Increasing Student Completion Through Accelerated English & Math

California Acceleration ProjectSummer InstituteFullerton CollegeJune 7-8, 2014

Katie HernCAP DirectorEnglish InstructorChabot Collegekhern@chabotcollege.edu http://cap.3csn.org

Myra SnellCAP Math LeadProfessor of MathematicsLos Medanos Collegemsnell@losmedanos.edu

The California Acceleration Project: Increasing Completion among Underprepared Students

• Nearly all 112 California colleges have participated in CAP workshops

• 47 colleges have participated in CAP Community of Practice and are piloting English and Statistics pathways that – Reduce students’ time in remediation by at least a

semester– Align remediation with college-level requirements – Use high-challenge, high-support pedagogy– Make no changes to rigorous, transfer-level course

(only remediation is changed)

35 CAP English & ESL CollegesAllan Hancock College* Gavilan College Palomar College (ESL)

Butte College* Imperial Valley College Pasadena City College

Cerritos College Irvine Valley College* Porterville College

Chabot College* Lake Tahoe College* San Diego Mesa College

City College of San Francisco*

LA Trade Tech Santa Monica College

College of Marin LA Valley College Santa Rosa College*

College of the Canyons* Laney College (ESL) Southwestern College*

College of the Redwoods* Lassen College Skyline College*

Cuyamaca College* (Eng & ESL*)

Los Medanos College West Los Angeles College*

Feather River College Moreno Valley College* West Valley College

El Camino College – Compton

Mt San Jacinto College Yuba College*

Fullerton College Ohlone College

* 2014-15 Participants

23 CAP Math CollegesBerkeley City College * LA Mission College*

Cañada College * Los Medanos College*

Chabot College * Moreno Valley College*

City College of San Francisco Palomar College

College of Alameda* Pasadena City College

College of the Canyons* Riverside City College

College of the Redwoods* San Diego City College

Contra Costa College* San Diego Miramar College

Cuesta College Shasta College*

Cuyamaca College Skyline College

Diablo Valley College West Valley College

LA Harbor College

* 2014-2015 Participants

http://youtu.be/cjHA9WbLzTs

• In California, over 70% of first-time community college students who take an assessment test are determined “unprepared for college” in English, math, or both.

• Student Success Scorecards show that these students have significantly lower completion rates than those classified as “college prepared.”

The Problem

Community Colleges’ Traditional Approach to Students Considered Unprepared

Community colleges have typically required students classified as “unprepared” to complete 1-4 semesters of basic skills courses before enrolling in college-level English and math. These courses don’t count toward credential or transfer.

The Unintended Consequence:Weeding Students Out of College

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.

Weeding Students Out of College:English-Writing in California

Students’ Starting Placement English-Writing

% Completing Transfer-Level English in 3 Years

One Level Below 48%

Two Levels Below 34%

Three or more Levels Below 19%

Statewide data, Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, Fall 2009-Spring 2012

Weeding Students Out of College:Mathematics in California

Students’ Starting Placement Mathematics

% Completing Transfer-Level Math in 3 Years

One Level Below 35%

Two Levels Below 15%

Three or more Levels Below 6%

Statewide data, Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, Fall 2009-Spring 2012

Basic Skills Cohort Tracker

Disproportionate Impact Across California• Black and Latino students are much more likely to be placed 3-4

levels below college math:Black students: 61%

Latino students: 53%

White students: 34%

Asian students: 32%

• Students of color are much more likely to be placed 3-4 levels below college English:

Black students: 25%

Asian students: 19%

Hispanic students: 18%

White students: 8%

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.

Toward Solutions

Questioning the premise that over 70% of students need remediation

A 2012 study by the Community College Research Center found that up to 60% of students placed into remediation could have earned a C or better if they enrolled directly into a college-level English or math course

Sample Placement Test Item

Writing a best seller had earned the author a sum of money and had freed him from the necessity of selling his pen for the political purposes of others. Rewrite, beginning with The author was not obliged

The new sentence will includeA) consequently he earnedB) because he had earnedC) by earningD) as a means of earning

More Test Items: Are You College-Ready?

Problems with Placement Testing

“Colleges generally place students into remedial classes based primarily on a single score on a standardized test. Yet the evidence on the predictive validity of these tests is not as strong as many might assume, and research fails to find evidence that the resulting placements into remediation improve student outcomes.”

Core Principles for Transforming Remedial Education: A Joint Statement

The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas, AustinComplete College America

The Education Commission of the StatesJobs for the Future

Toward Solutions

Rethinking Multi-Level

Remedial Sequences

Attrition in Remedial Sequences: A Structural Problem

If they enroll, students placed 2 levels below college English/Math face 5 “exit points” where they fall away:

• If they enroll, 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 placed 3 levels down face 7 exit points,if they enroll at all.

Illustration: Chabot College

Students beginning two levels below College English:• Do they enroll in the first course? ??%• If they enroll, do they pass the first course? 66%• If they pass, do they enroll in the next course? 93%• If they enroll, do they pass the second course? 75%• If they pass, do they enroll in the college-level course? 91%• If they enroll, do they pass the college-level course? 78%

(0.66)(0.93)(0.75)(0.91)(0.78)= 33%

Fall 2006 Cohort. Students tracked from their first developmental English enrollment and followed for all subsequent English enrollments for 3 years. Pass rates includes students passing on first or repeated attempts within timeframe. Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, DataMart.

A Thought experiment: What if more students passed the first course?How many would complete the college level

course?

