Jumpstart: Getting Late Deciders Off to a Strong Start

1. Jumpstart:Getting Late Deciders Off to a Strong Start Marcia Corcoran, Dean of Language Arts mcorcoran@chabotcollege.edu Katie Hern, Instructor, English khern@chabotcollege.edu Ming Ho, Instructor, Math mho@chabotcollege.edu Matthew Kritscher, Dean, Counseling mkritscher@chabotcollege.edu

2. Presentation Overview • Chabot’s Basic Skills Initiative • Designing Jumpstart and program components • Literature consulted • Data used to inform program design • Window into a Jumpstart classroom • Emerging findings • Faculty Inquiry Group of English instructors • Math Workshop • Next steps • Challenges and lessons learned

3. Chabot Basic Skills Initiative Committee starting Spring 2008 • Senate-approved process and charge to committee • Multi-disciplinary group of faculty from senate, FA, and “other suggested faculty based on roles” (e.g. CTE faculty, DSPS, EOPs, ESL Coordinator, Learning Connection Coordinator, and 2 administrators) • Met twice a month with a retreat each semester • Similar membership to Title III grant, “Improving Basic Skills Across the Curriculum to Increase Student Success, Persistence, and Institutional Effectiveness,” running simultaneously, bringing together Learning Support Services and faculty development

4. Chabot's BSI Goals 2008-09 and 09-10 • Develop and adopt an institution-wide, integrated basic skills philosophy and unifying framework • Increase professional development opportunities in relation to basic skills education • Expand and strengthen supplemental academic and counseling support in basic skills • Carefully review data on student performance and literature on effective practices in developmental education • Develop and implement curricular changes to improve student outcomes

5. The Jumpstart Program • Target group: • First-time college students applying after July 17 • Population identified as at-risk: • Low Fall to Spring persistence • Typically does not receive matriculation services • Typically does not have access to developmental English and Math in first semester (all sections closed) • Typically are late to apply for financial aid • Intervention: • Provided assessment, orientation, group counseling, and financial aid workshop • Reserved sections of developmental English • Provided math workshop, allowed students to re-assess

6. The Jumpstart Model August 1-17 PSCN 25: Orientation After assessment, Counselors direct students to course package. Incentive: all other English & Math sections full College Success Workshop (1 unit) English 102: Reading, Reasoning, and Writing (Accelerated) Open-access 1-semester course leading to transfer-level English Math Workshop: ALEKS Learning/Assessment System (1 unit)

7. Costs of Program Serving 125 Students • Cost of sections: 2.33 FTEF X $25,000 = $58,250 • 5 sections of College Success @ .066 FTEF each = .33 FTEF (1 hour lecture per week) • 5 sections of ENGL 102 @ .35 FTEF each = 1.75 FTEF (3 hours lecture and 2 hours lab per week) • 5 sections of Math workshop @ .05 each = .25 FTEF (1 hour lab per week) • Cost of Math software: $63.00 X 160 = $7,875 • Faculty Inquiry Group costs: ($750.00 X 5) + ($300. X 4) = $4950 • TOTAL: $71,075.00

8. What the Literature Suggests:Representative Practices Guiding Us* Students receive early assessment and advisement (A4) Students encouraged to take foundational English and Math early in their college careers (A4) Faculty who are both knowledgeable and enthusiastic about developmental education are recruited and hired to teach in the program (A6) Counseling support provided is substantial, accessible, and integrated with academic courses/programs (B3) *Basic Skills as a Foundation for Student Success in California Community Colleges (2007, July) (2nd ed.). The Center for Student Success, the Research and Planning Group of the California Community Colleges, under contract from the California Community Colleges System Office, sponsored by USA Funds.

9. Reading/writing curricula integration (D2) • Development of the whole person - Social and emotional as well as cognitive growth (D3) • A high degree of structure is provided in developmental education courses (D5) • Instructors share strategies (D8) • Faculty and advisors closely monitor student performance (D9)

10. Data Guiding Us • Higher persistence rates among students receiving matriculation services (Persistence rates measure the percentage of students enrolled as of Census Day in the first term who are subsequently enrolled as of Census Day in the following term.)

11. Chabot CollegePersistence Rates of New Students by Student ServicesFall 2001 to Spring 2006

12. Why we chose Accelerated Developmental English: Significantly more students persist to and succeed in College English from the accelerated course than from two-semester sequence

13. When accelerated students get to transfer-level English, they pass at exactly the same rate as students from two-semester track (and about twice as many of them actually get there)

14. Why we can't use Accuplacer to identify a minimum placement score for accelerated track

15. Window into a Jumpstart Classroom • Video footage from Katie Hern’s English 102, Fall 09 • Students are working collaboratively to understand the assigned reading, an excerpt from Paolo Freire’sPedagogy of the Oppressed. • It is the fourth class session. The discussion builds on earlier readings about education by Malcolm X, Krishnamurti, and Mike Rose, along with a study by Anyon documenting serious differences between schools in different socio-economic communities.

