Board of Trustee Monitoring
Report
GRCC ENDS
POLICY
ON
Developmental
Education
2001-2002
Ends Policy on Developmental Education:
We prepare developmental students for college and/or
work. All students are encouraged,
supported, and given opportunities to reach their goals within their own
learning styles.
October, 2001
DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION: A Monitoring Report
Welcome to the monitoring
report on one of the eight Board Ends Policy: Developmental Education.
In October 1999, the GRCC
Board of Trustees adopted a revised mission, vision, values and eight ends
policies, including the developmental education end. By April 2000, The College developed a strategic plan to achieve
our desired ends. A monitoring report, The
GRCC Annual Report Card, was the first monitoring report on the College’s
strategic plan and was presented to the Board of Trustees in September 2001.
Additional monitoring reports will be prepared throughout the year on the other
seven ends.
The strategic plan
identifies three objectives for
the developmental education strategic outcome (end):
1.1
To
develop a system by which all students are placed in learning experiences that
optimize their changes for success
1.2
To
provide students choices containing a variety of learning experiences
1.3
To
develop a means of offering needed support services
The Annual Report Card
provided key indicator data that spanned all eight ends. The purpose of this monitoring report is
present data specifically pertaining to progress the College has made in one
end: developmental education. Information included in this report focuses
on 2000-2001 activities. Data presented
is based on Indicators of Progress as identified in the GRCC Strategic
Plan:
1.
Student
perception of related services
2.
Success
rates (graduation, persistence, transfer)
3.
Performance
in subsequent courses (post-developmental education courses)
Three-year trend data are
provided, unless otherwise specified.
Important highlights that help in the interpretation of these data
appear as bullet statements under each table.
This report is based on
information collected by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning
(IRP). Academic Affairs unit leaders,
members of President’s Cabinet, President Olivarez and several key faculty
whose work focuses on developmental education responsibilities, provided
comments that have also been included in this report.
GRCC DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION SERVICES: A Description
At GRCC, students have two
types of developmental education services available to them:
1. Admission/Placement
Services
§ Our open-door admissions
policy guarantees access to GRCC for all students, regardless of ability.
§ Placement testing, including
a computerized writing assessment tool (“Accuplacer”), is required of students
who are seeking degrees and have a low ACT score or no standardized test
scores.
§ In 1999-2000, 35% of our
degree seeking students required placement testing
§ Students whose placement
test scores fall below set levels, are expected to take Academic Foundations
Program (AFP) Courses, Math and/or English:
§ Math 003 - Mathematics for
College Students
§ English 097 - Academic
Foundations English 1
§ English 098 - Academic
Foundations English 2
2. On-going Support
§
Academic
Foundation Courses
§ Taught by faculty trained in
using creative teaching techniques to ensure student success
§
Tutoring,
advising & counseling
§
Individualized
testing services
§
ESL
courses
§
Student
Champion Retention Counselor
§
Coordinator
of Academic Foundation Program
§
All
Faculty have access to training in how to teach students with differing
learning styles
KEY INDICATOR #1
Student Perception of Developmental Education Services
Tables 1 and 2 were prepared
from a June 2001, “Survey of Academic Foundation Students.”
Table 1
Student Assessment of
GRCC Developmental Education Services
|
Student
Support Services |
Students rating service as “helpful” |
|
Peer tutoring |
76% |
|
Tutoring labs |
77% |
|
Disability services |
84% |
|
Conversational English |
60% |
|
PY101 Learning to Adjust to College |
73% |
|
Counseling Center |
72% |
Table 2
Student Satisfaction of
GRCC Academic Foundation Courses
|
Taken from
Student Satisfaction Survey June, 2001 |
Developmental Education Students responding “Yes” |
|
Was English 098 English helpful in preparing you
to take more difficult courses? |
100% |
|
Was Math 003 helpful in preparing you to take more
difficult courses? |
93% |
|
Was English 115 helpful in preparing you to take
more difficult courses? |
75% |
|
Was English 116 helpful in preparing you to take
more difficult courses? |
87% |
§
Three
out of every four students using our developmental education services, consider
them helpful
§
Average
satisfaction rate of AFP courses is 88%
KEY INDICATOR #2
Student Success Rates: Graduation, Persistence and Transfer
GRCC Developmental Students to All GRCC Students
Table 4
Graduation Rate Comparisons
|
Graduation
Rate |
Developmental Students |
All Students |
|
Fall 1995 cohort |
8.0% |
18% |
|
Fall 1996 cohort |
9.5% |
18% |
|
Fall 1997 cohort |
11.7% |
17% |
Table 5
Persistence Rate Comparisons
|
Persistence
Rate 1 |
Developmental Students |
All Students |
|
Fall 97 to Fall 98 |
48% |
53% |
|
Fall 98 to Fall 99 |
41% |
52% |
|
Fall 99 to Fall 00 |
53% |
58% |
1Beginning, degree-seeking freshman who return to GRCC for the following fall.