(0.66)(0.93)(0.75)(0.91)(0.78 ) = 33%

If 75% passed the first course… 37%

If 80% passed the first course…40%

If 90% passed the first course…45%

What if 90% passed and persisted at each point? (0.90)(0.90)(0.90)(0.90)(0.90) = 59%

BOTTOM LINE

Improving our results within the existing multi-level system will never increase completion rates significantly – we must restructure remediation to eliminate the exit points where we lose students.

Evaluation by the Research and Planning GroupA new quasi-experimental study examined student outcomes at 16 community colleges piloting accelerated remediation with CAP in 2011-12.

• The study focused on completion of transferable math & English requirements

• Accelerated students were compared with students in traditional remediation

• Students tracked for 2-3 semesters after intervention (depending on cohort)

• Accelerated group included 2,489 students (1,836 in English, 653 in math)

CAP ResultsUsing statistical methods to control for pre-existing differences in student characteristics, they found:

• In English, students’ odds of completing a college-level course were 2.3 times greater in high-impact models of acceleration than students in traditional remediation

• In math, students’ odds of completing a college-level math course were 4.5 times greater than students in traditional remediation

CAP Results

Significant completion gains among all student subgroups studied, including:

• all ethnic groups• low-income students• students who had taken ESL courses • students who had not graduated from high school

• students with low GPAs • students with disabilities

CAP ResultsAt different placement levels of English & Math:

• Students saw significant gains, whether they were designated one, two, three, or four levels below college

• Students in the lowest levels saw the largest relative increases in their completion

• “No specific placement level was associated with negative outcomes, indicating that these accelerated pilots adhered to a ‘do no harm’ principle.”

- RP Group Researchers Hayward and Willet

How are such impressive results being achieved across colleges?

What’s happening in CAP classrooms?

CAP Instructional Design Principles

Streamlined developmental curricula should reflect:

• Backward design from college-level courses• Relevant, thinking-oriented curriculum• Just-in-time remediation• Low-stakes, collaborative practice• Intentional support for students’ affective needs

Window into CAP Classrooms: English

Away from …Traditional remediation front-loads sub-skills, on the assumption that before students can do a more complex task, they must have mastery of its component parts:

• In reading: workbook exercises on recognizing main ideas, building vocabulary

• In writing: grammar exercises before paragraph writing, personal essays before text-based essays

Window into CAP Classrooms: English

Toward …Accelerated pedagogy gives under-prepared students experience with college-level reading, reasoning, and writing, with more in-class support than in a regular college course. Sub-skills in reading and writing are addressed as needed in the context of the more challenging work.

Before and AfterIrvine Valley College assignment intraditional remedial course

Irvine Valley College assignment inaccelerated course after CAP

In her essay “Friends, Good Friends, and Very Good Friends,” Judith Viorst categorizes the various types of friends she has … For this assignment you will write 3 paragraphs. The first paragraph will be a summary of Viorst’s essay. This paragraph will serve as an introduction and should end with a thesis statement in which you mention the two types of friends you plan to discuss in your subsequent paragraphs. The next two paragraphs should each describe one type of friend and provide an example from your experience. You must choose one of Viorst’s categories and create one of your own.

In this essay, you will argue whether Angie Bachmann, whose story is described in Chapter 9 “The Neurology of Free Will: Are We Responsible for Our Habits?” should be held accountable for her gambling debts based on what you know about addictions from “Rat Park: the Radical Addiction Experiment” by Lauren Slater and habits from the The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Insights from CAP faculty

“With the right support, students are capable of doing great academic work! They don’t need to start with a simple paragraph. They can write complex essays from the start.”

-Anonymous faculty reflection

“Teaching accelerated courses has changed my outlook on student capacity. I learned to trust in students’ ability to handle challenges and tackle meaningful academic work.

- Caroline Minkowski, City College SF

Alternative to Multi-Semester Remediation:Accelerated Math PathwaysRemediation is not a repeat of K-12 math through Algebra II. Instead, support is tailored to the student’s intended program of study.

• Intensive algebra preparation for students pursuing STEM, other calculus-based majors

• Students in other majors take alternative accelerated remediation aligned with college-level Statistics or Liberal Arts Math. For these students, redesigned accelerated course replaces 2-3 semesters of traditional sequence; some models offer a single semester of developmental preparation to students with any placement score.

Why Pathway Redesign?Misalignment between Algebra & Statistics

Window into CAP Classrooms: MathAway from …Decontextualized algebra, mimicry of symbolic procedures and template word problems

A passenger train leaves the train depot 2 hours after a freight train left the same depot. The freight train is traveling 20 mph slower than the passenger train. Find the rate of each train, if the passenger train overtakes the freight train in three hours.

Window into CAP Classrooms: Math

Toward … data analysis and decision-making in the face of uncertainty

What factors correlate with low birth weights? Use graphs and conditional percentages to investigate the relationship between one of the factors in the data set and low birth weight. Present your results in 500 words or less, include relevant graphs and calculations.

Data set: Birth weights and 6 qualitative factors from a Massachusetts study of 189 pregnant women.

Window into CAP Classrooms: Math

Student Reflections“It was developing my critical thinking. Not just looking at a formula and learning how to solve it – you know, where does this go, what are the rules….It’s more about evaluating, it’s more about the analysis…It’s more about understanding how to make a conclusion about the data set.” 

Describing her instructor’s approach to the class: “It’s kind of like…You dig in and get your hands dirty, however you feel you need to, and I’m here for you to help clarify, to help understand, help get you along better. I like that. It’s more like the instructor is a facilitator, as opposed to, I’m spewing out all this information that I need you to regurgitate on an exam.”

-Accelerated Pre-Statistics Students at College of the Canyons

Ice Breaker

Connecting the CAP Instructional Design Principles to your own classroom practice

http://youtu.be/laRommqVuTs