

(no pre-requisites)

1-YEAR

1-YEAR

Statistics

Just-in-time

Inter. Algebra

Pre-Algebra

Elem. Algebra

Just-in-time

Just-in-time

The End Goal: MeasureableSuccess on a Statistics Pathway