Table 6
Transfer Rate Comparisons
|
Transfer
Rate |
Developmental Students |
All Students |
|
Fall 1997 cohort |
NA |
24.5% |
§
Graduation rate of developmental education
students appears to be lower than that of all students.
§
Comparisons between
developmental students and all GRCC students: To learn more about factors affecting
retention, persistence and transfer, comparison rates will begin to between
developmental education students and all students will begin to be collected
Fall, 2001.
KEY INDICATOR #3
Performance of GRCC Developmental Education Students
Table 7
Mathematics and English
Comparison of Developmental Education Students to All Students
Mathematics
|
Developmental Students 1 |
All Students2 |
|
1997-98 |
33.0 |
46.6 |
|
1998-99 |
38.9 |
44.3 |
|
1999-00 |
48.0 |
47.9 |
|
|
|
|
English
|
Developmental Students 3 |
All Students4 |
|
1997-98 |
48.4 |
48.9 |
|
1998-99 |
59.0 |
43.8 |
|
1999-00 |
43.3 |
43.9 |
1developmental math students who later pass college math (Math 104) with a grade of C or above
2all students with grade of C or above in college math (Math 104)
3developmental English students who later pass college English (English100) with a grade of C or above.
4all students with grade of C or above in college English (English 100)
§ Success of Developmental Education Students: Developmental education
students are as successful as all students (in the required math and English
courses) are, after completing AFP math and English courses.
2000-2001 HIGHLIGHTS OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR
Developmental Education
§ Computerized Intake Assessment: Computerized writing assessments, using
Accuplacer, have been pilot tested this past year and are now available to
students.
§
Accuplacer
improves the efficiency of the assessment process and allows us to assess more
students by providing same-day assessment results.
§
Dean’s
Council will study the results of a pilot study conducted this summer of over
450 student who took the Accuplacer (computerized assessment tool) and the
college’s writing sample to determine placement into college level English
classes (EN 097, EN 098, RD 097, RD 098).
§
Additional
equipment and extended services also improved the efficiency and effectiveness
of our testing services.
§ Mentoring Program: A student/faculty mentoring program has been added to student
orientation services and under-prepared students are given priority in this
program.
§
Garret
Brand, Business Department faculty, is developing an on-line tutoring program
for students to use this fall. This use
of technology will provide potential tutoring to our students 24 hours a day, 7
days a week.
§ Streamlined Student Admission and Placement: In August, the Enrollment
Management Team successfully piloted a highly-supportive, three hour “intake”
process that included placement testing, assessment, and registration to reduce
the time it takes for a student to move from the “street to the seat.”
§ Simultaneous Assessment and Enrollment: This Fall, students will be
able to enroll just-in-time for certain minimum pre-requisite courses while
simultaneously being assessed and advised for future semesters. Also, for the first time this fall,
late-starting AFP classes will be offered to help ensure that late-enrolling
developmental education students do not miss important first days of classes.
§ AFP Coordinator (Linda Spoelman) & Student Champion Retention
Counselor (Terri Burt) appointments: Two faculty, recently appointed, will coordinate
developmental education activities on campus.
Their work will include:
§
Gathering
more data on AFP students
§
Creating
a faculty advising system for AFP students
§
Reviewing
course selection for AFP students
§
Establishing
an early-intervention system for AFP students
§
Conducting
a feasibility analysis for “innovative” and “creative” approach for
“severely-at-risk students
§ Increased Faculty Development Opportunities in Alternative Teaching and
Learning Methods: Last year and continuing this year, the Center for Teaching and
Learning offers opportunities for faculty to explore alternative instructional
methods, including collaborative learning, experiential learning, brain-based
learning, multiple intelligence inspired activities, authentic assessment and
technology options.
