Accelerating Students Through DEV

Transcription

1 Accelerating Students Through DEV Presented by Jennifer Evans and Barbara Gilbert Sinclair Community College

2 The Problem In community colleges 60% of community college students are referred to developmental education Only 30% of these students ever take subsequent college level courses Completion by Design A Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiative is attempting to improve the graduation rate of community college students by 40%

3 Completion by Design Sinclair Community College was selected to be the lead college in the Ohio Cadre Sinclair Community College Lorain Community College Start State College

4 More About the Problem In recent years, as a higher education degree has become more important for finding and keeping a good job, community college completion rates have remained low and have even declined slightly.

5 The Global Perspective Community colleges serve large populations of low-income students, students from ethnic and racial backgrounds that are generally underrepresented in four-year institutions, adults with work experience, younger students straight from high school, and students who are the first in their families to attend college.

6 Furthermore In Ohio, only 9.4 percent of full-time students pursuing an associate degree graduate within three years, according to Complete College America, a national nonprofit.

7 DEI The Developmental Education Initiative is a grant which will build upon the most promising programs developed through Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a multi-year national initiative to boost graduation rates at community colleges, particularly among low-income students and students of color.

8 DEI The remedial education models developed by the 15 community colleges receiving these grants represent some of the most promising work in the country aimed at boosting college completion rates among struggling students.

9 The Research Shows that DEV Students Can Improve Their Graduation Rates in Several Significant Ways Improved Academic Catch-Up Prevention Acceleration Supplemental Instruction Concurrent Enrollment Contextualization Competency-Based Digital Prep

10 What Sinclair Did Sinclair focused on two of the methods: Acceleration Competency-Based Digital Prep

11 Acceleration There are three different models of acceleration that are emerging in evidence-based practice: Linking developmental and college-level courses Compressing two levels of developmental courses Mainstreaming developmental students

12 Acceleration/Boot Camps Boot Camps accelerate students, even when they don t complete Boot Camps represent the third model which involves mainstreaming developmental students

13 What is a Boot Camp A Boot Camp is an intensive review of course materials over the space of one week Students spend 3 hours per day for 1 week studying the components of the course At the end of the week, a final assessment is administered If the student passes the assessment, he completes the requirements for the course

14 More Students who choose to attend a Boot Camp either did not pass the class they were registered in, or they want to bypass a DEV class

15 Instructors Instructors of a Boot Camp in a content area (English, Reading, Math): Full-time, tenured or tenure track faculty ACF s (Annually Contracted Faculty) Part-time (Adjunct Faculty)

16 Materials Course materials were developed by faculty who teach the content courses Attention was given to covering all of the course outcomes Assessments were created that measured those outcomes

17 Example Here are the Instructor s Manuals created for the content area Boot Camps in English, Reading, and Math p?id=community%5fcbd%5facademic

18 What are the Logistics of Boot Camps? Sinclair charges 1 credit hour for the Boot Camp, and the student receives 1 hour of credit if the course is successfully completed In addition, the student gets a coupon to retake the Accuplacer Test, possibly testing out of the next sequential course The grade the student receives in the Boot Camp replaces a failing grade

19 Success Rates of Boot Camps In December, 2010, the first Boot Camps were offered for Math, Reading, and English The success rate across all types of Boot Camps was 75.31% In spring, 2011, the rate of success across all types of Boot Camps was 76.74% In summer 2011, the rate of success across all types of Boot Camps was 73.56%

20 Comparisons The average completion rate for the exit level reading course was 59.43% For the next level math course the average completion rate was 51.43% For the exit level English course the average completion rate was 62.6%

21 Competency-Based Digital Prep The second modality Sinclair focused on to accelerate DEV students was competency-based digital prep This method utilizes a computer lab, software, and self-paced instruction

22 Math Academy The Math Academy courses are selfpaced versions of the DEV math courses offered in the curriculum Students use MyMathLab software to complete their work The course includes a Workbook, MyMathLab Homework, Quizzes, and Paper Tests

23 Course Design The Math Academy offers the three higher level DEV math courses Students are required to complete a workbook, several MML homework assignments and quizzes, paper tests for each unit, and a final exam

24 What s the Advantage? Again, students have the opportunity to accelerate through their required DEV math courses. They do this by doing well on a pretest, eliminating an entire module Students work at their own pace and have the potential to complete more than one course during the eight week term

25 Math Academy Design The lab offers three courses during each scheduled class time, called stacked sections Each section can accommodate 30 students During the scheduled class times, students have instructors and professional tutors available to provide support

26 Math Academy Completion Rates Two mini-terms are offered each semester Success rates for the first 8-week term during fall semester: DEV % pass rate DEV % pass rate DEV % pass rate

27 Math Academy Completion Rates Success Rates for the second term during fall semester DEV % pass rate DEV % pass rate DEV % pass rate

28 Questions