Transforming Developmenatl Education

STUFF

Transforming Developmetnal Education: Present Conversation - Links to Literature and Research (References to review) Whitepaper - What is Influencing Thinking?

THE ANT HAS A LITTLE HEAD.

C HAPTER 1

The Bones Developmental education needs a systematic approach for increasing completion rates. The Suppose Model is not an answer; it is a completion model for stimulating thinking about helping developmental students reach completion (certificates and degrees)).

S ECTION 1

The Suppose Model

4. Eliminate sequences of developmental courses and provide support for entry-level courses Either: • mainstream developmental students into college-level courses with additional supports or, • provide modularized or developmental education to include academic support that is co-requisite, not prerequisite to college-level courses

SUPPOSE MODEL (The Suppose Model is not an answer; it is a completion model for stimulating thinking about helping developmental students reach completion (certificates and degrees)).

1. Placement assessments based on multiple measures of student preparedness for student’s program of study; current standard placement tests are not predictive 2. Assigned developmental advisor and/or education coach to advise, track, and support to completion 3. Encourage students to commit to programs of study as soon as possible; however, establish “default” programs for stu In addition, track the certificate and degrees that at least pay off student loans.

Appendix D

• compress courses to allow remedial students to more quickly complete their developmental work, or • offer contextualized remedial education within occupational and vocational program.

5. Create statistics, quantitative, and algebra pathways; then place students in pathways most appropriate to prepare them for their chosen programs of study or careers 6. Expand co-requisite supports for additional college-level courses, not just English and math Consider three levels of co-requisite models (extra academic help should become co-requisite, not prerequisite) • For students with few academic deficiencies, place them into redesigned first-year, full- credit courses with co-requisite built-in support, just-in-time tutoring, self-paced computer 2

labs with required attendance, and the like. The length of these courses should mirror the ordinary gateway courses so students stay on track for on-time graduation.

• For students needing more help, lengthen redesigned fullcredit courses and consider providing built-in, co-requisite support for two semesters instead of one. Students get the same content but more time on task.

• For students with the most significant academic needs, provide alternate pathways to high-quality career certificates by embedding remediation and adult basic skills development into their instruction 7. Redesign curriculum that reconsiders the key skills that academically underprepared students will need in their careers (focus on competency learning skills); common core standards should align with career pathways 8. Expand the functional definition of developmental education to - promotes the cognitive and affective growth of all postsecondary learners, at all levels of the learning continuum 9.Improve faculty support for developmental and contextualized or co-requisite courses for the transitions above 10. Understand Models for Accelerating Students’ Progress Through Developmental Education

Action Steps: What would it take to change the focus to “preparing students for their programs of study, rather than reteaching a full high school curriculum for developmental reading, writing, and math?

First, abandon sequences of developmental courses. Too much time is misspent trying to a full-K-12 curriculum rather than the skills and knowledge that prepare students’ for their majors or careers.

Second, move from prescriptive advising to developmental and intrusive advising using advising tools like the Sinclair MAP for Student Success, which focuses on students’ goals.

This is the most underdeveloped area to war completion. (Sinclair Community College’s My Academic Plan (MAP) is a student advising process that combines the characteristics of prescriptive academic advising with the strengths of technologysupported record keeping to present students with accessible, specific, long-range, and accurate plans for the completion of their academic goals. Each student’s MAP guides them in course selection term-by-term and assures that their selections are continuously evaluated against the student's stated goals. MAP software is linked to Sinclair’s Curriculum Management Tool (CMT) to ensure that academic advice is consistent across all advisors and is congruent with current academic requirements.

Third, Hire and train professional developmental advisors who can advise, track, and provide continuous contact and 3

support to completion. (Does it cost, yes it does, but so does not providing the support needed to help ensure completion.)

Third, determine relevant skills and knowledge for students’ major and careers (not the full range of skills of a high school curriculum).

Fourth, Placement should place students into the gateway courses of the student’s major or career rather then sequences of courses. Gateway courses should be co-registered with corequisite or other academic support specific to the course, major or career.

Fifth, Education and career planning should be fast-tracked and for students who do not have a program of study (major or career pathway), establish a “default program.

Sixth, place student in a career pathway co-requisite math.

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C HAPTER 2

Appendix A: Placement Instruments

Placement tests do not yield strong predictions of how students will perform in college.

S ECTION 1

Placement Tests

APPENDIX A - Placement Instruments Predicting Success in College: The Importance of Placement Tests and High School Transcripts (CCRC Working Paper No. 42) By: Clive Belfield & Peter M. Crosta — February 2012. New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University This paper uses student-level data from a statewide community college system to examine the validity of placement tests and high school information in predicting course grades and college performance. It considers the ACCUPLACER and COMPASS placement tests, using two quantitative and two literacy tests from each battery.

The authors find that placement tests do not yield strong predictions of how students will perform in college. Placement

test scores are positively—but weakly—associated with college grade point average (GPA). The correlation disappears when high school GPA is controlled for. Placement test scores are positively associated with college credit accumulation even after controlling for high school GPA. After three to five semesters, a student with a placement test score in the highest quartile has on average nine credits more than a student with a placement test score in the lowest quartile.

In contrast, high school GPAs are useful for predicting many aspects of students’ college performance. High school GPA has a strong association with college GPA; students’ college GPAs are approximately 0.6 units below their high school GPAs. High school GPA also has a strong association with college credit accumulation. A student whose high school GPA is one grade higher will have accumulate approximately four extra credits per semester. Other information from high school transcripts is modestly useful; this includes number of math and English courses taken in high school, honors courses, number of F grades, and number of credits. This high school information is not independently useful beyond high school GPA, and collectively it explains less variation in college performance.

The authors also calculate accuracy rates and four validity metrics for placement tests. They find high “severe” error rates using the placement test cutoffs. The severe error rate for English is 27 to 33 percent; i.e., three out of every ten students is severely misassigned. For math, the severe error rates are lower but still nontrivial. Using high school GPA instead of 6

placement tests reduces the severe error rates by half across both English and math. http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Publication.asp?UID=1030 Overhaul the current placement system. Current placement tests are not predictive. If placement tests are given, provide students with pretest guidance, practice tests, and time to brush up. http://www.completecollege.org/docs/Time_Is_the_Enemy. pdf The Completion Arch: Measuring Community College Student Success: What the Research Tells Us: Developmental Education Placement

demic success, and how far below college level the developmental students place. Among Achieving the Dream students referred to developmental education, 72 percent of students who disregarded the referral to developmental education and went straight into a college-level course passed that course, while only 27 percent of those starting in a developmental course eventually passed the college-level course (Bailey et al., 2010, p. 261). This considerably higher success rate for students who skip developmental courses may reflect shortcomings in the developmental education placement process, or it may simply mean that these students believe they are more academically prepared than college advisors and academic policymakers recognize.

http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/advocacy /arch/The-Completion-Arch-Development-Education-Placem ent-What-Research-Tells-Us.pdf  Since developmental education in community colleges has high costs and low success rates, it is worth asking whether academically underprepared students who place into and take developmental courses would have had better outcomes had they started directly in college-level courses. The answer varies considerably depending on the subject (mathematics, reading, or writing), how researchers control for prior academic preparation and other factors potentially correlated with both placement into developmental education and subsequent aca7

C HAPTER 3

Appendix B: Advising

Community colleges should focus more attention on helping students choose and enter college-level programs of study, suggests new research from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University.

S ECTION 1

Appendix B: Advising

APPENDIX B - Advising Student Focus Groups Reveal Barriers to Community College Success

By Caralee Adams on July 16, 2012 9:07 AM Getting through community college is a struggle for millions of students.

Balancing work and school is harder than many expected.

Many arrive on campus surprised to learn they aren't academically prepared. And, without a clear goal or needed guidance, more often than not, students don't make it to the finish line.

To get at the heart of the college-completion challenge, researchers recently spoke directly with students—those currently enrolled in a community college, some who had completed a degree or certificate, and others who had dropped out. The resulting report, Student Voices on the Higher Educa-

tion Pathway, is part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Postsecondary Success Initiative, Completion by Design, in partnership with New York City-based Public Agenda and West Ed, a research and development agency.

The hope is that effective and sustainable solutions can be identified by keeping students' voices and experiences at the center of reform plans, according to the report. The research that provided the information for it was conducted in March through 15 focus groups of 161 individuals ages 18-29. When asked about factors influencing their college decision, attitudes toward completion, experience with remedial classes, and institutional supports and barriers, five themes emerged: 1. Students wanted more exposure to career possibilities so that they could make better-informed decisions about the goals they set out to achieve and the steps necessary for success.

2. Most believed that the student success and developmental education courses intended to bring them up to speed were not offered in a way that helped them succeed.

3. Participants believed that having clear goals, and being in programs with well-defined pathways, gave them a greater chance of persisting, completing, or transferring.

4. Advisers, counselors, and faculty members who offer support and guidance that is accurate, accessible, and tai9

lored to students' educational and career goals are in high demand and can be hard to come by.

To Improve Completion Rates, Community Colleges Need to Help Students "Get with the Program"

5. Although students know colleges offer a wide range of services, they report that finding the specific information or services is difficult.

http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Publication.asp?uid=967

In addition to the report, a video brings the issue to life through the profiles of several community college students.