§
The
CTL provides a 1 and ½ day in-service program at the beginning of this academic
year for all new faculty, that includes sessions on learning and learning
styles.
§ Dean’s Council:
§
Approved
a “new” ten-point model of developmental education prepared by ten faculty from
across the college. The model is based
on ”best practices” literature and the new AFP coordinator and Student Champion
Retention Counselor will lead implementation of this model.
§
Developed a faculty profile to be used for
the hiring of new faculty and as standards for current faculty. This profile includes the importance of
determining appropriate modes of delivery for diverse learners.
§
Continues
to explore ways of providing greater learning choices to our students by
increasing our on-line instructional opportunities, including distance learning
§
Approved
the new Curriculum Approval and Review Process (CARP), to be implemented in the
fall, 2001 semester. This will improve
the quality of our course documentation and the identification of prerequisite
skills. Specific learner outcomes for courses are defined in CARP and the
process identifies which General Learner Outcomes (GLO) will be met by each
course.
§ Improved Communication and Marketing of Services:
§
An
improved marketing campaign, web page information that inlcudes the college
catalog and year-long schedule improves awareness of GRCC’s academic
requirements.
§
Our
Career Pathway program focuses on telling high school students about career
options and how GRCC can help them achieve their career goals.
§
In
addition, key staff members have been provided a reference manual about our
academic requirements, including information on our developmental education
programming.
§ NCA/AQIP Accreditation – One of the “Vital Few”: One of the College’s top
three priorities this coming year is our “street-to-seat” initiative. Any barriers or obstacles that students,
including developmental educational students, face in achieving their goal of
attending college are being identified and eliminated.
2001-2002 GOALS PERTAINING TO
Developmental Education
§ Indicators of Success: The new initiatives will be monitored and evaluated
throughout the year. The following
goals have been established to help us measure if our desired outcomes are
being achieved:
§
To
improve the graduation rate of developmental education students at least 1.5% a
year until these students graduation rate matches all students.
§
To
have the developmental students’ persistence and success rate improve 1% year
until they match all students.
§
To
review student evaluations of EN 115 and develop an improvement plan to bring the
satisfaction of these students to the same level as other developmental courses
by fall 2002.
§ New Position - Dean of Student Affairs: Tina Hoxie, in her new role as Dean of Student Affairs and
working with her staff and the Dean’s Council, will continue to review the
College’s intake assessment tools and process.
§ Non-degree enrollees: The
Enrollment Management Team, will work with the Dean of Student Affairs,
Assistant Dean for Admissions and Enrollment Management (Diane Patrick), to
resolve the issue of enrolling students in a non-degree status before fall 2002
registration begins.
§ English as a Second Language (ESL): In the fall of 2000 the College hired a
full-time instructor (Colleen Becker) to teach ESL courses (EN 115 and EN 116)
and to develop additional ones. The
College’s goal is to develop an entire ESL Program. Also, the College asked Fatima Nieves, of Disability Support
Services, to help identify, advise, advocate, and coordinate support services
for ESL students.
§ Open Self-paced Math Lab: Nickie
Alexander, math faculty, has developed a new open lab environment for teaching
MA003. This lab is designed to meet the
needs of foundation math students by providing self-paced instruction methods
and a variety of instructional strategies.
§ Distance Learning and
Learning Technology:
§
Organizational
restructuring included a new Assistant Dean for Distance Learning and Learning
Technology, Tina Lockwood, to lead the college’s development of alternative
methods of instruction including using distance learning (on-line, ITV,
telecourses and hybrid systems). The
college goal is to increase on-line courses by fall 2001, have Blackboard
Software used in 40% of classes, and develop hybrid courses (on-ground and
on-line).
§
Over
1000 on-line or site based instructional modules will be offered starting
January 2002 through a contract with ACT (Academic College Testing). The
instructional modules provide instruction in personal development,
management/leadership, information technology, industrial technology and
safety, and computer basics.
§
Net-G
software may now be used for the training in information technology on-line or
on-site. Both ACT software and Net-G will be used to enhance our exiting
curriculum and provide us to expand both our credit and non-credit offering
using alternative delivery systems.