Big Idea #1

1. Big Idea #1 Transforming Developmental Education

2. Today • The charge for transforming developmental education • National and state data • Innovations in dev ed delivery in the nation and in the state • The recommendations, awaiting feedback from faculty and final approval from the academic officers and presidents, on how the NJCCs can innovate and recreate • Presidents’ response and Q&A

3. Sept. 2011: Charge to Academic Officers for BI#1 • Common framework of levels of remedial need • Retesting policies for each college • Developmental education success rates (Student Success Model) and goals for improvement in the success rate of students in developmental English and math • Current practices that have demonstrated higher success rate of students in developmental English and math. • Statewide meeting for English faculty, statewide meeting for math faculty to share these practices. • Summer institute to provide opportunities for in-depth work by developmental educators statewide. • Statewide meeting for ESL faculty to determine best practices in ESL, including workforce preparation as well as preparation for further academic study. • Common definition of ability to benefit from developmental education programs.

4. All require data, discussion, decisions at state and Institutional Levels • Student Success Model • Data on current initiatives • Impact • Scalability • Parameters of what’s possible

5. Phase One, Part One • DRAFT Report on national and state initiatives in English and math, with key principles and recommendations for further action— • Distributed next week • Academic officers’ and presidents’ approval in May • DRAFT Report on national and state initiatives in ESL, with key principles and recommendations for further action • Distributed last week to ESL faculty • Academic officers’ and presidents’ approval in June

6. Phase One, Part TwoWorking Institute for Dev Ed and ESL • November 9-10 at Mercer County CC • National speakers • NJCC faculty and staff: Pilots and Programs with Positive Potential • College work groups • Working sessions for three tracks: • English • Math • ESL

7. KEY PRINCIPLES The Academic Officers at the nineteen community colleges in New Jersey: • agree that every initiative must start with the student; • commit to using a data-driven process, using, as one measure of common effort, the information provided in the Student Success Model; • agree that all initiatives related to transforming developmental education should be carefully measured for student outcomes and the results widely shared; • recognize that each institution has the right to offer curricula and support programs that meet the unique needs of its student body and agree that there is no mandatory model for the state; • commit to institution-specific efforts to improve support programs and pedagogy related to developmental education; • embrace the notion of collaborating across the sector and defining common outcomes; • commit to scalability; • value a process of inclusion.

8. WHY?

9. The national picture • 4 million community college students enroll in some form of developmental coursework each year • Less than 40% of them will complete the required developmental education sequence • Only about 15% will enroll in college-level gatekeeper courses • Completion rates for these students are in single digits

10. Complete College America: HE’s Bridge to Nowhere • Just released—available online • Self-reported information from 33 states • Highlights: • 4/10 remedial students in community colleges never complete their remedial courses • Not even a quarter of remedial community college students ultimately complete college-level English and math courses • Graduation rates for these students are “deplorable”: fewer than 1/10 graduate within 150% of time • Graduation rates for students enrolling in dev ed range from 2.7% in Louisiana to 23.2% in Nevada

11. The New Jersey Picture • Of the 15 colleges where the data are clear on theNew Jersey Commission on Higher Education Public College & University 2008 Institutional Profiles site, 66.4% of the 2007 cohort (included FTFT only) tested into at least one area of developmental education. • Placement of FTFT students into developmental courses ranged from 52% in one county to 88.9% in another.

12. The New Jersey Picture, Part 2 • Early iteration of the Student Success Model • 2002 cohort, 6 year-study—29,436 students • First-time, degree-seeking freshman (both FT and PT) • Data on students enrolled in developmental education courses not disaggregated • 47.2% of cohort achieved at least one success outcome • Earned a degree or certificate • Transferred without an award • Earned 30 degree credits with GPA of 2.0 or higher

13. 53% of cohort did not achieve even one of the success outcomes • 4,836 never accumulated one degree credit (16.4% of total cohort) • Future iterations of success model will track developmental education placement and progression. This iteration did not. • There is no reason to believe New Jersey is much different from the rest of the country in serving dev ed students

14. multiple levels of remediation over multiple semesters Traditional paradigm

15. The National Picture: Virginia Precollege Math Pathways by Programs of Study

16. The National Picture: California’s State-supported Acceleration Project 3 Key strategies in state-supported effort to hasten remediation: • a) acceleration • Eliminate exit points, use academically challenging tasks, have high expectations, and provide academic practice and support); • b) contextualization • Employ instructional techniques that connect skills to other contexts; skills>content>skills; support in texts of the discipline; and • c) in-class support • immediate and relevant; addresses student’s life circumstances and affective needs

17. The National Picture: maryland, Tennessee, Connecticut, Washington • Maryland: CCBC—acceleration in English and math • Tennessee: Math Emporium • Connecticut: Eliminate dev ed courses and add support structures in college-level courses • Washington: I-BEST • Integrated Basic Education Skills and Training (Contextualized) for basic skills and ESL students

18. The National Picture • Before college enrollment, the goal should be developmental education avoidance. • As students enroll, there is a need to improve assessment and placement. • For students placed into developmental education, there is a need to accelerate, contextualize, improve pedagogy, and provide support structures that will ensure success. ~Katherine Hughes Researcher, CCRC

19. “Research shows that students who skip their remedial assignments do just as well in gateway courses as those who took remediation first.” ~Complete College America Remediation: Higher Education’s Bridge to Nowhere

20. Dev Ed Reform Strategies Implemented & Under Review by NJCCs • Testing/Placement/Prep • Supplemental Instruction • Classroom Instruction/Curriculum • Student Advising • Student Success Course • Learning Communities • Professional Development • Assessment

21. Recommendations • 14 recommendations to help guide county colleges as they design a developmental education model that meets the unique needs of their students. • The key requirements: start with the student & think creatively & keep data

22. Determination and Affirmation of College Readiness • 1.1 Work with feeder school districts to diagnose and improve college readiness, especially in math • 1.2 Reevaluate placement and testing policies • 1.3 Offer intensive summer bridge programs, with the possibility of advancing out of developmental placement • 1.4 Require orientation for both full- and part-time students

23. Educational Sequencing, Instructional Strategies and Support Structures • 2.1 Align SLOs for seamless transition between sequenced courses • 2.2 Offer options/alternative strategies to remediate, based on student skills and goals, and closely assess the success of those options • 2.3 Offer appropriate support services • 2.4 Offer support structures, programs and schedules for a diverse student body • 2.5 Offer appropriate and ongoing professional development for faculty

24. Policy Review and Data Tracking • 3.1 Review policies regarding placement and student schedules • 3.2 Review the percentage of developmental courses taught by part-time faculty members, and the preparation of these faculty members to teach those courses • 3.3 Use the Student Success Model to track the progress of entering students in developmental education, collect data about the percentage of students who successfully complete these courses and sequences as well as college-level gateway courses, and widely share and discuss this data •  3.4 Track the progress of students in alternative–strategy developmental courses and the success of these strategies as students move to completion • 3.5 Work sector-wide to develop a comprehensive strategy for addressing basic skills education in NJ that results in a system that provides all adults with the access to basic skills courses in math and English, not designed for college entrance standards. In addition, the state should develop a comparable strategy for addressing the needs of adults for courses in English as a Second Language (ESL).

25. NEXT STEPS • Distribution of English and math, and ESL recommendations to faculty for feedback/discussion • April • Approval of English and math recommendations by Academic Officers & CC Presidents • May • Approval of ESL recommendations by Academic Officers & Presidents • June • Sector-wide working institute • November 9-10 • Follow-up collection of data/research • Retesting policies • Placement criteria and outcomes of dev ed courses • Pilot data with Student Success Model

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