Students talk of their aspirations to go to community college so they could have a career, not just a job. But once at school, reality hits, and many struggle to keep on track. Some mention being exhausted trying to work nearly full time and go to classes. Others talk about being guided in high school, but feeling they were on their own in college without adequate guidance for coursework and career goals. Students mention wanting a "road map" to know what to expect and have a focus for their efforts.

Policymakers are realizing that listening to students may be part of the answer to improving educational attainment.

Other initiatives have focused on high school student voices and attitudes of students about paying for the cost of college.

Later this summer, Public Agenda will be releasing a second report that will include a broader survey of student attitudes toward community college completion and success. http://www.publicagenda.org/pages/student-voices-higher-e ducation-pathway

Community colleges should focus more attention on helping students choose and enter college-level programs of study, suggests new research from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Two studies from CCRC have found that entering an academic or vocational program is strongly correlated with degree completion, regardless of background or academic preparation—yet too many entering community college students do not get far enough to enter a program.

A study analyzing community college data found that the sooner students entered a concentration, the more likely they were to succeed. More than half of students who entered a program of study in their first year earned a community college credential or transferred to a four-year college within five years. Only about a third of students who entered a program of study in their second year completed a credential or transferred. For students who did not enter a program until their third year, the success rate was only around 20%.

To earn a credential, students must first enter a coherent college-level program of study, but many community college students enroll without clear goals for college and careers.

Community colleges typically offer a wide range of programs, but most provide little guidance to help students choose and 10

enter a program. Colleges carefully track course enrollments but often do not know which students are in which programs.

CCRC’s research suggests that by helping students enter programs early on, community colleges can improve completion rates.

Advising & Coaching (contact and direction to completion) The Community College Survey of Student Engagement tells us that the “connection and direction” component is what students want.

“What have we learned through the Community College Survey of Student Engagement?

It comes as a surprise to a lot of community college people that students consistently report that the service of most importance to them is academic planning and advising. When we have followed up, conducting focus groups with students, we have asked them to talk about why they place this level of importance on advising and academic planning. Typically, the first thing they say is that it’s not about someone just helping them to fill out their class schedule. Rather, it’s about creating a plan - defining a pathway, with milestones along the way, that shows them the route from where they are to a different place they want to be. Students have further explained that that plan and those milestones essentially then compete with all of the other issues and obligations in their oftencomplicated lives, giving them reasons to return to class the next week and the next semester.” - Pathways to Student Suc-

cess Keynote Address CCTI Summit, Kay McClenney, March 2006 Unlocking the Gate What We Know About Improving Developmental Education, Elizabeth Zachry and Rutschow Emily Schneide http://www.postsecondaryresearch.org/i/a/document/18000 _unlockingFull.pdf Intensive advising, which reduces advisers’ caseloads, allowing them to meet more frequently with students and provide more personalized attention, is another often- recommended intervention, though it can be expensive to implement on a large scale. Student success courses, which teach students study skills and provide an introduction to college life, are also a popular strategy.

Orientation (social interaction, not just disseminating information) The Importance of Faculty-Student Contact Outside the Classroom, Joe Cuseo http://www.ulster.ac.uk/star/resources/faculty_student.pdf New-student orientation is a proactive support program, which has its most salutary effects on student retention when it effectively promotes students' social integration or interaction with other members of the college community. In what may be the most methodologically rigorous study of the impact of new-student orientation programs, Pascarella, Ter11

enzini, and Wolfle (1986) controlled for a host of factors, such as students' college-entry test scores, secondary school grades, socioeconomic status, pre-college educational aspirations, and commitment to the college they were attending. While controlling for these potentially confounding variables, they found that orientation did not have a statistically insignificant direct effect on student persistence. However, orientation programs did have a statistically significant indirect effect on student persistence when they promoted first-year students' social integration and subsequent commitment to the institution, because the latter two variables did have positive, statistically significant effects on student persistence. In other words, orientation programs that had a positive effect on student retention were those that promoted students' social integration-through which the orientation's positive effect on retention was mediated. This research suggests that what matters most in newstudent orientation is not information dissemination or orientation to offices and buildings, but social integration and interaction with people. As Tinto (1993) notes, "Orientation programs frequently fail to provide information in a form which leads new students to establish personal contacts. That is, they often fail to recognize the fact that students' ability and willingness to obtain much-needed information during the course of their academic careers depend upon their having established personal, non-threatening contacts with the persons who provide that information. The key to effective orientation programs, indeed to effective retention programs generally [is] that they go beyond the provision of information per se to the establishment of early contacts for new students" (p. 159).

Ongoing Early Alert Reading and Academic Success Division at Jefferson Community and Technical College Intervention – Early At-Risk Referral System (EARS) Expand the Early alert Referral System to math, writing and content courses within the learning communities: 1.

Attendance, Participation, and Homework (taking self-responsibility for learning) 2. Academic Problems (learning problems, underprepardness) 3. NonAcademic Problems (daycare, transportation, financial aid, personal problems, etc.)

4. Disruptive Behavior (is student behavior in a classroom or other learning environment which disrupts the educational process.)

5. Mental Stress (depression, alcohol and drug, suicide, etc.)

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C HAPTER 4

Appendix C: Committing to Programs of Study

Community colleges should focus more attention on helping students choose and enter college-level programs of study, suggests new research from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University.

S ECTION 1

Appendix C: Committing to Programs of Study APPENDIX C - Committing to Programs of Study To Improve Completion Rates, Community Colleges Need to Help Students "Get with the Program" NEW YORK, NY (September 7, 2011) — Community colleges should focus more attention on helping students choose and enter college-level programs of study, suggests new research from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Two studies from CCRC have found that entering an academic or vocational program is strongly correlated with degree completion, regardless of background or academic preparation—yet too many entering community college students do not get far enough to enter a program.

In a newly released study, CCRC tracked more than 62,000 entering students at Washington State community and technical colleges over seven years and found that only about half ever became a program “concentrator” by passing at least three college-level courses in a single field. Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were even less likely to enter a program. Overall, less than 30% of entering students completed a certificate or degree or transferred to a four-year institution

within seven years. However, success rates were substantially higher—approaching 50%—for students who entered a concentration.

An earlier study analyzing community college data found that the sooner students entered a concentration, the more likely they were to succeed. More than half of students who entered a program of study in their first year earned a community college credential or transferred to a four-year college within five years. Only about a third of students who entered a program of study in their second year completed a credential or transferred. For students who did not enter a program until their third year, the success rate was only around 20%.

These findings are significant in light of the low overall completion rates for community college students. Nationally, fewer than 36% of first time community college students earn a credential from a two- or four-year institution within six years.

To earn a credential, students must first enter a coherent college-level program of study, but many community college students enroll without clear goals for college and careers.

Community colleges typically offer a wide range of programs, but most provide little guidance to help students choose and enter a program. Colleges carefully track course enrollments but often do not know which students are in which programs.

CCRC’s research suggests that by helping students enter programs early on, community colleges can improve completion rates.

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The authors make several recommendations for how community college administrators can encourage program entry among their students. These include requiring all first-time college students to take a college success course in which they create an educational plan tied to career goals; offering contextualized remediation instruction that prepares students for particular programmatic pathways; and creating prescribed course sequences for each program, minimizing electives, to help students complete as quickly as possible. http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Publication.asp?uid=967 Provide Co-Requisite Courses Aligned with Programs of Study Most students come to our college campuses to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure a good job and a better life. A logical first step is to commit to a program of study. Remarkably, many students never do — and broken remediation programs are often to blame.

Committing to a program of study is much more than simply declaring a major. Anybody can declare a major, but completing the initial courses necessary to legitimately be on track in a program of study is a completely different matter. And it’s in these fragile, early stages of college when remediation programs do the most damage.

Researchers at the Community College Research Center at Columbia University have found that students who complete at least three required “gateway” courses in a program of study

within a year of enrollment are twice as likely to earn certificates or degrees.

Remediation programs, designed as prerequisite hurdles that must be jumped before getting to college-level classes, slow students’ progress into programs of study. Studies prove that being trapped in endless remediation sequences or being unable to pass associated gateway courses in math and English are the primary reasons students do not enter programs of study during their first year. And the longer it takes for students to commit to programs of study, the less likely they ever will.

Worse, traditional remediation often seems irrelevant and disconnected from future ambitions, robbing students of precious time, money, and motivation. What’s the result? Many students veer off course onto another dropout exit ramp.

• Get students to commit to programs of study ASAP. Using placement scores, high school transcripts, and predictive tools to determine student aptitude, guide all students to choose among a limited number of first-year pathways — for example, health, business, liberal arts, or STEM — as soon as possible. Students should make the big choices of programs of study informed with an understanding of program requirements and available supports to achieve their career goals. Once they do, place them into structured program pathways constructed of relevant, sequenced courses chosen for them.

• Establish “default” programs for students not ready to commit.

No longer allow students to be considered “unclassified.” Upon enrollment, nudge them into first-year pathways — for example, 15

health, business, liberal arts, or STEM. This ensures a coherent pathway from the beginning, with core college-level credits that will count toward certificates and degrees. By doing so, students avoid excessive course taking while wandering the curriculum, shortening the time it takes to graduate.

