College Readiness Helping Students Transition to College May 2009

1. College ReadinessHelping Students Transition to CollegeMay 2009 Higher Education Coordinating Board

2. College Readiness • The 2004 Strategic Master Plan for Higher Education calls for educators collaboratively to define college readiness in several core subjects including: math, science, English, social studies, world languages, and the arts. • In 2004, the Transition Mathematics Project, administered by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, began the effort to develop math college readiness standards. • The Legislature and Governor provided funding in the 2005-07 operating budget, for the HECB to define college readiness in science and English.

3. Remediation in Washington Among the 2004 public high school graduates attending Washington’s state universities or community and technical colleges in their first year after graduation: • 42 percent enrolled in at leastone remedial course (English or math, or both). • About twice as many recent graduates enroll in remedial math than in remedial English. • Remedial enrollment is much higher among students at open-enrollment community and technical colleges (55 percent), compared to competitive admission universities (13 percent).

4. Remediation in Washington • Remediation rates are not measured in science. • What is known, however, is that Washington’s students do not fare well on 10th grade science Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) tests. • Only 35 percent of Washington’s 10th graders met WASL standards in science in 2005-06. • Compares to 51 percent of students who met the 10th grade math WASL standards in 2005-06.

5. College Readiness Poor readers struggle to learn in text-heavy courses and are frequently blocked from taking academically more challenging courses. -- Au, 2000 One of the most commonly cited reasons for the dropout rate is that students do not have the literacy skills to keep up with the curriculum. -- Kamil, 2003; Snow and Biancarosa, 2003 While average NAEP reading scores for 9-year old students in 2004 were the highest ever, scores for 13-year old students have risen only 3 points since 1975 and scores for 17-year olds have dropped 5 points since 1992. -- Perie, Moran & Lutkus, 2005

6. Bridging the Gap Starting points in Washington in English and science college readiness project: • Define what students must know to succeed in entry-level general education coursework at two-year and four-year colleges and career schools.. • Intent is to provide consistent, understandable and measurable learning goals and targets. • The Gap: English and science GLEs do not exist beyond the 10th grade.

7. HIGHER EDUCATION COORDINATING BOARD HECB Executive Director Project Coordination Team HECB Staff Team English Content Development Team 6-7 members each: • K-12 • CTCs • Universities • Consultants • Center for Learning Connections • EPIC--David Conley Science Content Development Team 6-7 members each: • K-12 • CTCs • Universities Statewide English Expert Review Team 40-50 teachers, faculty, administrators Statewide Science Expert Review Team 40-50 teachers, faculty, administrators College Readiness Organization

8. Project Milestones October 2005 - Project Coordination Team convened January 2006 - First of three, two-day meetings of English and science content teams: • Teams of 19-20 in each subject area • Online editing; synthesis teams June 2006 - Expert review teams; 78 teachers and faculty members met to review 2nd draft January 25, 2007 – HECB approved preliminary definitions

9. College ReadinessDefining how to learn, what to learn • Attributes reflect “how to learn” (habits of mind) Intellectual curiosity is the heart of college readiness. Students succeed when they motivate themselves to persevere through difficult tasks and effectively navigate cultural and ethical norms. • Definitions reflect “what to learn” (content)

10. College Readiness AttributesNine Components • Demonstrate intellectual engagement. • Take responsibility for his/her own learning. • Persevere through the learning process. • Pay attention to detail. • Demonstrate ethical behavior. • Communicate effectively across a variety of audiences and purposes. • Recognize the role of language in communication. • Understand that evaluation of one’s own and others’ communication is a lifelong process. • Use interpersonal skills and strategies in a multicultural context to work collaboratively, solve problems, and perform tasks.

11. College Readiness AttributesDefining ‘how to learn’ COMPONENT—Demonstrate intellectual engagement. EVIDENCE OF LEARNING • Recognize that ideas and knowledge are constructed and contested. • Perceive that every discipline is a way of understanding and not just a sequence or compilation of discrete information. • Develop intellectual curiosity: actively explore new ideas and pose questions about meaning, significance, and implications. • Recognize one’s own assumptions and challenge them as part of the learning process. • Question, integrate, synthesize and connect new ideas to previously learned concepts. • Actively seek to use the resources, tools, and strategies necessary to accomplish tasks.

12. Student AttributesDefining ‘how to learn’ COMPONENT—Use interpersonal skills and strategies in a multicultural context to work collaboratively, solve problems, and perform tasks. EVIDENCE OF LEARNING • Detect and respond to the clarification needs of others (e.g. inviting questions, adding examples, using specific references). • Create group consensus for success and evaluate self and others according to the criteria established.

13. English College Readiness Definitions (content) • Reading, Analysis, Interpretation • Writing Processes • Rhetoric, Analysis and Argument • Business Reading and Writing

14. College Readiness DefinitionsDefining ‘what to learn’ Definition A: Reading Analysis and Interpretation College speakers and writers are expected to develop a basic understanding of rhetoric as the dynamic relationship among speaker/writer, audience, and text design. Component: Critically view text; evaluate the qualities of evidence. [See Reading GLE 2.3.3] EVIDENCE OF LEARNING • Analyze the ways a text's organizational structure supports or confounds its meaning or purpose. [See Reading GLE 2.3.1] • Evaluate the kind, breadth, and appropriateness of evidence used to support the writer’s reasoning. [See Reading GLE 2.4.4] • Identify the reader's own social and cultural points of view and biases that influence perceptions of and responses to a text.

15. Science College Readiness Definitions Foundational Skills • Investigating Systems • Quantitative Analysis • Science and Society • Technology • Communications

16. Science College Readiness Science Content (Big Ideas) • Emphasizes a student's proficiency with core science concepts at cognitive levels beyond those described in Washington State’s grade 10 science EALR 1. • Emphasis on learning moves primarily from knowing and understanding towards synthesizing and evaluating big ideas into a coherent and useful picture of the natural world, including physical, life and earth/space sciences.

17. Phase 1—describes what is needed—attributes and definitions—to fill the gap between high school and first-year college-level learning requirements. Phase 2—describe how to fill the gap. English and science teams integrate college readiness definitions in K-12 classrooms Team leaders: Dr. George (Pinky) Nelson, WWU, Science Dr. Bill Condon, WSU, English June 22-26 summer institute English/Science College Readiness

18. English and Science College Readiness Project HECB College Readiness Website www.collegereadinesswa.org Ricardo Sanchez, HECB ricardos@hecb.wa.gov Julie Jacob, Highline Community College jjacob@highline.edu 18