Center of Excellence for ESL/ESOL/GED/Citizenship

1. Center of Excellence for ESL/ESOL/GED/Citizenship Applying the Grow Mindset to ESL & HSE Programs September 25, 2018

2. CENTER OF EXCELLENCEESL/ESOL/GED/CITIZENSHIPWFAB (Fine Arts Building) Room 1113817-515-7063nw.esl-esol@tccd.edu SoadBoudjir Zayra Cardenas Princess Castaneda Kenith Cortez Jeniffer Mendez Huashi Qu Silvia Quiñones Zahra Rahbarzare Debanie Valdez

3. Applying the Growth Mindset to ESL/GED Programs TCC NW Campus president, Dr. ZarinaBlankenbaker’s campus vision is “Northwest Campus will be a nationally recognized campus of choice for academic excellence and lifelong learning to educate and empower our community.” Eight Employee Success Commitments, #4 is Innovative: Take intelligent risks to transform student learning and promote employability through ongoing investigation and exploration.” With this tremendous charge, we felt empowered to make drastic changes to existing programs for which data showed that students had been in courses far too long without earning high school equivalency certificates, without improving their English skills enough to get promotions at work or to enter college.

4. Applying the Growth Mindset to ESL/GED Programs • What we did with the use of data, observation, and the support from the dean of Humanities • Since September 2016 we have tried innovative & transformative processes to improve success and completion rates • Explored new assessment tools • Collaborated with key campus services to create opportunities for students to easily transition into college • Perhaps most importantly, we are intentional when hiring instructors and staff—only those who care about student success need apply

5. SESSION OUTCOMES Inspired innovation and educated risk-taking

6. SESSION OUTCOMES Show Improved student success

7. SESSION OUTCOMES Shared Successful Practices

9. Observations Department processes Data—# of students enrolled, how often are they enrolling, how long is it taking for them to complete or improve Attitudes—how were we treating students, instructors? Were people happy to come to work here?

10. 2 • Maximize # of courses offerings—helps identify students needs. • Extend office hours to align with Registrar, Business Services. • Operation outreach and get the word out about our program! Excite and rally the existing team—my purpose, your purpose, our purpose—student’s purpose! • Develop and implement Google Doc so that instructors are responsible for inputting test scores and completion dates. There is no formal college tool/system to track. • Collaborate with other campus coordinators—what is working, not working, etc. • Define all programs—ESL, GED (English/Spanish), ESOL, and Citizenship Prep. • Schedule faculty meetings—set expectations for serving students in this “new” program. • Schedule team meetings (AKA staff meetings)—set expectations for serving students and instructors, define requirements for working in the Center of EXCELLENCE. • Meet with community partners; establish expectations and create excellent working relationships. • Create optimal office environment for serving students and one in which the team can work comfortably. • Create and implement “Next Steps” presentation in every GED course. What TCC offers, financial aid, application for admission, etc. • Be intentional when hiring faculty and staff who will serve students.

11. PROGRESS The major challenge in course offering is finding space; however, the Center of Excellence increased the amount of courses offered by 136% and the number of students enrolled by 96.5% from 2016 Q1 to 2017 Q1. How did we achieve these gains? THROUGH A LOT OF HARD WORK AND CREATIVE SCHEDULING (pan to report)

12. Explore GED assessment tools • GED.com—FREE • PLATO—Cost; licenses • Still deciding • Exploring textbooks too! • Explore Textbooks for ESL • Other options • What is the goal? Life skills? Academic? Both? • Are students improving their speaking skills? Are they learning vocabulary? • District team; TCC’s One College goal BENCHMARKS FOR HSE/GED

13. GED Retention and Completion

14. Source: Profile of Selected Economic Characteristics: 2000 Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3) • https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk Source: Census data compiled by The County Information Program, Texas Association of Counties http://www.txcip.org/tac/census/profile.php?FIPS=48439

15. The TCC NW Campus partners with the Tarrant Area Food Bank and

17. Campus Collaborations Support Services • Math Emporium—embedded tutor one class per week • Writing Center—assistance with writing skills on specific assignments • ID Center—we ensure that every student gets their student ID card and knows that they can use the gym, library, and all campus services at no cost. Advising/Counseling Services • Academic advisors visit each GED course (Spanish and English) to present “GED to TCC”. It includes new student processes, programs offered at TCC, financial aid options, and more! • Team in the Center of Excellence translated the final English version into Spanish • Training a member of the COE team to advise for ESL/ESOL. This person has been training with academic advisors and offices from the Advising Center several hours/week. • ESL Orientation for every level in the program. Presentations are led by the COE team.

18. “Who we hire is our legacy.”Dr. Ricardo Coronado, Associate Vice Chancellor of HR, TCCD

20. Our students deserve to have instructors who care about helping them achieve their goals. We owe it to them to bring 100% of ourselves to the classroom.

21. Center of Excellence for ESL/ESOL/GED/CITIZENSHIP • Hire people who WANT to serve your students! • Hire HAPPY people! • Hire a diverse staff with whom your diverse student population can relate! • This is not “just a job” but a mission. We change lives.

22. Thank You Lourdes Davenport Coordinator, Center of Excellence lourdes.davenport@tccd.edu 817-515-7063