California Acceleration Project Supporting California s 113 Community Colleges To Transform Remediation to Increase Student Completion and Equity http://cap.3csn.org Ambitious Acceleration Efforts At California Community Colleges Mt. San Jacinto College English Irvine Valley College English Skyline College English Los Medanos College Math Cuyamaca College Math College of the Canyons Math Summaries Prepared for California Acceleration Project Workshops Crafting an Ambitious Proposal for Transformation Funding February 19, 2016, College of the Canyons February 26, 2016, College of Alameda 1
Mt San Jacinto College: Scaling Up Powerful Acceleration Strategies in English Where Are We Now? MSJC first began offering an accelerated, integrated reading and writing course in 2012, then gradually scaled up the number of sections offered. This year English faculty decided to stop offering the traditional courses two and three levels below and offer only one level of remediation below college English. They are currently developing a 101-plus co-requisite model for students who don t meet the placement criteria for a regular college English course. And they have changed their placement policies to enable many more students to begin directly in the college level. MSJC faculty leaders did a lot of ground-level work to develop new courses and secure curriculum approval, change their own classroom practice, and build support among other faculty. Some of the elements that helped them transform the college s approach to English remediation: Professional Development from the California Acceleration Project Two teams of faculty received CAP training in high-challenge, high-support pedagogy One instructor returned for the advanced CAP Leadership Training program Faculty leaders organized an on-site CAP workshop to build institutional support for change, examine local data, and develop a plan for moving ahead Local Faculty Development and Shared Curricular Materials Faculty examined Basic Skills Cohort Tracker data showing low rates of college English completion among students placed into remediation. Early-initiator faculty drew upon what they learned in CAP to develop a local program to support more faculty to teach the redesigned accelerated course Early-initiator faculty developed thematic curricular materials that could be adopted and adapted by other faculty (e.g., texts, assignments, in-class activities shared online). Faculty examined data from the accelerated course, saw big completion gains. Examining Placement Policies Only 15% of students qualified for college-level courses in Fall 2015 at MSJC. White students were twice as likely as Hispanic students to be placed into college English, four-times as likely as Black students. Students placed into college level have a 73% chance of passing college English in two years. Black and Hispanic students were twice as likely as white students to be required to take two or more remedial English courses. For students placed into two remedial English courses, completion of college English drops to 38%. Three remedial courses: 23%. Changing Placement Policies to Increase Access to the Transfer Level and Improve Equity Accuplacer cut scores for English 101 were lowered from 100 to 80; students who score above the line on either test (reading/sentence skills) will qualify. The use of multiple measures was expanded so that students qualify for Eng 101 by test scores OR if they self-report an overall high school GPA of 2.5 or higher. Students scoring below 80 on Accuplacer who report a high school GPA of 2.0-2.49 will be eligible for the new co-requisite model ( 101-plus ). 2
Irvine Valley College: Scaling Up Powerful Acceleration Strategies in English Where Are We Now? IVC started offering two pilot sections of their accelerated writing course in Fall 2012. They slowly scaled up the number of sections over the past four years, and as of Fall 2016, the program will be full scale as they have eliminated the traditional two-semester sequence and detached the three-levels-below reading prerequisite. In order to support this growth, IVC faculty developed a local training program for new and returning faculty who teach in the accelerated program. In addition, English faculty are in the early planning stages of piloting a co-requisite course for students who test one-level-below, math faculty are working on redesigning their basic skills curriculum, and the SSSP taskforce is working with the research department and discipline faculty to implement multiple measures for placement as our (tentative) plan for our Basic Skills Transformation grant proposal. Support from the California Acceleration Project The piloting faculty members of our accelerated writing course participated in CAP during their first year, gaining an understanding of accelerated pedagogy, samples of assignments and classroom activities, supportive mentors, and an example of a training program for new instructors. Faculty Champions The changes in the program have all been faculty led. Faculty in the accelerated program also did outreach across the campus, working with various departments (including counseling, DSPS, and ESL), sharing information at campus events, presenting at board meetings, and participating on key campus committees (such as SSSP and SEP). Local Collaborative Training Program Faculty built a local collaborative training program based on the CAP model. New faculty in the accelerated program participated in a two-day summer workshop, a one-day winter break workshop, and monthly meetings. Returning faculty also participated in most of this training (one summer workshop day is reserved for new faculty), building mentorship. In the training program, faculty built a shared pedagogical framework and instructional cycle, shared curriculum, and participated in sample classroom activities. Shared Curriculum in the Accelerated Writing Program New faculty in the program are required to use established curriculum and class timelines for one semester. After that, faculty can create new course themes, while still using an established progression of assignments (our grid of gold ). The coordinators share all assignments, weekly sample lesson plans, and classroom activity examples. The faculty Blackboard page houses all current materials and archives for new and returning faculty. 3