• Place students in the right math. Most students are placed in algebra pathways when statistics or quantitative math would be most appropriate to prepare them for their chosen programs of study and careers.

• Expand co-requisite supports for additional college-level courses. Additional introductory courses serve as gateway classes for programs of study, not just English and math. Given h i g h f a i l u r e r a t e s , they have become gatekeeper courses instead, too often blocking students’ entry into their chosen fields. To help unprepared students get a strong, early start, build extra supports around introductory courses necessary for success like entry-level anatomy, biology, physiology, physics, accounting, and drafting.

http://www.completecollege.org/docs/CCA-Remediation-su mmary.pdf

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C HAPTER 5

Appendix D - Moving from Sequences of Developmental Classes to Support

Sequences of Developmental Courses are not working.

search

S ECTION 1

Appendix D - Moving from Sequences of Developmental Classes to Support

While more students must be adequately prepared for college, this current remediation system is broken. The very structure of remediation is engineered for failure.

To fix this, we must first commit ourselves to close every possible exit ramp. By doing so, we will eliminate all opportunities to lose students along the way, saving precious time and money.

Remediation is a classic case of system failure: Dropout ExIt Ramp #1:

Remediation Doesn’t Work

Too many students start in remediation.

The intentions were noble. It was hoped that remediation programs would be an academic bridge from poor high school preparation to college readiness — a grand idea inspired by our commitment to expand access to all who seek a college degree.

More than 50 percent of students entering two-year colleges and nearly 20 percent of those entering four-year universities are placed in remedial classes.

Sadly, remediation has become instead higher education’s “Bridge to Nowhere.” This broken remedial bridge is travelled by some 1.7 million beginning students each year, most of whom will not reach their destination — graduation.1 It is estimated that states and students spent more than $3 billion on remedial courses last year with very little student success to show for it.

Frustrated about their placement into remediation, thousands who were accepted into college never show up for classes.

With so many twists and turns, the road ahead doesn’t seem to lead to graduation.

Can an “open access” college be truly open access if it denies so many access to its college-level courses?

Dropout ExIt Ramp #2: Remediation doesn’t work.

Nearly 4 in 10 remedial students in community colleges never complete their remedial courses.

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Research shows that students who skip their remedial assignments do just as well in gateway courses as those who took remediation first.

The result is a yawning skills gap caused by too few trained workers for more high-skill jobs than ever. Incomes shrink.

And America falls further behind.

http://www.completecollege.org/docs/CCA-Remediation-su mmary.pdf

Consider these findings:

Time is the Enemy The BIG Idea: Time is the enemy of college completion.

These historic data have revealed a common thread — and an animating principle to guide our work to boost college graduation: The longer it takes, the more life gets in the way of success.

More students are working, and they are working more hours t h a n e v e r b e f o r e . M a n y can afford to attend only part-time, extending the years until they graduate. More come to our campuses underprepared for college — and then get trapped in broken remedial approaches that don’t help, as time keeps slipping away. More are overwhelmed by too many choices and too little structure, causing aimless wandering and wasted semesters and years.

A l l o f t h i s a d d s u p t o m o r e a n d m o r e t i m e .

A s t h e c l o c k r u n s a n d t h e c a l e n d a r t u r n s , w e all know what happens: Students’ lives fill up with jobs, relationships, marriages, children, and mortgages; the list goes on and on. Not surprisingly, college often gets left behind: a few years of courses, no degree, and a lot of debt.

There is a new American majority on campus. Seventy-five percent of today’s students are juggling some combination of families, jobs, and school while commuting to class; according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Part-time students rarely graduate. Even when given twice as long to complete certificates and degrees, no more than a quarter ever make it to graduation day.

Poor students and students of color struggle the most to graduate. Even though more of these students than ever before are enrolling in college, too few end up with certificates or degrees. Given changing demographics, our country will simply not be economically competitive if these students don’t succeed.

Students are taking too many credits and too much time to complete. Excessive course-taking is slowing down progress to certificates and degrees. And students are spending too much time in school.

Remediation is broken, producing few students who ultimately graduate. Sadly, efforts intended to catch students up are most often leaving them behind.

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Today’s full-time and part-time students need new, shorter, and faster pathways to degrees and certificates of value. Colleges should:

The current remediation system is broken; too many students start in remedial courses and never earn a credential of any kind. Colleges need to:

• Use block schedules, with fixed and predictable classroom meeting times, so that part-time students who are juggling jobs, families, and school can know with certainty when they can go to work each day.

• Divert students from traditional remedial n programs — they aren’t working.

• Allow students to proceed toward degrees or certificates at a faster pace, with shorter academic terms, less time off between terms, and year-round scheduling.

• Simplify the registration process by enrolling students once in a single, coherent program rather than making them sign up every term for individual, unconnected courses.

• Reduce the amount of time students must be in class by using online technology and allowing students to move on once they’ve demonstrated competency.

• Form peer support and learning networks among students in the same program • Embed remediation into the regular college curriculum so students don’t waste time before they start earning credits.

• Provide better information on every program’s tuition, graduation rates, and job placement outcomes so that students can make more informed decisions at the front end.

•

• Mainstream as many students as possible into college-level courses. Provide co-requisite and embedded support for those needing extra help.

• Intensify instruction and minimize the time necessary to prepare students for entry into college-level courses.

• Eliminate the many exit points where students are lost by either not passing or not enrolling in courses.

• Provide alternative pathways to a career certificate or careerrelated credential for students with major academic weaknesses.

Answer the fundamental question — is what’s being taught in developmental education what students really need? It’s time to revisit both the structure and goals of remedial math. Math should be a gateway, not a gatekeeper, to successful college and everyday life. Reading and writing should be integrated.

Overhaul the current placement system. Current placement tests are not predictive. If placement tests are given, provide students with pretest guidance, practice tests, and time to brush up. http://www.completecollege.org/docs/Time_Is_the_Enemy. pdf 20

REFERRAL, ENROLLMENT, AND COMPLETION IN DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION SEQUENCES IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES, Thomas Bailey Dong Wook Jeong Sung-Woo Cho, December 2008, CCRC Working Paper No. 15 Abstract After being assessed, many students entering community colleges are referred to one or more levels of developmental education. While the need to assist students with weak academic skills is well known, little research has examined student progression through multiple levels of developmental education and into entry-level college courses. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the patterns and determinants of student progression through sequences of developmental education starting from initial referral. We rely primarily on a micro-level longitudinal dataset that includes detailed information about student progression through developmental education. This dataset was collected as part of the national community college initiative Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count. The dataset has many advantages, but it is not nationally representative; therefore, we check our results against a national dataset— the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988.

Our results indicate that only 3 to 4 out of 10 students who are referred to remediation actually complete the entire sequence to which they are referred. Most students exit in the beginning of their developmental sequence—almost half fail to complete

the first course in their sequence. The results also show that more students exit their developmental sequences because they did not enroll in the first or a subsequent course than because they failed a course in which they were enrolled. We also show that men, older students, Black students, part-time students, and students in vocational programs are less likely to progress through their full remedial sequences. Finally, we provide weaker evidence that some institutional characteristics are related to a lower probability of completion of developmental education.

Conclusion In this article we have focused attention on the sequence of developmental courses. What does the concept of a sequence help us learn?

First of all, a focus on the sequence makes immediately clear the daunting task confronting many of the nearly two thirds of all community college students who are referred to developmental education at least in one area. Students arriving with weak academic skills can face semesters of work before they can in effect start college—at least in relevant areas. This developmental “obstacle course” presents students with many opportunities to step out of their sequences, and students in large numbers take those opportunities. Between one third and two fifths of students referred to remediation complete their sequences. Among students referred to math remediation three or more levels below college-level—fully one fifth of all students in the more than 250,000 students in the Achiev21

ing the Dream sample—only 16 percent completed their math sequences within 3 years, and fewer than 10 percent of that group passed a college- level math course within that period.

Moreover, colleges tend to lose their developmental students early in the sequence. About one half of all students in the sample referred to developmental education failed to finish the first course in their sequence. And failure to complete the first course to which they were referred marked the end of the college experience for many students (at least for the threeyear period for which we tracked students). More than one third of all students who did not finish the first developmental course in their sequence never enrolled in a college course in a subsequent semester at their initial college within three years.

For students assigned to remediation three or more levels below college-level in both math and reading, the share who never enrolled in another course rises to more than two fifths.

Analysis of developmental sequences also makes clear that many students who exit their sequences do so even though they have passed all of the courses in which they enrolled.

More students leave their sequences because they did not enroll either in their first or a subsequent remedial course than because they failed a course in which they were enrolled. This pattern extends into the first college-level course: among developmental completers in the sample, those who enrolled in a gatekeeper course had a good chance of passing it, but about 30 percent did not enroll in such a course within the threeyear period of the study.

Our analyses of the individual and institutional characteristics that are related to successful student progression through developmental education reinforce some conclusions that apply to community college student success in general. We found that men, Black students, occupational students, and students attending part time had a lower probability of progressing through their sequences than women, White students, academic students, and full-time students.

Differentiating between the various transition points within developmental sequences reveals some interesting insights.

