580 likes | 739 Views
College Readiness Partnership between Post-Secondary and Secondary Institutions. CCC-CIO Fall 2011 Conference: A Call to Action Jeff Burdick, M.A. English faculty, Willow International Ellen Melocik , Ed. D. English department chair, Clovis West.
E N D
College Readiness Partnership betweenPost-Secondary and Secondary Institutions CCC-CIO Fall 2011 Conference:A Call to Action Jeff Burdick, M.A.English faculty, Willow InternationalEllen Melocik, Ed. D.English department chair, Clovis West
Clovis West High School (CW) and Willow International Community College (WI) entered into a partnership during the 2010-2011 school year to examine: • student performance data, • share resources and experiences, and • determine ways to increase student college and career readiness. • Specific goals and strategies, including a revision of 12th grade curriculum, have been established and are in the process of implementation. Abstract
Institutional Observations • (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2006; Darlaston-Jones, et. al., 2003; League for Innovation in the Community College, 2010; Parker, 2007 )
CW Graduates Needing Remedial English (CW Counseling Office, 2011)
Leading Question: • What should students be able to do when they leave high school? • Sub-Questions: • Why are good high schools with good teachers producing so many graduates who struggle with post-secondary reading and writing? • Is the current high school English curriculum preparing students to be college and career ready? Focus Questions
Comparison of English Remediation (California Department of Education , 2010; CW Counseling Office, 2010; WI Counseling Office, 2010; )
October 2010-2011 Senior Pre-Assessment CW Counseling Office, 2010; WI Counseling Office, 2010)
For the 2010-2011 school year: • Willow International has been tracking Clovis West students on our college campus, gathering data and instructor impressions on student achievement and problems. • Some data relies on qualitative research questions: • What do you think is the cause of student failure? • What problems are common for this failing student? • Some data relies on quantitative research questions: • What is the success rate for students enrolled in 1A and 125? • At what point do students drop or fail a class? WI Data Sharing
Top Two Feeder Schools for WI - 2010 (Willow International Counseling Office, 2010)
Hard Skills (Academic) Soft Skills (Behavior) 15.6% of 1A Students failed at the 9-Week Point; (currently 13.5%) at the six-week
Top Two Feeder Schools for WI - 2011 (CW Counseling Office, 2011)
Exit Points • Dougherty, Mellor, & Jian, 2006; Schneiders, 2010; WI Counseling Office, 2010)
Focus Strategies: Ways to Measure College Readiness • Key Cognitive Strategies (formative) • Learning activities and tasks deeply embedded in the course • Collection of classroom evidence collected over time • Reasoning; argumentation and proof; interpretation, precision and accuracy; problem-solving; and research • Key Content Knowledge • College admissions tests • Final exams; AP exams • California State exams (district benchmarks would be here as well) • Academic Behaviors • Student surveys that measure methods, tools, and strategies in areas such as study skills, time management, and self-management • Discussions between teachers and/or advisors concerning students professed and actual behaviors • Contextual Skills and Awareness • Assessing student understanding of the entire process of college admissions, financial aid, registration, course selections, and the overall function of college (Conklin & Sanford, 2007; Conley, 2007; Tell & Cohen, 2007)
Key Academic Behaviors (Conley, 2007; Kirst & Venezia, 2004; Tell & Cohen, 2007)
Grading Policy Make-up Policy Mastery Policy Online Dialogue Revision Academic Behaviors Weekly Agenda Due Date Calendar
All stakeholders need to take responsibility for student success
There is a disconnect between secondary and post-secondary academic goals
A Note about Staff Resistance • Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (Hirschman, 1970), a quintessential business text, outlines three possible responses when an employee is asked to implement a policy with which the employee disagrees. • Exit: an employee leaves the organization (retire, teach elsewhere, or begin a new career) • Voice: an employee speaks up about the policy; and • Loyalty: an employee quietly or openly fails to conform to the policy. • When Hirsch (1996) uses the term “loyalty” in The schools we need; Why we don’t have them, he is actually referring to the disintegration of loyalty. • Token compliance: only some of the policy is carried out • Delayed compliance: employees put off carrying out a policy • Outright sabotage: employees might fabricate or lose paperwork.
“I feel that this class and the things it has to offer will help me in the long run because it will get me ready for college. I just took the placement test, and without this class which gives me three more chances I would be in the lowest English class they had to offer and would be way behind going into college.” Student Quote (Aug 2011)
“As in for my educational experience, I still don’t feel ready, even for this class. When I started my freshman and sophomore English, it was really easy with nothing hard to do, and so I wasted like two whole year of learning mainly nothing. I know that I’m not good in English but I still managed to pass those classes.” Student Quotes (August 2011)
“Push us. Push us till we can all succeed in freshman english. Past englishclasses were a joke and while that was good for the short term but if that continued then no one would make it to college. I just want to be qualified to get into college. What ever that takes to get me there I am willing to do.” Student Quote (August 2011)
“The changes are going to make school more challenging but I’m glad they changed it because I want to be successful. I think we all need to be challenged and pushed more. I don’t want to go into college unprepared. I want to be college ready.” Student Quote (August 2011)
“In past classes teachers would have the class read a passage from the text, and then answer a series of questions about what they just read. This made it possible for some people to just pay attention to what was going on during class, and get credit for work they weren’t actually doing. This new way of doing things seems to put more responsibility with the student to actually read and understand the texts provided by the teacher. This change from more traditional styles seems to be a pretty good idea seeing it is that most things in life rely on yourself.” Student Quote (August 2011)
CW WI Placement Tests/Benchmarks Fund Deliver Retrieve and Score Meetings Team Staff Parent Board Conferences Attend Present • Placement Tests/Benchmarks • Administer • Professional Development • ERWC • District Curriculum Development • CW/WI Essay Calibration • Meetings • Team • Staff • Parent • Board • Conferences • Attend • Present Continued Administrative Support
Clovis West High School is piloting these changes through a PLT • The team teaches the AP Language and Composition Class and the new World Literature and Composition class in tandem for rigor and consistency • Each teacher has committed to teaching the same curriculum at the same time using Common Core Standards • Each teacher has committed to using the same common assessments and analyzing assessment data for student performance comparisons • Comparisons between current students • Comparisons between past students • The District selected a team of one teacher from each of the five high schools to create a template to be used for each of the 12 units; currently three of those teachers are writing curriculum • A new writing-based textbook has been District Board-approved • McCuen-Metherell, J. R. & Winkler, A. C.2010, 2007. Reading For Writers. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Current Status