California Community College Basic Skills Initiative

1. California Community College Basic Skills Initiative

2. BSI Success Rates • Do you know how many students with basic skills needs succeed in basic skills classes? • Why should we care?

3. 1. Approximately what percent of California Community College students place into at least one basic skills course in Reading, Writing, ESL or Mathematics? A. 0% B. 25% C. 35% D. 50% E. Over 70%

4. First Time Students • The following slides are example questions using the layouts in the Quiz Show template. View them in slide show to see the answer animations.

5. 2. Which of the following is true of basic skills students in California community colleges? A. They generally assess uniformly low on placement tests in all areas; reading, writing, math, and ESL B. They may assess low on placement tests in one discipline while testing at college-level in other areas (i.e. a college level writer but require additional work in math) C. They are easily identifiable in our classes by sex, age, or ethnicity. D. They usually have the learning and study skills necessary to succeed in college-level work. E. They are found only in the community colleges and are only rarely found at the UC and CSU campuses.

6. How many students place into a basic skills course in the CSU? The 2006-2007 data indicated that 54% of CSU freshman were below college level in Math 47% were below college level in English

7. 3. How many students who start 3 or more levels below college-level actually make it to a college-level course? A. Less than 10% B. 15- 30% C. Approximately 40% D. Over 60% E. 80% or more 

8. BSI CCC Statistics ARCC

9. Progression • Each year between 500,000 and 700,000 students take a basic skills course. • How many move on? The number of students completing coursework at least one level above their prior basic skills enrollment within the three-year cohort period.

10. 4. Who Are the Community College Students with Basic Skills Needs? • 55% female, 45 % male • 55% are citizens;18% are not citizens (others unknown) • 45% are 21 or younger; 41% are over 26 • Students who report working work an average of 35 hours a week

11. Ethnicity

12. 5. How Many Are Enrolled in Basic Skills Classes? • 70-85% assess into basic skills • 27.4% take basic skills classes • Where are the rest?

13. 6. What is the total success rate of students in all three public California College Systems?

14. The Latina/o California Community College Pipeline, 2002-03 100 Latina/o First Time College Students 8 University of California 75 California Community College 17 California State University 7 Transfer 1 University of California 6 California State University Source: California Postsecondary Education Commission 2004; see also Omelas and Solorzano 2004. From Martha A. Rivas, Jeanette Perez, Chrystal R. Alvarez, and Daniel G. Solorzano, An Examination of Latino/a Transfer Students in California’s Postsecondary Institutions, CSRC Latino Policy and Issues Brief No. 16 (Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press, 2007). Reproduced with permission.

15. 7. What is the cost of remediation?

16. 7. What is the cost of remediation?

17. So does ANYTHING Work??

18. Developing a Success Model for Learning Support Laura Hope, Interim Dean of Instructional Support

19. Who Are Our Students?“Access Doesn’t Mean Success” • 96% of students assessed are under-prepared in either math, reading, or writing • 65% are deficient in all 3 categories • 31% are first generation college students • 21% have been out of school 5 or more years • Over 80% declare transfer as their goal

20. Basic Skills Success Rates Success Rates

21. The Promise The “foundation” student of today is the transfer /certificate student of tomorrow.

22. The Role of the Learning Center • Provide academic support for students • Strengthen skills and competencies • Provide a safe environment for learning • Promote values of self-advocacy • Promote self-awareness about learning

23. Creation of Success Centers • Instructional Program • Faculty Leadership • Serve all students and faculty • Student-centered learning community

24. Learning Center Pedagogy • Promotes individualized instruction and learning • Promotes collaborative learning • Ensures a risk-free environment • De-emphasizes grades and judgment • Promotes affective development of the learner • Promotes a sense of community with the institution • Supports and imitates the values of the classroom

25. The Traditional Model for Learning Centers • Dominated by tutoring • Practice skills • Word processing and research

26. Learning Center Curriculum • Directed Learning Activity • Study Group • Workshop • Tutoring • Lab Resources

27. Unduplicated Number and Percent of Students Who Accessed into Success Centers Annually Percent of Students

28. Annual Number of Student Contacts at Success Centers (Contacts of 15 min. or more) Number of Contacts

29. Relationship between Success Center Access and Success in Transfer Courses: 2004 – 2005

30. Relationship between Success Center Access and Success for Basic Skills Students

31. Percent of Degree & Certificate Earners Who Completed at Least One “Basic Skills” Course Percent

32. Percent of Students Who Completed at Least One“Basic Skills” Course Who Subsequently Transferred to a Four-Year Institution Percent of Transfer Students

33. Honoring the Promise “I love the Success Center and feel without it I would have been totally lost.” _____________________________________________ • 95% of students surveyed agree or strongly agree that a connection exists between Success Center and classroom activities • 41% of students accessed a Success Center at least twice a week • 27% of the students who used a Success Center accessed two or more Success Centers

34. Reflections and Questions

35. Promoting Inquiry to Transform Faculty Practices Lynn Wright Pasadena City College

36. I understand what faculty inquiry is and does. • Strongly agree • Agree • Disagree • Strongly disagree • Not sure

37. We put basic skills students in exactly the same learning environments in which they have failed to learn for years and expect them to succeed. Mr. Anderson, may I be excused? My brain is full.

38. We put basic skills FACULTY in exactly the same learning environment in which they have failed to learn for years and expect them to succeed. Next time don’t suck so hard.

39. A Major Observation about Faculty Practice Teachers experience tension between the way they should teach and the way they actually teach. Most adjust to the misalignment.

40. Examples of Misalignment • Coverage “I know I’m going too fast, but I have to cover ten chapters.” • Reading and Writing “My students need to read and write well to succeed in my class, but I’m not an English teacher.” • Lectures “Lectures bore me too, but that’s the way it is.” • Tests “She demonstrated her knowledge of the material over and over in class but failed the test.” • Affective components “My students are so poorly prepared to be college students, but it’s not my job to teach them those things.”

41. Achieving Alignment Intensive, active inquiry among dedicated faculty

42. The most important reason to do faculty inquiry is • To transform our attitudes and practices • To foster collegiality • To gain a deeper understanding of teaching and learning

43. Why Engage in Inquiry? To gain a deeper level of understanding of teaching and learning To transform our attitudes and practices To improve student success

44. What is Faculty Inquiry? It’s a structured, ongoing process that is… • faculty-driven • problem-based • outcomes-driven • collegial and collaborative

45. Intermediate AlgebraFIG PROBLEM TO EXPLORE WHY DO SO MANY MATH FACULTY FIND INTERMEDIATE ALGEBRA ONEROUS TO TEACH?

46. 1 full-time math faculty lead 6 full-time math faculty The math dean 1 non-math faculty facilitator PCC’s Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) staff, counselor, and tutors PCC’s Institutional Planning and Research Office Claremont Graduate University external evaluators Carnegie Foundation staff and SPECC participants Intermediate Algebra FIG Participants and Resources Participants Resources

47. FIG Outcomes Short-term: •Identify challenges to teaching Intermediate Algebra Mid-term: •Develop approaches to help overcome key challenges to teaching Intermediate Algebra Long-term: •Increase student success

48. Which one is not a feature of the FIG process? • Problem-based • Always collaborative • Outcomes driven • Faculty-driven

49. FIG Discoveries • Word problems are hard: students avoid them and teachers struggle to teach them • Too much material to cover • New concepts in last chapters rushed through (run out of time) • Hard to find time to show students real-world applicability

50. Intermediate Algebra FIG Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Windows on Learning http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/specc/specc/specc_homepage.html