Strategies for Accelerating Student Success:

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Corey Carter
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Thomas Bailey Community College Research Center Teachers

1 Strategies for Accelerating Student Success: Findings & Recommendations from the Assessment of the Evidence Series Thomas Bailey Community College Research Center Teachers College/Columbia University Michigan Student Success Summit Lansing September 9, 2011

2 Assessment of Evidence Series Focused on: Developmental education (assessment & placement, acceleration programs, contextualization of basic skills instruction, innovative math pedagogy) Non-academic supports Program & institutional structures Online learning Organizational improvement Impacts: Best-quality quantitative research Implications: Qualitative research, theoretical literature, practitioner input

3 Strategy Placement Testing Developmental Acceleration Findings Findings & Implications Tests only weakly predictive; little connection between student need & treatment. Many promising models; for which students? Role of (improved?) pedagogy is unclear. Contextualization & Innovative Math Pedagogy Non-Academic Support Program & Inst. Structure Online learning Organizational Improvement Organizational Improvement (establishment in programs of study) Very promising but not widely used... why not? Mechanisms: creating social relationships, clarifying aspirations & commitment, developing college know-how, and addressing conflicting life demands. Institutional complexity may adversely affect student decision-making. Completion is lower (after controlling for just about everything). CCs tend to be weak in organizational practices that promote high performance. To improve completion rates, CCs need to ensure that students get into a college-level program of study as quickly as possible. Most CCs not well organized to do that.

4 An overarching theme Most reform focused on discrete programmatic reforms When evaluated, these reforms generally have positive but modest effects Difficult to bring to scale Not large enough to effect institutional performance To substantially improve: developmental education online & face-to-face pedagogy support provision... the whole institution needs to be engaged and focused on improving student outcomes.

5 Four Broad Findings & Recommendations #1: Complexity & Structure #2: Faculty Engagement #3: Academic Alignment & Assessment #4: Continuous Improvement

6 Complexity & Structure All humans make bad choices in unduly complex environments. College can seem complex and confusing to students, due to: A bewildering array of options Lack of information integration Unnecessary bureaucracy Many student fail to get established in a program and are confused about requirements and prerequisites

7 Not enroll, skip C GK Enroll, then skip Complete, then skip No E3, skip to GK E2, no C2, skip to GK GK E1, no C1, skip to GK C3, C2, C1 E GK, exit No E3, skip to 1 E2, no C2, skip to 1 1 C3, C2, E1, no C1, exit C3, C2, C1, exit No E3, skip to 2 E3, no C3, E2 2 C3, E2, no C2, exit C3, C2, exit C2, skip to GK C3, skip to GK C3, exit C3, skip to 1 E3, no C3, E1 3 E3, no C3, exit E3, no C3, E GK R=3 Exit without ever enrolling

8 Timing of Entry into a Program of Study Percentage of First-Time Concentrators by Term 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%

9 Complexity & Structure Recommendation: Simplify the structures and bureaucracies that students must navigate. Align developmental material, placement tests, & college-level curriculum Streamline & contextualize developmental education with student s program of choice (requires programchoice advisement) Allow fast-track options

10 Complexity & Structure Re-examine policies, practices, services... Form cross-functional teams of faculty, student services, staff administrators. Are programs coherent and easily understood by students? How does the college help students choose and enter a program of study? Map out student s experience from first contact; where & why are students encountering frustration and confusion?

11 Faculty Engagement Substantial organizational improvement requires strong employee involvement. In CCs, student success goals can be hampered by: lack of faculty/staff engagement large part-time workforce organizational silos

12 Faculty Engagement Organizations with strong employee involvement in reform: Ensure employees have deep understanding of goals and methods of reform Empower employees as part of reform Encourage staff to work in cross-functional teams Create challenging yet meaningful goals Present evidence of successes

13 Faculty Engagement Previous attempts to broadly engage faculty have not always been successful Perhaps because reforms: Often focus on student retention / completion (institutional effectiveness) Not on student learning (instructional effectiveness)

14 Faculty Engagement Recommendation: Empower faculty to: Set challenging and meaningful student learning goals Include content knowledge/skills, but also Cognitive and academic strategies (e.g., critical thinking, problem-solving, study skills, self monitoring) Simplify programs and make them easily understandable to the student

15 As Alignment & Assessment In K-12, schools effective with disadvantaged students have instructional program coherence: Well-coordinated, rationalized curriculum Common instructional framework Clearly defined learning outcomes Integrated assessments & academic supports Colleges do not put strong emphasis on these.