First, Black students with very weak academic skills—those referred to remediation two or three or more levels below college-level—were particularly at risk of exiting their sequences. Likewise, for those students with very weak math skills, also having weak reading skills was particularly problematic for getting through their first developmental math course. Generally, older students had a lower probability of completing their sequences, but for math, the advantage for younger students only emerges for students referred to the highest- level remedial course. This may indicate that younger students at the higher end of the developmental range may simply need some review to catch up, while older students, who are further away from their high school math experience, may face deeper problems.

Some institutional factors show some relationship to progression at some points in the sequences, but individual characteristics have a stronger relationship to outcomes than do institutional characteristics. The dominance of individual characteris22

tics is also revealed in analyses of community college graduation rates (Calcagno, Bailey, Jenkins, Kienzl, & Leinbach, 2007). Although this seems to suggest that colleges have little effect on developmental outcomes, the institutional variables available from IPEDS for this analysis do not include information on the types of programs and policies such as pedagogic approaches, counseling strategies, or innovative ways of organizing remediation that we would like to have been able to test.

But this analysis of remedial sequences does suggest three broad implications for college practice. First, for one half of students referred to developmental education, colleges are not succeeding in getting those students through their developmental sequences and successfully through the first relevant college-level course. Given that, it is not surprising that evaluations find that “developmental education,” defined as either having been referred to or having enrolled in any developmental course, has little effect. Colleges are not holding on to students long enough for the remedial “treatment” to have an influence. Given these low completion rates, community colleges in general need to consider fundamental changes in their approaches to remediation—modest improvements will not solve much of the problem.

Second, colleges lose their developmental students early in the sequences, in many cases, before they enroll in the first course. This suggests a need for a major effort to counsel and guide students perhaps even before their initial assessment.

Many strategies are now being used to strengthen the early experience of community college students. These include “student success” courses or learning communities for first-year students. Contextualized developmental courses that quickly connect remedial instruction to a student’s occupational interests also seem promising. Alternatively, a college might offer students an opportunity to take appropriately designed occupational courses before subjecting them to remedial instruction.

Yet many potential students may become discouraged or lost before they even get a chance to be influenced by first semester initiatives. Policies that reach back to students in high school, such as early warning testing to make clear to students the academic deficiencies that they have, dual enrollment programs to acclimate students to college, and intensive summer pre- college programs to solidify students’ commitment to college and to quickly push them past initial roadblocks, all seem like promising programs.

Third, we have emphasized that more students fail to complete developmental sequences because they never enroll in their first or a subsequent course than because they drop out of or fail to pass a course in which they are enrolled. This insight suggests a wide variety of possible approaches. Certainly the types of initiatives suggested above in our discussion of the early and pre-college experience would be helpful here. In addition, perhaps colleges should combine two or three levels of instruction into one longer, more intensive course. At the very least, concerted efforts should be made to encourage stu23

dents who complete one course in their sequence to go on to the next. This might involve abandoning the semester schedule to prevent gaps between courses, or registering and scheduling students for the next course in a sequence while they are still in the previous course. An additional approach might involve enrolling more upper-level developmental students directly into college-level courses and using the resources saved by having fewer developmental courses to provide extra help or tutoring or perhaps supplemental instruction in the college-level course.

As it stands now, developmental education sequences must appear confusing, intimidating, and boring to many students entering community colleges. And so far, developmental education has at best shown limited success. But if the nation is to increase its college-educated workforce, it will have to do so by strengthening the skills of the millions of students in community college developmental programs. That progress can only be made if we understand, simplify, and improve the complex developmental sequences that confront so many students.

Executive Summary Enrolling over one-third of all postsecondary education students, community colleges have become a centerpiece of America’s efforts in recent years to improve the quality of its workforce and maintain its competitiveness in the global market.

However, community colleges have often struggled to graduate their students, with just over three in ten community college students earning a degree or credential within six years of first enrolling.2Over half of these students are academically underprepared for college-level work, and improving the success of these developmental, or remedial, students is one of the greatest challenges that community colleges face in the efforts to increase overall graduation rates –– very few of these students end up completing their required sequence of developmental coursework needed to enroll in college-level courses, let alone graduating from college with a diploma or certificate. http://www.postsecondaryresearch.org/i/a/document/18000 _unlockingFull.pdf

http://www.jchea.org/summits/Math/2009docs/Supporting Research/ReferralEnrollmentCompletionDevEd.pdf

U n l o c k i n g t h e G a t e What We Know About Improving Developmental Education, Elizabeth Zachry Rutschow Emily Schneider, June 2011 24

C HAPTER 6

Appendix E: Differinated Math Pathways

The vast majority of students would be better prepared for their careers in business, nursing, teaching, and other liberal arts degrees by taking courses that prepare them to use and interpret data, understand finances, and to understand and use the quantitative information.

S ECTION 1

Appendix E: Differentiated Math Pathways

“Faculty at community colleges do beautiful work to improve their local developmental education and broader mathematics programs, but it is unlikely that solutions to the problem of upward mobility through mathematics will come about by scaling these local innovations,” said Uri Treisman, Executive Director of the Dana Center.

“We need systemic solutions to the problems of community college mathematics, and those need to build on the good insights of people working to improve their local programs.”

New Mathways Project touted in The Gilmer Mirror http://www.gilmermirror.com/view/full_story/18580841/art icle-New-Mathways-Project-touted “The traditional developmental math sequence in most colleges is designed to prepare all students for Calculus. But there is increasing awareness that only students majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) require Calculus. The vast majority of students would be better prepared for their careers in business, nursing, teaching, and other liberal arts degrees by taking courses that prepare them to use and interpret data, understand finances, and to understand and use the quantitative information. These students will have a choice of courses in Statistics or Quantitative Literacy. Students in STEM programs will be served by a redesigned course sequence to prepare the students that need Calculus.”

Remediation for Remedial Math, Inside Higher Education May 9, 2012 - 3:00am, By Mitch Smith http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/05/09/texas-co mmunity-colleges-reinvent-developmental-math Too many students are failing their remedial math classes, and those who succeed often have little use for the advanced algebra on which those classes focus. Acknowledging that, and hoping to replicate local successes, officials from all 50 Texas community colleges have endorsed a multiyear project designed to fundamentally change remedial math.

Texas Community Colleges Redo Remedial Math

Community colleges in Texas will adopt a radical redesign of developmental math, reports Inside Higher Ed. The Carnegie 26

Foundation and the Dana Center at the University of Texas have developed Mathways, a new approach to helping community college students get up to speed in the math skills they’ll need to complete a credential.

Remedial students who intend on majoring in a science- or math-based field will still take a traditional, algebra-based developmental course. But other students might take classes in statistics or quantitative reasoning, subsets of math that could prove more relevant to their careers and present less of a barrier to emerging from remedial education. Students who are undecided on a major are likely to be steered toward statistics, with “bridge courses” available later on if they select a science or math major.

“Not having algebra doesn’t mean you haven’t had rigorous preparation,” said Rey Garcia, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Community Colleges. “What’s the point of taking a course that isn’t going to be useful to you in your work life? As long as we maintain high standards for rigor, that pathway is as meaningful as an algebra-based pathway.”

Two Texas community colleges in El Paso and Houston have piloted Carnegie’s Statways. This fall, six or seven colleges will offer the statistics program and it’s expected to be at all 50 of the state’s community colleges by fall 2013.

The quantitative reasoning program and a reimagined algebra-based remediation will be rolled out in subsequent years, first in small batches and then statewide.

http://communitycollegespotlight.org/tags/mathways/ The New Mathways Project: Implementation Guide The traditional developmental math sequence in most colleges is designed to prepare all students for Calculus. But there is increasing awareness that only students majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) require Calculus. The vast majority of students would be better prepared for their careers in business, nursing, teaching, and other liberal arts degrees by taking courses in that prepare them to use and interpret data, understand finances, and to understand and use the quantitative information. These students will have a choice of courses in Statistics or Quantitative Literacy. Students in STEM programs will be served by a redesigned course sequence to prepare the students that need Calculus. http://www.tacc.org/documents/NewMathwaysRelease.pdf Here are some basic features of the New Mathways Project: • A Quantitative Literacy pathway (developmental math and credit-bearing quantitative literacy course).

• A Statistics pathway (developmental math and creditbearing introductory statistics course).

• STEM pathway (developmental math and prep courses leading up to calculus I).

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• Student Success course (putting current research in to practice).

for college--level math. Students take this course along with the mandatory co--requisite student success course.

• Part of the intent is to make the Student Success course a required part of every pathway through developmental mathematics.

As a part of the student success course, students learn about the three pathways in relation to different careers and programs of study. Students declare a major, create a completion plan, and register for courses with the support of their instructors and advisors. Students end their first semester not only prepared for their next math course but with an understanding of how that course fits with their overall academic and career goals.

The Dana Center created this implementation guide to support institutions preparing for significant redesign of developmental and gateway college--level mathematics programs based on the principles of the New Mathways Project as described below. It outlines general steps in approaching systemic reform. While the Dana Center prepared this guide with the needs of the New Mathways Project in mind, it can be applied to any major reform effort. The Dana Center offers this guide as a service to the field.