Collecting Data Faculty coordinators work closely with the college s research department to track success rates and share them with other faculty to build support. Cross-Campus Collaboration Faculty in the acceleration program work with faculty and staff across campus, and as the ideas and results of the accelerated writing program spread, so does the momentum for change. In IVC s application for the Basic Skills Transformation grant, they are (tentatively) planning three projects: implementing multiple measures for placement, a redesign of the math basic skills sequence, and a pilot of a co-requisite course in English for students who test one-level-below transfer level. 4
Skyline College: Scaling Up Powerful Acceleration Strategies in English Where Are We Now? Skyline College has integrated reading and writing courses one and two levels below transfer; though students may choose to enroll in the course two-levels below transfer, the one-level below transfer course is open-access. As a result of the efforts in acceleration, the College reduced the number of sections for two-levels below transfer to only four sections in Fall 2015 and two sections in Spring 2016. In Fall 2012, the College offered accelerated English courses, which allowed students placing two levels below transfer to self-place into one-level below transfer. The pilot courses in Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 had split placements, meaning approximately half the students placed into one-level below transfer and the other half placed two-levels below transfer. Skyline methodically scaled the program up and removed the split placement and moved 100% to an open-access model for one-level below transfer. Leading faculty created a one-time professional development workshop for instructors teaching one-level below transfer. In Fall 2015, Skyline piloted a 5-unit accelerated English 1A course for students who would have traditionally placed one or two levels below transfer. In Fall 2015, the pilot began with 2 sections of the course and expanded to four courses in Spring 2016. In order to most effectively support the students, faculty are developing curriculum and training for faculty who will teach the accelerated 1A in Fall 2016. The College will offer approximately 10 sections of the accelerated 1A and will include both full-time and part-time faculty. Professional Development from the California Acceleration Project The College sent two teams to the California Acceleration Project, which provided training and models for accelerated pedagogy and redesigned curriculum, including the development of thematic courses The teams included both full-time and part-time faculty One instructor participated in the CAP Leadership Training program Faculty Support and Leadership The English Department provided support for the initial faculty cohort and the changes to an openaccess model for one-level below transfer Faculty leaders created a one-time training for faculty interested in teach the accelerated course onelevel below transfer Participating faculty shared resources and curriculum to all faculty in the English Department Faculty collaborated to present recommendations for changes to placement policies Faculty supported the creation of the co-req model by repurposing of a banked 5-unit 1A to create a more inclusive accelerated 1A with five units, which allows faculty to provide more support and guidance than the traditional 3-unit 1A Faculty leaders are working collaboratively to provide feedback and guidance in the curriculum development Administrative Support Faculty received tremendous support from the Language Arts Dean as well as upper administration The Learning Center provided Supplemental Instruction for the pilot courses in Fall 12 and Spring 13 5
A faculty leader received reassigned time to develop curriculum and training components for faculty teaching the accelerated 1A BSI leadership provided support to send additional faculty to the CAP training A team of administrators and faculty are working together to provide embedded tutoring in all accelerated 1As starting in Fall 2016 Examining and Changing Placement Policies Faculty worked with the Assessment Center to review and evaluate Compass cut scores and identified the adverse impact of placement policies on students of color The English Department unanimously agreed to adjust cut scores for the traditional English 1A and created a range of scores for students to place directly into the accelerated 1A The College has implemented the following multiple measures, including high school GPA, junior/senior English grades, and placement test scores o Students who have a high school GPA of 2.0 OR a C- in Junior English OR a C- in Senior English OR a Compass Reading Comprehension score of 69-74 place into one-level below transfer (NOTE: any student may self-place into one-level below transfer) o Students who have a high school GPA of 2.0-2.5 OR a C/C+ in Junior English OR a C/C+ in Senior English OR a Compass Reading Comprehension Score of 75-79 place into the accelerated, 5-unit 1A o Students who have a high school GPA of 2.6 or higher OR an A or B in Junior English OR an A or B in Senior English OR a Compass score of 80-100 place into the traditional 1A 6
