Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Reading: An Impact Study at Hillsborough Community College

1. Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Reading: An Impact Study at Hillsborough Community College Michael J. Weiss MDRC michael.weiss@mdrc.org Mary Visher MDRC mary.visher@mdrc.org Heather Wathington University of Virginia hw4w@virginia.edu 2010 Institute of Education Sciences Research Conference June 28-30, 2010

2. Outline • Project Background • Site and Study Participants • The Program • Program Impacts • Conclusions

3. Community Colleges Source: Provasnik & Plant (2008). http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/2008033.pdf

4. The Problem Low 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 Education • In 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)

5. What are they? Small groups of students are co-enrolled as cohorts in two or more courses Thematically linked courses, sometimes sharing a curriculum, assignments, and assessments Teacher collaboration Why might they work? Strengthen relationships among students / faculty Engage students more deeply with learning Learning Communities (LCs)

6. Several 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 Trial MDRC’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 Past Evidence that LCs work 1Tinto, Goodsell-Love, and Russo (1994); Engstrom and Tinto (2008); Richburg-Hayes, Visher, and Bloom (2008);

7. Experiments at 6 Community Colleges All random assignment evaluations Various learning communities models 5 of 6 target students in need of developmental education Two link developmental math, three link developmental reading or English, one links courses required by major Variation in curricular integration / faculty collaboration Learning Communities Demo For more on: LC Demo Study Design: http://www.mdrc.org/publications/476/full.pdf Scaling-Up Learning Communities: http://www.mdrc.org/publications/550/full.pdf

8. LC Demo Sample Buildup

9. Located in Tampa, Fl Large, five campus college – serves over 20,000 students, three campuses participated in the LC Demo Some pre-experimental experience with LCs Racially diverse campus – 52% white, 18% Black, 22% Hispanic About Hillsborough

10. Study Sample

11. Co-enrolled students into two classes: Developmental Reading Student Success Course (focusing on acclimation to college, study skills) Curricular integration At first, this was not explicitly part of their design In time, efforts were made to add this learning community component (e.g., staff were sent to professional development, workshops were held at Hillsborough) Hillsborough’s Program

12. LC basic stats 3 cohorts (Fall 07, Spring 08, Fall 08) 24 learning communities ~ 20 students per LC Program uptake was lower than expected 31 percent of program group students did not enroll in an LC Integration of curriculum Was not an initial focus at Hillsborough, but began to take hold in the last semester of the program (third cohort) Program Implementation

13. Program ImpactsContinued Enrollment: Full Sample

14. Program ImpactsCumulative Credits Earned: Full Sample

15. Glimmer of hope?Continued Enrollment: by Cohort

16. Glimmer of hope?Cumulative Credits Earned: by Cohort

17. This study does not provide evidence that a “basic” learning communities model is any more effective than business as usual services Exploratory analyses suggest that a more comprehensive learning community may be more effective than business as usual 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! Conclusions

18. Contact Information Michael J. Weiss, Research Associate michael.weiss@mdrc.org Mary Visher, Senior Research Associate mary.visher@mdrc.org Heather Wathington, Assistant Professor hw4w@virginia.edu For more information on MDRC and NCPR’s work, go to: MDRC: http://www.mdrc.org NCPR’s: http://www.postsecondaryresearch.org/