The New Mathways Project (NMP) is the Dana Center’s vision for a systemic approach to improving student success and completion through implementation of processes, strategies, and structures built around three mathematics pathways and a supporting student success course.

Upon completion of the first--semester course, students in the Quantitative Literacy and Statistics Pathways move on to the specialized pathway course in which they earn transferable college credit. Students in the STEM Pathway enter into a two--course sequence that prepares them for Calculus. Students earn transferable college credit in the second STEM course. http://www.utdanacenter.org/mathways/downloads/new-ma thways-implementation-2012april16.pdf

The Accelerated Pathways, which are designed for students who have completed Arithmetic or are placed at a Beginning Algebra level. The term accelerated refers to the fact that these pathways allow students to complete their college--credit courses more quickly than the traditional sequences. The three pathways have a common first course—a quantitative-literacy--based course that introduces and prepares students 28

C HAPTER 7

Appendix F: Redesigning the Curriculum

For many students, the emphasis on acceleration means they go directly into college-level courses that are bolstered with mandatory supports. An increasingly popular approach to achieving the goals of accelerating student progress and moving students to and through college-level courses as soon as possible is the co-requisite model of developmental education (Commander, Stratton, Callahan, & Smith, 1996; Boylan, 1999; Edgecombe, 2011; Complete College America, 2011).

S ECTION 1

Appendix F: Redesigning the Curriculum

mulation (Wilcox, et al., 1997; Jenkins et al., 2010; Tennessee Board of Regents, 2009). http://www.utdanacenter.org/mathways/downloads/highered-issue-brief-1-june2012.pdf Start college now. provide help as a co-requisite, not a prerequisite.

Developmental Education Structures Designed for t h e R e a d i n e s s C o n t i n u u m : Clarifying the Co-Requisite Model (The Charles A. Dana Center) For many students, the emphasis on acceleration means they go directly into college-level courses that are bolstered with mandatory supports. An increasingly popular approach to achieving the goals of accelerating student progress and moving students to and through college-level courses as soon as possible is the co-requisite model of developmental education (Commander, Stratton, Callahan, & Smith, 1996; Boylan, 1999; Edgecombe, 2011; Complete College America, 2011).

Evaluations of such models indicate that co-requisite approaches are associated with higher grades and higher completion rates in introductory college-level courses, increased fallto-fall persistence in enrollment and higher total credit accu-

Start college students in college courses, not more high school. Get them on track for graduation from the moment they step on campus by using only co-requisite approaches to deliver tutoring and support. Modify the length and method of built-in, just-in-time academic help to match students’ needs.

End traditional remediation; use co-requisite models instead.

• For students with few academic deficiencies, place them into redesigned first-year, full- credit courses with co-requisite built-in support, just-in-time tutoring, self-paced computer labs with required attendance, and the like. The length of these courses should mirror the ordinary gateway courses so students stay on track for on-time graduation.

• For students needing more help, lengthen redesigned fullcredit courses and consider providing built-in, co-requisite support for two semesters instead of one. Students get the same content but more time on task.

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• For students with the most significant academic needs, provide alternate pathways to high-quality career certificates by embedding remediation and adult basic skills development into their instruction.

Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training I-Best, Bridge Programs, and Contextualized Curricula http://www.ncwe.org/resource/resmgr/workforce_dev_repo rts/how_ibest_works.pdf Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) is an innovative program and strategy developed by the Washington (WA) State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) in conjunction with the state’s 29 community colleges and five technical colleges.

Its goal is to increase the rate at which adult basic education and English-as-a-second-language students advance to college-level occupational programs and complete postsecondary credentials in fields offering good wages and career advancement.

Accelerating Opportunity http://kctcs.edu/News%20and%20Events/newsItem?id=%7 B0CD6BA71-E967-47A4-A73A-CB8764D8EE87%7D Eight KCTCS colleges will participate in the implementation design phase of the initiative. They include: Bluegrass Community and Technical College, Gateway Community and Technical College, Jefferson Community and Technical College,

Madisonville Community College, Maysville Community and Technical College, Owensboro Community and Technical College, Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College and West Kentucky Community and Technical College. These colleges were selected because of leadership commitment, the strength of their local adult education program, their partnership with the local Workforce Investment Board and college history with innovative programing. The plan includes expanding the program to the remaining eight KCTCS colleges in 2014.

EXAMPLES: Maryland: Community College of Baltimore County’s Accelerated learning Project (AlP) enrolls remedial English students in a regular, credit-bearing English 101 course and a companion course that meets immediately afterward. The companion course provides in a small group targeted reinforcement of topics from the mainstream course that enables intensive faculty and peer support. Early results show that AlP students pass English 101 with a grade of C or better at more than twice the rate of the control group — and do so in just one semester, as opposed to the two semesters required to complete a remedial course before moving on to the credit-bearing course.

The University of Maryland at College Park identifies about 20 percent of incoming students as unprepared for collegelevel math and enrolls the top 60 percent of them, based on placement test scores, in a co-requisite math course. Scheduled five days a week, students receive accelerated remedial 31

instruction for the first five weeks. After being retested with the same placement exam, passing students complete the remaining college-level class by attending five days a week for the remaining 10 weeks of the semester. More than 80 percent pass the retest and continue with the college-level course, ultimately matching the overall success rate for the course as nonremedial students.

Tennessee: Austin Peay State University in Tennessee eliminated remedial math courses and places students in redesigned credit-bearing courses that include extra workshops and specialized help. Initial assessments are given to determine specific knowledge gaps, then the workshops are used to provide additional instruction on key math concepts with special emphasis on individual areas of weakness. As a result, twice as many remedial students are passing their initial college-level math courses.

T e x a s : T e x a s S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y - San Marcos enrolls students who need extra math help in concurrent remedial and college-level algebra and statistics courses, and it requires additional weekly tutoring, for which students earn credit. Seventy-four percent of participants in the program earn a grade of C or better in algebra during their first semester. This is more than twice the percentage rate of all remedial students at Texas State-San Marcos who earn similar grades in their first two years.

CONTEXTUALIZATION and Co-Requisite Courses Breaking Through: Contextualization Toolkit http://www.jff.org/sites/default/files/BT_toolkit_June7.pdf Breaking Through Practice Guide http://www.jff.org/sites/default/files/BT_Documentation_J une7.pdf The Breaking Through Practice Guide - JFF, Spring 2010 http://www.jff.org/publications/education/breaking-through -practice-guide/1059 I-Best, Bridge Programs, and Contextualized Curricula http://www.ncwe.org/?page=ibest All Learning is Learning: Contextual Approaches to Developmental Education – Speech by Dolores Perin, James Jacobs & Elaine DeLott Baker - 03/2008. http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Publication.asp?uid=583 Facilitating Student Learning Through Contextualization: A Review of Evidence - Journal Article by: Dolores Perin - 07/ 2011. http://crw.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/07/22/0091552 111416227.full.pdf+html

http://www.completecollege.org/docs/CCA-Remediation-su mmary.pdf 32

A Contextualized Intervention for Community College Developmental Reading and Writing Students (CCRC Working Paper No. 38)

http://www.completecollege.org/docs/CCA%20Co-Req%20M odel%20-%20Transform%20Remediation%20for%20Chicago %20final(1).pdf

Paper by: Dolores Perin, Rachel Hare Bork, Stephen T. Peverly, Linda H. Mason & Megan Vaselewski - 01/2012.

Co-requisite Model

http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Publication.asp?uid=1007 Contextualized Teaching & Learning: A Faculty Primer - A Review of Literature and Faculty Practices with Implications for California Community College Practitioners - Spring 2009 http://www.careerladdersproject.org/docs/CTL.pdf Contextual Learning in Adult Education, - Imel - 2000 http://www.calpro-online.org/eric/docs/pab00021.pdf Teaching Math Contextually http://www.cord.org/uploadedfiles/Teaching_Math_Context ually.pdf

http://gettingpastgo.org/blog/2011/03/21/co-requisite-mode l/ Co-requisite Remediation http://www.completecollege.org/docs/CCA%20Policy%20De ck%20Remediation%20Final%209-21-11.pdf Enhanced Mathematics—A Co-requisite Approach to Developmental Mathematics http://www.aascu.org/programs/ie/SubmissionDetails.aspx? id=4195 Remediation: the Bridge to Nowhere http://www.edpath.com/remedialeducation.html

Contextualization, by Perin, 2011

Transform Remediation

http://occrl.illinois.edu/files/Projects/shifting_gears/Present ation/Perin-CCRC.pdf

http://www.completecollege.org/docs/CCA%20Essential%20 Steps%20Remediation%20Sept%202011.pdf

CO-REQUISITE COURSES Transform Remediation: The Co-Requisite Course Model

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C HAPTER 8

Appendix G: Math: Preparing for Programs of Study

At the Core of the Conversation: We strongly believe that early college mathematics, whether it is developmental or college-level, should focus on preparing students for their programs of study, not on reteaching a full high school curriculum. (Dana Center)

S ECTION 1

Appendix G: Math - Preparing Students for Programs of Study

See: Dan Myer: Math Class Needs a Makeover (ppt) http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_m akeover.html “Today's math curriculum is teaching students to expect -and excel at -- paint-by-numbers classwork, robbing kids of a skill more important than solving problems: formulating them.” (Dan Myer)

grams of study, not on reteaching a full high school curriculum.

