COMPLETE COLLEGE AMERICAREMEDIATION INSTITUTESEPTEMBER 21, 2011

KATIE HERN & MYRA SNELLTHE CALIFORNIA ACCELERATION PROJECT, 3CSN

THE CASE FOR ACCELERATION:SHORTENING SEQUENCES AND ELIMINATING EXIT POINTS

PLUS TWO OPEN-ACCESS, ONE-SEMESTER MODELS: > INTEGRATED READING AND WRITING AT CHABOT COLLEGE > PATH2STATS AT LOS MEDANOS COLLEGE

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

The more levels of developmental courses a student must go through, the less likely that student is to ever complete college English or Math.

Bailey, Thomas. (February 2009). Rethinking Developmental Education. CCRC Brief. Community College Research Center. Teachers College, Columbia University.

NATIONWIDE DATA256,672 FIRST-TIME DEGREE-SEEKING STUDENTS FROM 57 COLLEGES PARTICIPATING IN ACHIEVING THE DREAM

Students’ initial placement in developmental sequence

% of students who successfully complete college-level gatekeeper course in subject

Reading

1 Level Below College 42%

2 Levels Below College 29%

3 Levels or More Below College 24%

Referral, Enrollment, and Completion in Developmental Education Sequences in Community Colleges (CCRC Working Paper No. 15). By: Thomas Bailey, Dong Wook Jeong & Sung-Woo Cho. December 2008. New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University. (Revised November 2009).

NATIONWIDE DATA256,672 FIRST-TIME DEGREE-SEEKING STUDENTS FROM 57 COLLEGES PARTICIPATING IN ACHIEVING THE DREAM

Students’ initial placement in developmental sequence

% of students who successfully complete college-level gatekeeper course in subject

Math

1 Level Below College 27%

2 Levels Below College 20%

3 Levels or More Below College 10%

Referral, Enrollment, and Completion in Developmental Education Sequences in Community Colleges (CCRC Working Paper No. 15). By: Thomas Bailey, Dong Wook Jeong & Sung-Woo Cho. December 2008. New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University. (Revised November 2009).

AND DATA LOWLIGHTS FROM ACROSS CALIFORNIA…

Black students are more likely to be placed in the lowest level of remedial English than other ethnic groups.

Black students are much less likely to be placed in the highest remedial English course than White students (40% of Black students vs. 64% of White students).

Both Black and Latino students are much more likely to be placed into the lowest level of remedial Math than White or Asian students.

Perry, M.; Bahr, P.R.; Rosin, M.; & Woodward, K.M. (2010). Course-taking patterns, policies, and practices in developmental education in the California Community Colleges. Mountain View, CA: EdSource.

WHY HIGH ATTRITION RATES ARE A STRUCTURAL PROBLEM

For students placing two levels below a college course in English/Math, there are 5 “exit points” where they fall away:

Do they pass the first course? If they pass, do they enroll in the next course? If they enroll, do they pass the second course? If they pass, do they enroll in the college-level

course? If they enroll, do they pass the college-level course?

Students placing three levels down have 7 exit points.

WHY HIGH ATTRITION RATES ARE A STRUCTURAL PROBLEM

Chabot College pipeline data for students beginning two levels down from college composition:

Do they pass the first course? 55% If they pass, do they enroll in the next course? 76% If they enroll, do they pass the second course? 79% If they pass, do they enroll in the college-level course? 86% If they enroll, do they pass the college-level course? 83%

(0.55)(0.76)(0.79)(0.86)(0.83)= 23%

HOW WOULD INCREASING FIRST-COURSE SUCCESS IMPACT OVERALL COMPLETION RATE?

(0.55)(0.76)(0.79)(0.86)(0.83)= 23%

Try it out…What if we got the first course to 65% success?

75% success?

85% success?

(Keep the other numbers the same)

THE INEVITABILITY OF ATTRITION IN SEQUENCES

Hern, K. & Snell, M. (June/July 2010). Exponential Attrition and the Promise of Acceleration in Developmental English and Math. Perspectives. Berkeley, CA: RP Group.

BOTTOM LINE

We will never significantly increase completion rates of college English and Math unless we reduce the length of our developmental sequences and eliminate the many exit points where students fall away.

A Working Definition:Curricular restructuring that reduces sequence length and eliminates exit points. Ideally includes a reconsideration of curricular content: Is what we are teaching what students truly need to succeed in college English or Math?

Key Student Outcome to Track:What percentage of students from different starting placements go on to complete college English/Math?

ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION

ONE WELL-ESTABLISHED MODEL OF ACCELERATED READING & WRITING

Chabot CollegeEnglish 102: Reading, Reasoning, and Writing (Accelerated)

A one-semester 4-unit developmental English course leading directly to English 1A

• An alternative to two-semester, 8-unit sequence

• No minimum placement score, students self-place in either the accelerated or two-semester path

• Developed with “backwards design” from college English: Students engage in the same kinds of reading, thinking, and writing of college English, with more scaffolding and support

• College has expanded accelerated offerings in last decade: course now constitutes more than 75% of entry-level sections

EVIDENCE ACCELERATION WORKS:SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN STUDENTS PERSISTING TO AND SUCCEEDING IN COLLEGE ENGLISH

EVIDENCE ACCELERATION WORKS:WHEN CHABOT ACCELERATED STUDENTS GET TO COLLEGE ENGLISH, THEY PASS AT THE SAME RATE AS STUDENTS FROM LONGER TRACK(AND TWICE AS MANY ACTUALLY GET THERE)

Non-Accelerated Eng 101A/B, 04-09 Accelerated Eng 102, 04-090%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

82% 82%

EVIDENCE ACCELERATION WORKS:INCREASED STUDENT SUCCESS IN 9 OUT OF 10 COURSES ACROSS CURRICULUM OVER STUDENTS WHO HAVE PASSED NO ENGLISH

Geogr

aphy

1

Histor

y 7

Histor

y 8

Health

1

Music

1

Polit

ical

Sci

1

Psyc

holo

gy 1

Socio

logy

1

Spee

ch 1

Busin

ess 1

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

52%49% 50%

63%

54% 54%

63%59%

62%

44%

69%

63%

74% 72%68%

60%

74%

64%

73%

43%

Success in High-Enrollment G.E. CoursesFall 2007-Summer 2009

No English Courses PassedAccelerated English Course Passed

OPEN-ACCESS, ONE-SEMESTER CLASSES

People often have a hard time with the concept of an open-access class one-level below college English:

“One semester? No minimum placement score?!”

“But don’t some students need a slower path? The ones with very low skills?”

Data from Chabot and Las Positas colleges are useful to consider here…

AT FIRST GLANCE, IT LOOKS LIKE SOME STUDENTS MIGHT NOT BE WELL-SERVEDBY AN ACCELERATED PATH…

Data from Spring ‘06-Fall ‘09. Las Positas N = 1,847 accelerated, 1,016 non-accelerated.Chabot N = 2,716 accelerated students, 2,174 non-accelerated.

AND YET…THEY DON’T DO BETTER ON THE SLOWER PATH

Data from Spring ‘06-Fall ‘09. Las Positas N = 1,847 accelerated, 1,016 non-accelerated.Chabot N = 2,716 accelerated students, 2,174 non-accelerated.

THE SAME IS TRUE FOR STUDENTS WITH EVEN LOWER SCORES…

Data from Spring ‘06-Fall ‘09. Las Positas N = 1,847 accelerated, 1,016 non-accelerated.Chabot N = 2,716 accelerated students, 2,174 non-accelerated.

If we know we’ll lose more students in the longer sequence, and they don’t even pass the slower-paced courses at higher rates, can we really keep thinking the longer path is the better choice for low-scoring students?

BOTTOM LINE:

PATH2STATS, LOS MEDANOS COLLEGERationale:

o Student Pathways 70-80% of Los Medanos College students who complete the developmental math sequence and take a college-level math course take Statistics. They are not STEM students

o Misalignment of Developmental Math with StatisticsVery little algebra is needed to be successful in Statistics

RATIONALE FOR Path2Statso Misalignment of Developmental

Math with Statistics

ONE NEW MODEL OF ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENTAL MATH

Path2Stats, Los Medanos College A 6-unit developmental Math course with no prerequisite:

Intended for non-STEM students

Bypasses the standard 4-course sequence leading to Calculus

Developed through “backwards design” from college Statistics:

Includes only those elements of algebra and arithmetic relevant to Statistics

“Just-in-time remediation” of relevant algebra and arithmetic as students engage in statistical analysis

Successful students eligible to take college Statistics

Offered since 2009

(EMERGING) EVIDENCE ACCELERATION WORKS: Proof of Concept

Summary of 1st two cohorts (2009, 2010)

Success in accelerated pre-Stat course 85% (71 of 84)

Persistence to Statistics 93% (66 of 71)

Success in Statistics 82% (54 of 66)

Overall college course completion rate 64% (54 of 84)

(EMERGING) EVIDENCE ACCELERATION WORKS: Proof of Concept

Student placement in math sequence

Path2Stats: % of students successfully completing Statistics

% of students who successfully complete college-level math course

Transfer-level 100% (3 of 3)

Intermediate Algebra 90% (18 of 20) 29% (93 of 320)

Elementary Algebra 85% (22 of 26) 17% (49 of 292)

Pre-algebra or Arithmetic

31% (11 of 35) 5% (8 of 155)

ABOUT US

California Acceleration ProjectSupporting California’s 112 Community CollegesTo Redesign their English and Math Curricula And Increase Student Completion

  http://3csn.org/developmental-sequences khern@chabotcollege.edumsnell@losmedanos.edu

An initiative of the California Community Colleges’ Success Network (3CSN), with support from the Walter S. Johnson Foundation, LearningWorks, and the “Scaling Innovation” project of the Community College Research Center