Transcript A+dvancer

Advance Your Students
with A+dvancer
A+dvancer
Presented by:
Kathie Montognese
Director of Testing Services
Hennepin Technical College
MnSCU Accuplacer Institutional Administrator
Minnesota College and University System
By Kathie Montognese
NCTA 2009 Conference
San Antonio, TX
August 2009
Session Overview
• Course placement- why we do what we do
– Many students are underprepared for college
– Accurate placement improves retention and student success
• Overview of Hennepin Technical College
– Challenges and concerns
• How can we help students and improve retention?
– Overview of A+dvancer
– Partnering with High Schools and ABE Centers
Challenges of Remediating
Underprepared Students
• Country is undergoing profound economic and demographic
changes
– Creates a demand for workers with post- secondary
training
• Employers are looking for employees that are cross-trained
– Do more with less
• Budget cuts in education
– Less $$ coming in, while more $$ needed to help students
with multiple barriers
• Well educated Baby Boomers are retiring and being replaced
by the ID generation
National Statistics
Diploma to Nowhere, Sept 2008
• More than a third of all students enroll in remedial courses
•
Percent of students receiving remediation (2004)
• All students 34%
•
Institution type
• Two-year public college 43%
• Four-year public college 29%
Bridging the Gap, Jan 2009
• Nearly a third of all incoming freshman enroll in remedial courses
•
Institution type
• Two-year public colleges 42% of first year students
• Four-year public college 27% of first year students
•
Remedial courses offered at 99% of public 2 year colleges and 75% of public 4 year
institutions
MN Statistics:
Getting Prepared, March 2008
Minnesota Public High School Graduates who Enrolled in Minnesota
Public Higher Education and took Developmental Courses within Two
Years of Graduation:
2003
2005
Graduates who attended public higher education that took at
least one developmental course
36%
38%*
Graduates enrolled at the U of M (any campus)
8%
7%
Graduates enrolled in a 2-year community or technical college
46%
48%
Graduates enrolled in a 4-year state university
29%
29%
*Percentages do not add to 38% (the total) due to rounding of numbers.
Sources: U of M, Office of Institutional Research and Reporting, and MnSCU Research and
Planning
Hennepin Technical College
At a Glance
• Largest Technical
College in Minnesota
• Serving over 12,000
students on 2 campuses
and Customized
Training
• Average Age: 27
• Majors offered
– 44 (A.S., A.A.S., Diplomas,
Certificates)
• Enrollment Status:
– Part Time 68%
– Full Time 32%
• Gender:
– Male 53%
– Female 47%
• Ethnic Background:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Caucasian 65%
African American 15%
Asian 6%
Hispanic 2%
American Indian 1%
Not Declared 11%
Challenges and Concerns
Challenges:
• Many students arrive at our doors only to find they are
underprepared to begin college-level coursework
• In 2008-2009, 59% of students placed into a developmental
course in one of the three basic skills areas
Concerns:
• Statistics show that students who begin in developmental
classes are less likely to persist and graduate
• According to the Alliance for Excellent Education (2006), the
U.S. spends $1.4 billion to provide remedial classes at colleges
for students who recently completed high school
What can we do?