In terms of curriculum design, such a focus means that students should engage immediately with applications and contexts that historically have been delayed until a college-level course. In our new model, these applications and contexts are supported with instruction on developmental skills aligned to students’ majors and careers.” (Clarifying the Co-Requisite Math Model) When we can determine (differentiate) the math pathway that is necessary for a student’s program of study, we don’t have hundreds of students on a taking math courses that are not relevant. They can, for example, stake a statistics pathway that focuses on the math applications that are relevant to their program of study. This loosens up time for including conceptual understanding in instruction (becoming relevant).

A MUST SEE: Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover

Clarifying the Co-Requisite Math Model (The Dana Center)

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_m akeover.html

http://www.utdanacenter.org/mathways/downloads/highered-issue-brief-1-june2012.pdf

Also see: Webinar: Introduction of the New Mathways Project

KEY!!! “At the Core of the Conversation: We strongly believe that early college mathematics, whether it is developmental or college-level, should focus on preparing students for their pro-

http://www.utdanacenter.org/mathways/webinar/index.php My Notes on Conceptual Understanding – Dan Kesterson

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Instructional Focus: Conceptual Understanding - refers to an “integrated and functional” grasp of ideas. Paraphrasing David Conley, developing rigor in a discipline content course would involve helping learners be aware that a given discipline content course consists of certain “big ideas” (theories and concepts) that are used in order to structure all of the detail that often overwhelms them and can help build mental scaffolds (conceptual frameworks) that lead to thinking like a scientist in the discipline content course. Short of this, learning becomes fragmented and isolated which interferes with transfer. “Contrary to popular belief learning basic facts is not a prerequisite for creative thinking and problem solving -- it's the other way around. Once you grasp the big concepts around a subject, good thinking will lead you to the important facts”. (John Bransford) A conceptual framework is a group of concepts that are broadly defined and systematically organized to provide a focus, a rationale, and a tool for integrating and interpretation of information. This provides the big picture for learning, making associations, and making interconnections between new information and prior knowledge, which is the foundation of constructing meaning.

A reading instruction comparison: Research: “The comprehension of written texts is an extraordinarily complex process. Earlier research on reading comprehension focused on sets of discrete skills (i.e. getting the main idea, getting the facts, making inferences) or on the products

of comprehension (i.e. what readers understood after reading). This research provided useful foundations for our current understandings, but did not address the more basic questions of what readers actively did while trying to get the main idea of a text or make inferences based upon the reading. The ability to comprehend written texts is not a static or fixed ability, but rather one that involves a dynamic relationship between the demands of texts and the prior knowledge and goals of readers. It is precisely because of these dynamic relationships that the teaching of reading in the academic disciplines is so crucial. This reality has important implications for both teaching and assessment” (Carnegie, 2010). This is not a new finding; however, reading course competencies, reading instruction, reading textbooks, and faculty reading education still predominately focus on discrete skills rather than the integrated mental process that readers need to be engaging in when trying to develop conceptual understanding when reading. The result is a tremendous amount of time is spent on misdirected reading instruction, which could have been spent on mental processes of constructing conceptual understanding.

Why a Differentiated Math Pathway There are students who want to advance through programs and degrees that will ask of them to be able to think with the math they are learning. That is where differentiated math pathways come in. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368 36

C HAPTER 9

Appendix H: Envisioning the Future

The Status Quo is a dead animal in developmental education. We simply must not fear change.

S ECTION 1

Appendix H: Envisioning the Future

grams of study, Not Reteaching a Full High School Curriculum. (Clarifying the Co-Requisite Math Model, Dana Center) Reading

Envisioning the Future of Developmental Education: Building on the Evidence – Dan Kesterson (The Goal is Completion: completion for developmental students is not just a developmental education problem to be solved; it is a System and colleges problem to be solved- developmental education is broader than placement policy; it is systemic with ramifications for every facet of our institutions.)

We will not succeed by proceeding timidly with boutique changes. We must treat causes, not symptoms. (As always, different evidence-based options are valued.)

Developmental education should turn to valuing the development of deep levels of conceptual understanding in our students aligned with majors and careers. It is conceptual understanding is the most important goal for reading, writing, and math students. This means abandoning many of our old curriculums and new initiatives or embedding them within the larger framework (differentiated reading, writing and math pathways aligned with the student’ major or career).

Developmental reading should focus on preparing students for their programs of study, not on reteaching a full K-12 curriculum.

Writing Developmental writing should focus on writing to learn and communicating aligned with the students’ majors or careers, which immediately engage with applications and contexts of the major or career. – not waiting for ENG 101 or college-level course, but co-requisite support for both.

Align Application and Contexts with College Level Courses

The Big Shift in Developmental Education

In terms of curriculum design, such a focus means that students should engage immediately with applications and contexts that historically have been delayed until a college-level course. In the new model, these applications and contexts are supported with instruction on developmental skills aligned to students’ majors and careers.” (Clarifying the Co-Requisite Math Model, Dana Center)

Math

Align Developmental Skills with Major and Careers

Early college mathematics, whether it is developmental or college-level, should focus on preparing students for their pro-

In Order to accomplish a program of instruction of developmental skills aligned to the students’ majors and careers, a ma38

jor shift in student education and career planning must be initiated (this is where the best minds must enter the picture, we will have to think comprehensively as a system and institutions): 1. Get students to commit to programs of study ASAP. Using placement scores, high school transcripts, and predictive tools to determine student aptitude, guide all students to choose among a limited number of first-year pathways — for example, health, business, liberal arts, or STEM — as soon as possible. Students should make the big choices of programs of study informed with an understanding of program requirements and available supports to achieve their career goals.

Once they do, place them into structured program pathways constructed of relevant, sequenced courses chosen for them.

2. Establish “default” programs for students not ready to commit. no longer allow students to be considered “unclassified.”

Upon enrollment, nudge them into first-year pathways — for example, health, business, liberal arts, or STEM. This ensures a coherent pathway from the beginning, with core collegelevel credits that will count toward certificates and degrees. By doing so, students avoid excessive course-taking while wandering the curriculum, shortening the time it takes to graduate.

3. Place students in the right math. Most students are placed in algebra pathways when statistics or quantitative math would be most appropriate to prepare them for their chosen programs of study and careers.

4. Expand co-requisite supports for additional college-level math, reading and writing courses. Additional introductory courses serve as gateway classes for programs of study, not just English and math. Given high failure rates,they have become gatekeeper courses instead, too often blocking students’ entry into their chosen fields. To help unprepared students get a strong, early start, build extra supports around introductory courses necessary for success like entry-level anatomy, biology, physiology, physics, accounting, and drafting. (Remediation: The Bridge to Nowhere) Go for Depth Not Breath Instead of reteaching a full secondary school math and reading curriculum, students learn with understanding, focusing on relatively few skills and concepts but treating them in depth related and aligned with their majors and careers. Treating ideas in depth includes presenting each concept from multiple points of view and in progressively more sophisticated contexts. What are the skills and knowledge that students need to learn concepts in the majors and careers?

Expanding the Concept of Developmental Education – Dan Kesterson I want expand the conversation on prior knowledge to include a very neglected area of developmental education. When we refer to developmental education, we typically refer to education under placement policy; however, that can result in neglect at all the transition stages of our college students toward graduation.

39

Kentucky colleges, especially KCTCS and its colleges have a renewed and invested interest in retention, persistence, transfer, and graduation. If we are to succeed, we have to take a broader view of developmental education to include all students. Developmental education springs from developmental psychology and provides a framework for broadening our work to ward student success. Joe Cuseo’s definition, which parallels the National Association of Developmental Education (NADE) is meeting the needs of students through programs that are delivered in a timely, longitudinal sequence that meets student needs and educational challenges which emerge at different stages of the college experience.” That refers to all students, all the time where needs and educational challenges arise. http://www.nade.net/ Content Courses We have been discussing learning how to help students under placement policy use prior knowledge to construct meaning and make that meaning useful – can think, reason, and solve problems. However, there is another subpopulation that needs the same mental processes to succeed. That subpopulation is all the students in content courses, especially the entrylevel courses. For this conversation, I will narrow down the subpopulation even further – the entry-level courses most taken by first-time freshmen. Sandy Shugart, president of Valencia Community College, which has the highest graduation rates in the nation, tells us that almost all first-time freshmen

take five specific entry-level courses. At Jefferson, five entrylevel courses most taken by first-time freshmen, other than ENG 101, are 110PY, 104HIS, 101SOC, 112BIO, and 181COM. What if we expanded our concept of developmental education as defined above and tapped each college’s five most taken entry-level courses by first-time freshmen and began developing programs around the academic affairs needs of students in a systematic way that included student services and support.