Los Medanos College: Scaling Up Powerful Acceleration Strategies in Math Current Practice Starting in Fall 2016, LMC will use high school course work for math placement, with the placement test now optional. There will be differentiated placement levels for two different math pathways: (1) Statistics pathway for students in programs that are not math intensive and (2) STEM/Business pathway for students who need more intensive algebra preparation. LMC will also begin offering a Statistics+support co-requisite course in the fall. We anticipate that most students will place into Statistics (with or without co-requisite support) or into accelerated algebra (one level below). Before these changes, 70% placed into remediation, over 50% placed 2 or more levels below. College-wide Examination of Placement Policies and Data With equity funds, the college sponsored a two-day Placement Symposium. John Hetts of the Multiple Measures Assessment Project and Myra Snell of the California Acceleration Project presented high leverage strategies for improving completion rates of transfer-level math and English and addressing equity gaps. The Symposium was attended by a wide cross section of the college, including English, math and counseling faculty; deans and managers in charge of matriculation (SSSP), equity, student success; staff from the assessment center and other student support areas. Activities included examining placement data and drafting actions for addressing the disproportionate impact of the college s placement policies (over half of African Americans place 3+ levels below transfer, compared to about a third of Whites). Math Department opted for making the placement test optional and expanding the current policy that allowed students with Algebra II (C- or better) access to transfer-level math. The new policy broadens access to Statistics by placing those who do not meet the Algebra II bar but have Algebra I (C- or better) into Statistics with a 2-unit co-requisite support course. The same criterion allows students in the STEM/Business pathway to take accelerated algebra (Elem. Alg review + Int. Alg.). They plan to monitor the impact of these changes on disproportionate access to transfer-level math and completion of transfer-level math, and to adjust placement rules to include high school GPA if necessary. Professional Development After the recent announcements that both UC and CSU will now articulate statistics courses with alternative prerequisites to intermediate algebra, the faculty who had been teaching the long-standing pre-statistics course encouraged the department to develop a co-requisite support course for Statistics. Research cited in CAP s Acceleration Strategies that Produce Powerful Results was pivotal to the conversation. Equity dollars are supporting a Teaching Community of math faculty who meet weekly to prepare for the Statistics+support co-requisite course. Several have participated in a CAP Community of Practice. They are designing affective domain interventions and class activities for teaching statistics to a less filtered student population, aligned with CAP design principles. Additional equity dollars will support a group of math faculty who are retooling to teach Statistics for the first time. They are working independently through the Open Learning Initiative s Concepts of Statistics course and will meet in June for a series of workshops to prepare to teach Statistics+support in the fall. 7
Cuyamaca College: Scaling Up Accelerated Math Pathways Current Practice In 2011 Cuyamaca College implemented the Stats Academy consisting of a one-semester preparatory course (no prerequisite) immediately followed by transfer-level statistics. Based on the overwhelming success of this accelerated program, the Math Department faculty decided to put into practice all three of the high-leverage strategies espoused by the California Acceleration Project (CAP). By accelerating remediation across the mathematics curriculum (not just through transfer-level statistics), changing placement policies to allow more first-time students to enroll directly into transfer-level courses, and offering co-requisite support courses for Intermediate Algebra and each first-level transfer course, we expect to dramatically scale up the success of the Stats Academy. To date, we have designed and are in the process of implementing a model for placement based primarily on multiple measures such as self-reported highschool GPA and previous course-taking history. Additionally, based on the CAP design principles, we have developed the co-requisite support courses and all have been approved by Cuyamaca s Curriculum Committee and the State Chancellor s Office. Beginning in fall 2016, Cuyamaca College will no longer offer math courses at two or more levels below transfer. Instead, basic skills students will enroll directly in Intermediate Algebra and a concurrent-enrollment support course or in the single-semester preparatory course leading directly to transfer-level statistics. A great deal of commitment, faith in our students, and hard work was required for faculty to: accelerate remediation, develop and win approval of the co-requisite support courses, transition placement practices away from a high-stakes test such as Accuplacer toward a reliance on multiple measures, adopt pedagogical practices for a learner-centered classroom, and build college-wide support for all of these changes. Here are some of the steps Cuyamaca faculty took to prepare for the heavy lifting. Professional Development from the California Acceleration Project Two teams of math faculty participated in CAP Community of Practice workshops and received training in high-challenge high-support pedagogical practices. Math faculty attended regional CAP workshops to continue to learn about best practices in implementing CAP s three high-leverage strategies (accelerate remediation, change placement policies, and offer a co-requisite support models). Research, Background and Preparation As the success of the Stats Academy became increasingly evident, math faculty began asking the important question, How can we scale this up to benefit all students not just the limited number of students for whom statistics would satisfy the math requirement in their majors? Math faculty conducted a thorough investigation of local, state, and national data as well as best practices for implementing the three high-leverage strategies. Based on the evidence and much and even more discussion within the Department, the Math Pathways program was conceived. Before approaching the Curriculum Committee, Math faculty wrote an evidenced-based talking-points paper and lobbied the support of the Dean of Math, Science and Engineering; the Vice President of Instruction; and the Vice President of Student Services. 8