16 Academic Alignment & Assessment Recommendation: Faculty work together to craft learning outcomes. Process would: Help faculty from different disciplines communicate and align expectations for reading, writing, & math Help part-time instructors understand course goals Help students understand program goals & requirements Help clarify college readiness standards

17 Continuous Improvement Practices of high-performance organizations: Strong leadership Customer focus Functional alignment Process improvement Use of measurement for improvement Employee involvement Training and professional development External linkages

18 Continuous Improvement Recommendations: Involve faculty & mid-level administrators in measuring outcomes, setting goals, identifying gaps, and making changes To support process, rethink committee structures, professional development strategies, and incentives

19 Continuous Improvement Process Measurement, Alignment, Improvement Leadership Focused on Outcomes Faculty/Staff Involvement Targeted Faculty/ Staff Training, Prof Development Set learning outcomes/completion goals Set learning outcomes/completion goals Measure student learning/progression Identify learning/achievement gaps Align practices/policies to improve outcomes Evaluate and improve alignment efforts External Linkages Employers Universities K-12 Schools Adult Basic Skills Non-credit Workforce Programs Community Groups IMPROVED STUDENT LEARNING/COMPLETION

20 Empower Faculty and Staff to Design/Implement Innovations at Scale CONNECTION From interest to enrollment ENTRY From enrollment to entry into program of study PROGRESS From program entry to 75% of program requirements completed COMPLETION From program completion to credential of value for further education and (for CTE) labor market advancement College readiness prep for hs students Early testing Strategic dual enrollment Bridges from ABE to college Recruitment materials with program streams clearly mapped out Program offerings / requirements clearly mapped out Consistent messages to new students Prescribed course sequence with required 3-credit college success course Dev ed contextualized to program streams Course learning outcomes/assessments tied to program outcomes Students required to declare major Students required to keep up-to-date program completion plan Revamped program review process to ensure that programs prepare for further education and career advancement Transfer agreements with universities that ensure junior standing Regular review of program learning outcomes by employers Survey of recent grads for suggestion of way to improve programs

21 Complexity and Structure How many programs do you have? What is structure of those programs and why are they designed the way that they are? How do students see and understand them? What are the pathways of students, when do they exit, and what is their pattern of course taking? When and how do they enter programs? What help do they have in choosing programs?

22 Faculty Engagement and Academic Alignment What do faculty understand about the completion agenda of the college? How do they see their involvement? To what extent do faculty work together to develop improve and refine overall programs, to develop curricula, assessments, and learning outcomes?

23 Continuous Improvement What is the capability of the college to answer these questions? To what extent do faculty and administrators use data and information to guide their activities? What is the strategy for professional development and what goals or principles guide that strategy? Can you tell if efforts or reforms have been successful?

24 Reports in the Series Edgecombe, N., Accelerating the academic achievement of students referred to developmental education: A review of the evidence. Hodara, M., Reforming mathematics classroom pedagogy: Evidence-based findings and recommendations for the developmental math classroom. Hughes, K. & Scott-Clayton, J., Assessing developmental assessment in community colleges. Jaggars, S. S., Online learning: Does it help low-income and underprepared students? Jenkins, D., Redesigning community colleges for completion: Lessons from research on high-performance organizations. Karp, M. M., Toward a new understanding of non-academic student support: Four mechanisms encouraging positive student outcomes in the community college. Perin, D., Facilitating student achievement through contextualization. Scott-Clayton, J., The shapeless river: Does a lack of structure inhibit students progress at community colleges? Jenkins, D., Get with the program: Accelerating community college students' entry into and completion of programs of study.

25 For more information: Please visit us on the web at where you can download presentations, reports, CCRC Briefs, and sign-up for news announcements. Community College Research Center Institute on Education and the Economy, Teachers College, Columbia University 525 West 120th Street, Box 174, New York, NY Telephone: CCRC is funded in part by: Alfred P. Sloan foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Lumina Foundation for Education, The Ford Foundation, National Science Foundation (NSF), Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education

Engaging Faculty in Reform:

MARCH 4, 2014 Engaging Faculty in Reform: Building Buy-in, Supporting Instructional Improvement Susan Bickerstaff, Community College Research Center Heidi Johnsen, LaGuardia Community College 1 We conduct