Integrating Academic and Student Affairs This is where we must begin to build integrated student services and support and professional development. This is where we have to start to build programs that are delivered in a timely, longitudinal sequence that meets student (all student) needs and educational challenges which emerge at different stages of the college experience in very systematic ways. Isolated efforts will never enable us to reach our goals of retention, persistence transfer and graduation. Let me quote John Roueche, “If colleges are totally committed to being successful with at-risk students, they must be prepared to think holistically... stand-alone services or classes---no matter how successful in helping at-risk students---will not achieve a college's larger goal of retaining these students and helping them achieve their own goals of improved performance and academic success." (Roueche) Back to Prior Knowledge Colleges across the nation have tried reading across the curriculum and writing across the curriculum campaigns and 40

most slowly fade away. Why, the concept is right on target.

This is just an opinion, but for the most part these efforts focus on duplicating reading and writing classes in the entrylevel course. What is need are the skills that the content course instructor needs when they need it and a deeper understanding that we are talking about developing Gen Ed competencies that not only result in a students having these competencies when they graduate, but having developed competencies to succeed on their way to graduation. Prior knowledge and strategies for helping the student use prior knowledge is foundation to all the Gen Ed competencies – reading to comprehend, writing, information literacy, critical thinking, etc.

The content instructor has content to teach, but that content is not without the context of “organization that reflects the logic of the discipline represented or patterns that dominate the thinking in the field” (Caverly). That logic and those patterns are only understood in deep and meaningful ways when tied to the students’ prior knowledge. Most content instrutors need help in moving beyond the content to the underlying thinking that enable students to make their learning useful.

Let’s use the words of Bass and Eynon to reinforce this thought. “What are the “intermediate processes,” the steps in the learning process that are often invisible but critical to development. All too often in education, we are focused only on final products: the final exam, the grade, the perfect research paper, mastery of a subject. But how do we get students from here to there? What are the intermediate stages that help students develop the skills and habits of master learners in our

disciplines? What kinds of scaffolding enable students to move forward, step by step? How do we, as educators, recognize and support the slow process of progressively deepening students’ abilities to think like historians and scholars?”

(Randy Bass and Bret Eynon (2009), Capturing the Visible Evidence of Invisible Learning.)

All instructors must become instructors of cognitive strategies and habits of mind at every level if we are to achieve our goals for retention, persistence, transfer, and graduation.

Let me leave you with these findings by Bransford Transfer: People's abilities to transfer what they have learned depends upon a number of factors. Among them is: Knowledge that is taught in a variety of contexts is more likely to support flexible transfer than knowledge that is taught in a single context. Information can become "context-bound" when taught with context-specific examples. When material is taught in multiple contexts, people are more likely to extract the relevant features of the concepts and develop a more flexible representation of knowledge that can be used more generally. (Brandford, How People Learn)

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C HAPTER 10

Appendix I: Part-Timers

1-year certificate with in 2 years: fulltime 27.8%; part-time 12.2% 2-year associate within 4 years; full-time 12.2 %; part-time 7.8%

S ECTION 1

41% are full-time and 59% are part-time

Appendix I: Part-Timers

http://www.aacc.nche.edu/AboutCC/Trends/Pages/students atcommunitycolleges.aspx CollegeCompleteAmerica For certificates that should take 1 year, full-time students take 3.3 years, and part-time students take 4.4 years.

For associate degrees that should take 2 years, full-time students take 3.8 years, and part-time students take 5 years.

What about part-timers? (Recommendations at the end for you skimmers)

http://www.completecollege.org/post/rethinking_remediatio n_completion_and_the_co-requisite_model/

When we look at risk factors, part-time enrollments is always included among them. “The risk index consists of seven factors: delayed postsecondary enrollment; high school dropout or GED recipient; part-time enrollment; financial independence; having dependents other than a spouse; single-parent status; and working full time while enrolled.�

What Happens When Given Twice as Much Time

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003164.pdf

(Time is the Enemy, College complete America)

Let’s talk about part-timers grees.

http://www.completecollege.org/docs/Time_Is_the_Enemy. pdf

certificate and associate de-

1-year certificate with in 2 years: full-time 27.8%; part-time 12.2% 2-year associate within 4 years; full-time 12.2 %; part-time 7.8%

American Association of Community Colleges

Kentucky

The average age of a community college student is 29 years old, and two thirds of community college students attend part-time.

For earning a 1-year certificate within 1.5 years: Full-time 42 %; Part-time 51.5%.

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For earning a 2-year associate degree within 3 years: Fulltime 8.5%; Part-time 2.2%.

sucess or failure was less important than that of “traditional” full-time students. How can this be?

http://www.completecollege.org/state_data/

Complete College America fundamentally believes that for the United States to have any hope of leading the world again in the proportion of our citizens with a college education, we must first see every student. This includes the part-timers and older students who are struggling to balance jobs and school, the millions who are trapped in the Bermuda Triangle of remediation, and the many first- generation freshmen who too often are left to fend for themselves when they arrive on campus.” (Time is the Enemy, College complete America)

Community College Employment status (2007–2008) (National Data) F u l l - t i m e s t u d e n t s e m p l o y e d f u l l t i m e — 2 1 %

F u l l - t i m e s t u d e n t s e m p l o y e d p a r t t i m e — 5 9 %

P a r t - t i m e s t u d e n t s e m p l o y e d f u l l t i m e — 4 0 %

http://www.completecollege.org/docs/Time_Is_the_Enemy. pdf

Part-time students employed part time—47%

Kentucky’s Progress Measurement Metrics

http://www.aacc.nche.edu/AboutCC/Pages/fastfacts.aspx

Progress Measurement Metrics

Kentucky is Guilty of this Oversight

Cohort: (1) recent graduates of Kentucky’s public high schools who entered Kentucky’s public postsecondary institutions as (2) first-time, (3) full-time, (4) degree-seeking students in the summer/fall semester and (5) who did not meet the fall 2010 Kentucky systemwide standards for college readiness.

From Time is the Enemy: “We’ve only been tracking students who are on campus for the first-time, going full-time. That’s all the federal government requires of colleges and universities, and until now few exceeded this minimal standard.

B u t 4 o f e v e r y 1 0 p u b l i c c o l l e g e s t u d e n t s a r e able to attend only part-time. Which means leaders have been making policy decisions about higher education absent critical information about 40 percent of the students, as if their

Completion Time Table: the proportion who complete a degree from their starting institution or Kentucky systemwide within 150 percent of the minimum time to degree (three years for an associate degree, including applied associates, and six years for a bachelor’s degree).

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Part-time students rarely graduate. Even when given twice as long to complete certificates and degrees, no more than a quarter ever make it to graduation day. (Time is the Enemy, College complete America)

• Form peer support and learning networks among students in the same program.

http://www.completecollege.org/docs/Time_Is_the_Enemy. pdf

• Provide better information on every program’s tuition, graduation rates, and job placement outcomes so that students can make more informed decisions at the front end.

What Should We DO About the Part-Time Problem?

The study “Time is the Enemy” makes the following suggestions: Today’s full-time and part-time students need new, shorter, and faster pathways to degrees and certificates of value. Colleges should:

• Embed remediation into the regular college curriculum so students don’t waste time before they start earning credits.

(Time is the Enemy, College complete America) http://www.completecollege.org/docs/Time_Is_the_Enemy. pdf

• Use block schedules, with fixed and predictable classroom meeting times, so that part-time students who are juggling jobs, families, and school can know with certainty when they can go to work each day.

• Allow students to proceed toward degrees or certificates at a faster pace, with shorter academic terms, less time off between terms, and year-round scheduling.

• Simplify the registration process by enrolling students once in a single, coherent program rather than making them sign up every term for individual, unconnected courses.

• Reduce the amount of time students must be in class by using online technology and allowing students to move on once they’ve demonstrated competency.

45

C HAPTER 11

Appendix J: Completion Agenda will Require Mind shifts

There is little question that there are preconceived ideas about developmental education that need a significant mind shift.

S ECTION 1

Appendix J: Completion Agenda will Require Mind Shifts Completion Agendas Will Require Mind Shifts 1.

From developmental education is working - to developmental education is not working in the context of completion.

7.

From teaching skills isolated from content is suitable enough – to teaching skills need to be integrated and relevant to content and gateway courses.

8.

From a single standard placement test is a good predictor of placement – to a single placement test is not predictive and high school GPS’s by themselves or along with standard placement tests are more predictive.

2. From developmental students should not take content or gateway course – to a major key to successful completion is getting into a content courses or gateway courses early.

9. From developmental students cannot succeed in content of gateway courses – to developmental students do as well as nondevelopmental students in content courses when given support and actually often do better.

3. From it is alright for students to be considered “unclassified” – establishing “default” programs for students not ready to commit.

10. From there are students, who shouldn’t enter developmental programs or college – to there are models for almost all students who want to enter postsecondary.

4. From all students should be on an algebra pathway – to students should be on a math pathway that aligns with their curricular pathway.

11. From these students cannot learn – to given the right learning conditions, they can and do learn.

5. From the time it takes to complete a sequence of developmental courses is not a barrier to completion – to the time it takes to enter content course and gateway courses is a barrier.

12. From postsecondary developmental students should learn all the core standard competencies before entering content or gateway courses – to postsecondary developmental students should learn the skills they need as they need them as co-resituates of content and gateway courses.

6. From sequences of courses taken by students with significant academic needs – to providing alternate pathways to high quality career certificate by embedding remediation and adult basic skills into their instruction.

