Learning Communities for Students in Developmental … · Hayes, Visher, and Bloom (2008); Learning...
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Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Reading: An Impact Study at Hillsborough Community College Michael J. Weiss MDRC [email protected] Mary Visher MDRC [email protected] Heather Wathington University of Virginia [email protected] 2010 Institute of Education Sciences Research Conference June 28-30, 2010
Transcript of Learning Communities for Students in Developmental … · Hayes, Visher, and Bloom (2008); Learning...
Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Reading: An Impact Study at
Hillsborough Community College
Michael J. WeissMDRC
Mary VisherMDRC
Heather WathingtonUniversity of [email protected]
2010 Institute of Education Sciences Research Conference
June 28-30, 2010
OutlineI.
Project Background
II.
Site and Study Participants
III.
The Program
IV.
Program Impacts
V.
Conclusions
Community Colleges
Source: Provasnik & Plant (2008). http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/2008033.pdf
The ProblemLow Rates of Completion
Nearly half of all students who begin at community college do not complete a degree or transfer within 6 years.1
One Major Obstacle: Developmental EducationIn fall 2000, 42 percent of first-year community college students took at least one developmental course.2
Other estimates suggest that among students whose first institution of attendance was a community college, over 60 percent take at least one developmental course.3
1Hoachlander, Sikora, & Horn (2003); 2Parsad & Lewis (2004); 3Adelman (2004)
Learning Communities (LCs)What are they?
Small groups of students are co-enrolled as cohorts in two or more coursesThematically linked courses, sometimes sharing a curriculum, assignments, and assessmentsTeacher collaboration
Why might they work?Strengthen relationships among students / facultyEngage students more deeply with learning
Past Evidence that LCs workSeveral quasi-experiments
Tinto and others have found that students in learning communities benefit both academically and socially in comparison with similar students who do not enroll in learning communities
One Randomized Controlled TrialMDRC’s study at Kingsborough Community College found that the opportunity to participate in a learning community improved students’ college experience and improved some educational outcomes
1Tinto, Goodsell-Love, and Russo (1994); Engstrom and Tinto (2008); Richburg-
Hayes, Visher, and Bloom (2008);
Learning Communities DemoExperiments at 6 Community Colleges
All random assignment evaluationsVarious learning communities models
5 of 6 target students in need of developmental educationTwo link developmental math, three link developmental reading or English, one links courses required by majorVariation in curricular integration / faculty collaboration
For more on:LC Demo Study Design: http://www.mdrc.org/publications/476/full.pdfScaling-Up Learning Communities: http://www.mdrc.org/publications/550/full.pdf
LC Demo Sample Buildup
Fall ‘07 Spring ‘08 Fall ‘08 Spring ’09 Fall ‘09 TOTALHillsborough 377 324 370 - - 1071Queensborough 195 198 372 269 - 1034Kingsborough 125 160 190 246 196 917Merced - 176 380 362 506 1424Houston - 65 375 284 549 1273CCBC - 122 371 192 398 1083
About Hillsborough
Located in Tampa, FlLarge, five campus college – serves over 20,000 students, three campuses participated in the LC DemoSome pre-experimental experience with LCsRacially diverse campus – 52% white, 18% Black, 22% Hispanic
Study SampleCharacteristic Full Sample
Female (%) 57.0
Over 25 years old 13.7
Race (%)WhiteBlack,Hispanic Other
24.736.832.46.1
Has one child or more (%) 19.01st
in family to attend college (%) 64.1
Employed at baseline (%) 56.4
Sample Size 1,071
Hillsborough’s ProgramCo-enrolled students into two classes:
Developmental ReadingStudent Success Course (focusing on acclimation to college, study skills)
Curricular integrationAt first, this was not explicitly part of their designIn time, efforts were made to add this learning community component (e.g., staff were sent to professional development, workshops were held at Hillsborough)
Program ImplementationLC basic stats
3 cohorts (Fall 07, Spring 08, Fall 08)24 learning communities~ 20 students per LC
Program uptake was lower than expected31 percent of program group students did not enroll in an LC
Integration of curriculumWas not an initial focus at Hillsborough, but began to take hold in the last semester of the program (third cohort)
Program Impacts Continued Enrollment: Full Sample
Program Impacts Cumulative Credits Earned: Full Sample
Glimmer of hope? Continued Enrollment: by Cohort
Glimmer of hope? Cumulative Credits Earned: by Cohort
Conclusions1)
This study does not
provide evidence that a “basic”
learning communities model is any more effective than business as usual services
2)
Exploratory analyses suggest that a more comprehensive learning community may be more effective than business as usual
3)
Stay tuned!
–
future LC demo reports may confirm finding (2), and they will provide a test of other learning communities models (some more comprehensive) in other contexts!
Contact InformationMichael J. Weiss, Research [email protected]
Mary Visher, Senior Research [email protected]
Heather Wathington, Assistant [email protected]
For more information on MDRC and NCPR’s
work, go to:MDRC: http://www.mdrc.orgNCPR’s: http://www.postsecondaryresearch.org/