Look for ways to Improve Retention
• Fall of 2006, Hennepin Technical College
Testing Center obtained initiative funding to
purchase A+dvancer, online tutorial of basic
skills
• Initially used two ways:
• Study before initial course placement testing
• Prior to retesting
A+dvancer Pilot
Pilot results were very encouraging
Math
• Of new students who used A+dvancer and retested with ACCUPLACER,
54.5% improved their placements in math
• Average improvement in Arith was 21 points
• Average improvement in Algebra was 15.8 points
Reading
• Of new students who used A+dvancer and retested with ACCUPLACER,
38% improved their placements in reading
• Average improvement in Reading was 6.1 points
Overall 70% of students who used A+dvancer prior to retesting went up one
to two courses
Title
Expanded the Use of A+dvancer
• LRC with tutors, can work with more students
• Developmental instructors in classroom
• ABE working with adults transitioning to
college
• College Readiness High School Testing
Program
• Work Force Development, Fast Track Training
Work Force Development:
M-Powered Project
• M-Powered is a fast track training program in manufacturing:
metalstamping/sheet metal fabrication, welding and machining/CNC
operation
• The focus of M-Powered is low-income, unemployed and dislocated
workers. Program is 12 weeks of “fast track” classroom training
• Assessment testing showed 75% of participants did not have the
necessary basic arithmetic skills needed to be successful in this fast paced
training
• Students with arith test scores below 46 on Accuplacer were required to
complete the A+dvancer arith coursework
• 73% of students who completed A+dvancer coursework passed the final
exam
• Advisory Board has recommended that A+dvancer be included in the MPowered program
College Readiness
High School Testing Program
• TOUR: Hennepin Technical College for career
exploration, “What programs are available to me?”
• TEST: Take ACCUPLACER Placement Test at High
School, proctored by college testing staff
• TALK: Receive individualized test interpretation with
HTC counselors/testing staff at HS, parent evenings
• TARGET: An area for improvement, sign up for
A+dvancer
Working on a system to track student progression from high school to college
Sample of Results and Recommendations
from Testing at a High School
Name
Sally Smith
ID
Reading
Comp
61
Sent
Skills
57
Arith
Elem
Alg
38
Notes/Recommendations
A+dvancer
Sections
undecided
Sentence Skills
Interested in computer
programming and multimedia,
needs to take college level
math
Iwanna
Learnmore
85
90
109
Santa Claus
59
56
28
Interested in Child Dev at HTC
Barney
Rubble
34
49
22
needs remedial work all 3
areas
George
Jetson
27
36
20
needs remedial work all 3
areas
84
Computer Science, wants to
start with generals at HTC.
Needs College Level Math
section
Elm Algebra
119
98
111
Peter Rabbit
69
56
27
take generals, Un of MN Vets
school
Reading
Betty Boop
69
72
35
Interested in Culinary Arts at
HTC
Arith
Tony Tiger
85
85
72
29
undecided
Elm Algebra
31
Video Game Design, Auto
Mech at HTC
Reading &
Elm Alg
Interested in CNA at HTC or
MCTC, needs to retest and
also take the listening test for
CNA
Reading
Shining Star
Charlie
Brown
Fred
Flintstone
58
41
84
49
68
20
45
Sentence Skills
& Reading
Ascension High School Project
•
•
•
•
Inner city charter high school
91%, 1st generation college students
A+dvancer for 6 weeks, 2 hrs/week with instructor
26 Seniors
–
–
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–
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3 Reading Comp
15 Sentence Skills
5 Arith
2 Elm Alg
1 Trig/CLM
• 67% increased placement test score when retested
A+dvancer Overview
•Online tutorial to review/refresh
basic skills
•Read Comp, Sent Skills, Arith,
Elm Alg, Coll Alg, Pre-calc/Trig
•Does not replace a dev course
www.advancerlearning.com
A+dvancer Design
• Students can work on it anywhere at anytime- online delivery
• Provides diagnostics, “What do I need to study?”
• Prescribed instructional coursework (optional)
– Individualized to students specific learning needs
– Refreshes basic skills needed for college success
• Targets certain populations
– Students wanting to review skills prior to placement testing
– Students needing remediation before retesting
– Enrolled students needing light academic support
Not designed as a comprehensive developmental course.
Required
Required
Required
Required
Optional
Real Time
Frequently Asked Questions
WITHOUT good assessment, advising and
sometimes intervention, our students will…….
try and try again with the same results!
Discussion and Questions
Kathie Montognese
Ph: 952-995-1545 (office)
Email: [email protected]
Discussion and Questions
Kathie Montognese
Ph: 952-995-1545 (office)
Email: [email protected]
Title