13. From developmental students should take their time in accepting a curricular pathway - to it is essential that developmental students choose a curricular pathway early, which they can change later.

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14. From choosing a curricular pathway should be the result of a liberal arts education – to this is too late for most students and if they have AA or AS paths, they are more likely to succeed; they can change.

JCTC Dan Kesterson Developmental Education Coordinator

15. From learning merely the foundation skills for comprehension or communication – to skills for learning competence in an area of inquiry.

16. From developmental education should be isolated for students who are underprepared. – to developmental education is for all students who need learning help along the continuum to completion.

17. From foundation skills is all that is necessary – to skills plus being able to negotiate college, develop habits of mind, and understanding education and career planning are essential to success.

18. From completion agendas for developmental students is for developmental programs alone – to completion must be built upon a comprehensive plan in which everyone who is involved in any part of a curricular pathway or student services involving a given student is responsible for helping the learner to completion.

19. From professional development is for developmental educators alone – to all content instructors should understand the role of reading to learn, writing to learn, and using computation in their courses.

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C HAPTER 12

Appendix K: Summer Bridge Programs

Good and bad news for summer bridge programs.

S ECTION 1

Appendix K: Summer Bridge Programs

Summer Bridge Programs Good and bad news for summer bridge programs. The new research from the National Center for Postsecondary education is in line with providing additional support for developmental students; however, (I’m stretching the outcomes) the research may have implications for continuing support for these students throughout their college careers. Completion pays for itself the college, the student, and the society); support is cheap in the long run.

Study Results: New NCPR Report on Developmental Summer Bridge Programs Bridging the Gap: An Impact Study of Eight Developmental Summer Bridge Programs in Texas Elisabeth A. Barnett, Rachel Hare Bork, Alexander K. Mayer, Joshua Pretlow, Heather D. Wathington, and Madeline Joy Weiss, with Evan Weissman, Jedediah Teres, and Matthew Zeidenberg

June 14, 2012 Developmental summer bridge programs are a popular strategy for increasing college readiness among recent high school graduates. Aimed at providing an alternative to traditional developmental education, these programs provide accelerated and focused learning opportunities in order to help students acquire the knowledge and skills needed for college success.

The current study uses an experimental design to evaluate the outcomes of eight developmental summer bridge programs offered in Texas during the summer of 2009. At each college, students who consented to participate in the study were randomly assigned to either a program group that was eligible to participate in a developmental summer bridge program or a control group that was eligible to use any other services that the college provided. Based on a program model developed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the developmental summer bridge programs in this study included four common features: accelerated instruction in developmental math, reading, and/or writing; academic support; a “college knowledge” component; and the opportunity to earn a $400 stipend.

After two years of follow-up, these are the main findings of this study: • The programs had no effect on the average number of credits attempted or earned. Program group and control group students attempted the same number of credits (30.3). Students in the program group earned an average of 19.4 credits, and 50

students in the control group earned an average of 19.9 credits; the difference in their outcomes is not statistically significant.

• The programs had an impact on first college-level course completion in math and writing that was evident in the year and a half following the program but no impact on first college-level course completion in reading during this same period. On average, students in the program group passed their first college-level math and writing courses at higher rates than students in the control group during this period. By the end of the two-year follow-up period, however, the differences between the two groups are no longer statistically significant.

• There is no evidence that the programs impacted persistence. During the two-year follow-up period, students in the program group enrolled in an average of 3.3 semesters, and students in the control group enrolled in an average of 3.4 semesters, a difference that is not statistically significant.

Download the Full Report (PDF)<http://www.tc.columbia.edu/i/a/document/22731_N CPR_TexasDSB_FullReport.pdf> | Download the Executive S u m m a r y (PDF)<http://www.tc.columbia.edu/i/a/document/22730_N CPR_TexasDSB_ExecutiveSummary.pdf>

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C HAPTER 13

Appendix L: Additional Resources

S ECTION 1

Appendix L: Additinal Resources

THE STAGE METAPHOR (Working Memory) The Stage Metaphor: Part 1 (8 ½ minutes) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SMwwmAympY> (Explanation of The Stage Metaphor – what does the learner need to do between new information coming into the brain and growing and strengthening dendrites of new learning.

These four videos construct the overarching goals (conceptual framework) of CMS 185.

READING SKILLS and HABITS OF MIND LINKS

The Stage Metaphor: Part 2 (9 minutes) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrv4Pv78fpc>

G r o w i n g N e w D e n d r i t e s - 6 ½ minutes <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6_7_JFkuBY>

(Continuation of explanation of The Stage Metaphor – what does the learner need to do between new information coming into the brain and growing and strengthening dendrites of new learning.)

Description: an illustrated explanation of how the growing of new dendrites is learning

Thinking The Stage Strategies: Part 3 (7 ½ minutes) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-bA8Opvr-8>

Remembering and Forgetting – 9 ½ minutes <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON7_g_y0-1Y>

(Examples of how The Stage Metaphor can be used to learn to think metacognitively to apply learning strategies)

Description: a continuation of the above video with an explanation of how to strengthen new dendrites and pruning.

Thinking The Stage Strategies: Part 4 (8 minutes) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwtd8N3bD90>

HOW THE BRAIN LEARNS

(Continuation of examples of how The Stage Metaphor can be used to learn to think metacognitively to apply learning strategies)

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THE BIG QUESTION

CHARTS AND GRAPHS

The Big Questions <http://deepreading.pbworks.com/w/file/51972932/The%20 Big%20Questions.docx>

Charts and Graphs <http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/file/54002341/MT%20C harts%20Tables%20Graphs-2.pptx>

Eating Disorder Example from Psychology <http://deepreading.pbworks.com/w/file/51973015/Eating% 20Disorder%20Example.docx>

TEXT CLUES

DEVELOPING A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Developing a Conceptual Framework <http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/file/54002494/DEVELO PING%20A%20CONCEPTUAL%20FRAMEWORK%20WITH %20WHICH%20to%20LEARN-1.docx> RULES OF CONSOLIDATION Rules of Consolidation <http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/file/54002506/Compare %20Rules%20of%20Consolidation-5.docx> METACOGNITION Metacognition<http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/page/540 02111/Metacognition> INTERNAL DIALOGUE

Internal Dialogue Snapshot <http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/file/54001987/MT%20I nternal%20Dialogue%20Snapshot-1.docx>

Text Clues <http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/page/54002378/Text%2 0Clues%20PD> UNDERSTANDING CATEGORIZING AND CLASSIFYING Categorizing and Classifying <http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/file/54002471/Compare %20Psy%20Motivation-6.pptx> ELABORATIONS AND WRITING TO LEARN Elaborations and Writing to Learn <http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/file/54002533/Elaborati on%20and%20Writing%20to%20Learn%20PD.docx> ORGANIZING AND MIND MAPPING Organizing and MInd Mapping <http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/file/54002573/Mind%2 0Mapping%20PD.docx VOCABULARY AND TERMINOLOGY

54

Vocabulary and Terminology <http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/file/54002591/Vocabula ryTerminology-1.docx> HOW TO READ TO LEARN MATH TEXTBOOKS How to Read to Learn a Math Textbook Part 1 (10 min.) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Zv0JBFpZw> How to Read to Learn a Math Textbook Part 2 (10 min.) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r1xDMFKhis> How to Read to Learn a Math Textbook Part 3 (10 min.) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpDaZbGTcwA> How to Read to Learn a Math Textbook Part 4 (8 ½ min.) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9i823ZavSw>

The Co-Requisite Course Model Co-requisite developmental education enrolls students in remedial and college-level courses in the same subject at the same time. Students receive targeted support to help boost their understanding and learning of the college-level course material.

Early results are showing that these initiatives are yielding better outcomes for students in less time and with significant savings for students and institutions. What they all have in common is a focus not just on the goal of improving remedial course completion but also, and more significantly, on completion of the entry-level, credit-bearing college courses that put students on a steadier path to completion.

ADAPTIVE EXPERTISE

Transform Remediation: The Co-Requisite Course Model

Building Adaptive Expertise Backwards <http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/file/54026244/Building AdaptiveBackwards-15.docx>

http://www.completecollege.org/docs/CCA%20Co-R eq%20Model%20-%20Transform%20Remediation%2 0for%20Chicago%20final(1).pdf

Thoughts on Adaptive Expertise <http://corequisite.pbworks.com/w/file/54026192/Adaptive %20Expertise%20Bransford-9.doc>

Co-requisite Model

Co-Requisite Remediation Many of you are exploring the idea of co-requisite courses.

http://gettingpastgo.org/blog/2011/03/21/co-requisite-mode l/ Co-requisite Remediation http://www.completecollege.org/docs/CCA%20Policy%20De ck%20Remediation%20Final%209-21-11.pdf 55

Enhanced Mathematicsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;A Co-requisite Approach to Developmental Mathematics http://www.aascu.org/programs/ie/SubmissionDetails.aspx? id=4195 Remediation: the Bridge to Nowhere http://www.edpath.com/remedialeducation.html Transform Remediation http://www.completecollege.org/docs/CCA%20Essential%20 Steps%20Remediation%20Sept%202011.pdf Also see: www.corequisite.pbworks.com<http://www.corequisite.pbwo rks.com/>

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