16. Guided Discussion Questions That Students Are Engaging 1) What does Freire mean by the term “banking model” education? Why does he say it is “oppressive” or “dehumanizing”? 2.) What does Freire mean by “problem posing” education? Why does he say this is “liberatory”?

17. Emerging Results: English Faculty Inquiry Group 5 English instructors teaching in the program met twice a month, examined range of data together • Challenge of homogeneous sections of “late arriver,” first-time college group: All instructors reported higher withdrawal rates and lower success rates than is typical for them • Reasons behind low success rates: For the majority of students who did not complete or pass course, the primary reason was not insufficient literacy skills for the accelerated track. Instead, it was either external life factors (sudden homelessness, death in family, need to travel to Mexico) and/or old “high school behaviors” (e.g. trying to get by without doing work)

18. Window into the JumpstartMath Workshops 1-Unit Course in computer lab setting. Students work with ALEKS software program, which assesses their existing knowledge and provides individualized curricula in their own zone of proximal development Workshop provides • Review of prerequisite skills • Shift in expectation of math class at a CC • Understanding of the college’s math offerings

19. Benefits of Math Workshop • Workshop setting instead of regular math class is less overwhelming • Low-stress environment & flexible pacing safely tests student discipline and commitment • Computer system ALEKS works for all students • Builds solid foundation • Individualizes curriculum sequence • Focuses on learning, not points • Develops independent learning skills and strategies • Allows moving ahead; appropriately challenges all students

20. Math Workshop Format Students… • Take initial assessment in ALEKS • Attend weekly lab hour • Log three hours per weeks on ALEKS • Get support in drop-in tutorial • Take frequent assessment to monitor progress • Retake Chabot math assessment

21. Math Workshop Format Instructors… • Review progress with students in lab • Answer questions in lab/office hour • Give help to individuals or small groups • Explain Chabot’s math offerings

22. Data from Math Workshop • 132 students at census. Some are not in Jump Start. • 114 students in analysis • Only 37 students had completed the 40 required hours on ALEKS

23. Data from Math Workshop • 30 of those have Chabot Assessment data for both before and after workshop • 15 students placed the same • 9 students advanced • 7 into one level above • 2 into two levels above • 6 students regressed • Assessment placed most students in Prealgebra, Elem. Alg., Int. Alg. Only 3 students placed in transfer-level • Three ALEKS courses were set up: Prealgebra, Elementary Algebra, Intermediate Algebra

24. Data from Math Workshop • Poor results in the previous course in ALEKS suggest a second look at the assessment instrument • Students were placed in ALEKS at one course below their assessment level to brush up on prerequisite skills • No Int. Alg. Student assessed over 50% in ALEKS Elem. Alg. course • Only about 20% of Elem. Alg. Students assessed at least 50% in ALEKS Prealgebra • In ALEKS Prealgebra assessment, the Q2 (37%) and Q3 (46.5%) for Elem. Alg. students are only 15% higher than those for Prealgebra students

27. Next Steps: MathImprove Workshop Design • Consider other ways to effectively use individualized approach to expand students’ options within the math curriculum; possible options: shorten the workshop to, say, 5 weeks while keeping the same format… • To reduce student procrastination • To give student a better sense of pace of regular math course • To identify students who can better benefit from self-paced format • To allow students who can advance the opportunity to be reassessed before registration • To allow multiple workshops through out the semester to catch dropouts from regular math courses

28. Next Steps: English Department • Use insights from Jumpstart to reconsider English developmental sequence • How should we direct students toward the appropriate path – accelerated vs. two-semester track? • Which students need a longer sequence? What are their specific needs, and does our current sequence meet them? • Do we have the right balance of accelerated and non-accelerated sections?

29. Next Steps: All Areas • How might we support students confronted with external life challenges that pull them away from school? Are there alternative models of counseling that can be used to intervene in crucial moments? • How might classroom faculty work with these challenges? • How might we help students develop a stronger sense of intrinsic motivation to meet the demands of college?

30. Emerging Data on Program Impact Early Census data shows higher persistence rates among first-time college students in Jumpstart: Fall ‘09 to Spring ‘10 Persistence • New, first time Jumpstart students: 72% (N = 85) • New, first time non-Jumpstart students: 65%

31. Next Steps: Institutional • Reflect on ongoing data from Jumpstart experiment • Did taking English, math, and counseling in their first semester correlate with success in other courses? How do Jumpstart students perform in English and Math courses in future semesters? • Continue to use basic skills committee to develop coordinated, institution-wide support for students

32. Lessons Learned: Institutional • As new initiatives are developed within one campus group, ensure that the representatives on that group are sharing information in an ongoing way with departments, other institutional groups, and other administrators to facilitate smooth implementation • Be intentional about aligning new initiatives with existing campus structures and timelines

33. Replicable Components from Jumpstart • Directing students to enroll early in an accelerated English curriculum that integrates reading and writing and provides a one-semester track to college-English • Developing systems to increase student participation in assessment, orientation, and counseling • Using ALEKS to develop workshops to address student math skills • Using the Basic Skills Initiative Committee to develop an institution-wide initiative that crosses academic and student services as well as multiple disciplines and combines Faculty Development with Learning Support