While designing the Math Pathways program and preparing to implement the three high-leverage strategies, the Cuyamaca math faculty worked closely with colleagues at the sister college to solicit feedback and address their concerns. During the January 2016 professional development meeting, the Math Pathways program was presented to the entire department so part-time faculty unable to attend regular Department meetings could prepare themselves for the impending changes. Development of Outlines & Curriculum We reviewed the research to determine best practices in developing and implementing co-requisite support models. We reviewed the five CAP design principles (backward design, just-in-time remediation, low-stakes collaborative practice, thinking-oriented curriculum, and intentional support for the affective domain). Based on the evidence, the CAP design principles, and our commitment to adopting a learner-centered classroom in all math classes, we developed the course outlines for the co-requisite support courses, and we re in the process of developing the classroom curriculum and instructor s manuals for these courses. We have and will continue to participate in many long conversations with Curriculum Committee members, the Articulation Officer, and Counseling Department faculty and staff. We are in the process of developing and implementing a training program for all math faculty. Examining & Changing Placement Policies to Increase Access to Transfer-level Courses We reviewed the research regarding placement policies and examined our current placement data. In order to increase access to transfer-level math courses, we developed and are in the process of implementing a placement policy that relies primarily on the following multiple measures as opposed to a high-stakes test. o Self-reported high school GPA (2.8 or higher) o Last math class in which the student earned a C or better (Algebra I or II) o Accuplacer test scores only increase a student s placement level Behind the Scenes We met frequently with the following college constituencies (both at Cuyamaca and the sister-college) to make them aware of the proposed changes, solicit their feedback, address their concerns, and modify the Math Pathways program when appropriate. o Counseling, DSPS, special funded programs, assessment, outreach, Admissions and Records We met regularly with Information Systems to add multiple measures to the placement process and establish policies and procedures for enrolling students in the co-requisite support courses. 9
College of the Canyons: High Leverage Strategies that Dramatically Increase Student Completion of Transfer-Level Math Current Practice in Math College of the Canyons currently offers 45 sections per year (1350 students/year) of CAP-informed curriculum redesigned pre-statistics sections, resulting in a doubling of a student s chance (from 25-30% to 55-60%) of completing a transfer level math course. The department also offers this course in an eightweek format paired with an eight-week Introductory Statistics course (PAL format) that triples a student s chance of success (from 25-30% to 85%). We migrated our arithmetic course from credit to non-credit and modified cut scores for Accuplacer, resulting in reducing the number of students placing below Elementary Algebra (1200 students per year) in half. In the past month, the department moved forward with disjunctive placement for direct placement into transfer level statistics (based primarily on HS GPA of 3.0 or greater) that will allow 75% of entering students access to transfer level statistics. College of the Canyons faculty teams focused on the institutional problem: each additional math class in the developmental sequence reduces a student s chance of completing their goal by half. So we explored different ways of reducing exit points. The department focused on high leverage strategies inspired by our close working relationship with CAP that reduce a student s time in the toxic developmental sequence (moved arithmetic to non-credit, created a pre-statistics course, increased the number of PAL sections, and reformed placement and assessment practices). We also implemented several ideas that other colleges may consider: Professional Development from the California Acceleration Project Sent three teams of faculty to CAP institutes to learn high-challenge, high- support pedagogy Worked with Myra Snell and Katie Hern on implementation strategies Statistics Faculty Development and Institutional Support Secured funding (BSI, Student Equity) to develop and implement robust statistics focused training for instructors and tutors Collaborated with English and Communications departments regarding student writing and presentations Built alliances with Academic Affairs, Assessment, Counseling, Institutional Research, Matriculation, Tutoring Center, and other college departments impacted by our implementation of high-impact strategies Placement Policy Changes to Increase Access to Transfer Level Courses Changed Math Assessment procedures to a Disjunctive & Mixed Model that will change the number of college ready students from 15% to 75% For non-stem/non-business majors, we expanded the use of multiple measures so that a student qualifies for introductory statistics by placement test score OR through a self-reported overall high school GPA of 3.0 or higher OR high school GPA of at least 2.7 and Algebra 2 completion with a C OR high school GPA of at least 2.7 and Algebra 1 completion with a B- or higher For STEM majors, we carefully reviewed and revised Accuplacer cut scores, as well as created minimum placement levels based on last successfully completed high school math course to increase placement for at least 40% of incoming STEM students 10