Student Success through Developmental Studies

Marian Eberly Academic Foundations

Pathways to Academic Success

• • • • • • • Honors Program University Center  50 Transfer Agreements Honor Societies Galileo Scholars Developmental Studies Educational Opportunity Fund program

Student Intake Process

• Application • Testing • College Advisement 101 • Registration

Why so many place into Developmental Studies

• • • • • • • • More students go to college Changing demographics Not all students prepare for college while in high school High schools provide general education, not just college readiness Language minority populations Dropped out of high school; GED Gone to other colleges; stopped out or transferred Stopped out or returning

Promoting Success

• • • • • Mandatory Assessment and Placement Learning Outcomes of all courses aligned with next courses Retention Task Force Comprehensive Support Services Committee for the Retention of Minority Students

Promoting Success: The Academic Support Center

• • • • • • • Drop in Tutoring Evening & weekend Rx for Math Success Reading Writing Professional Staff Trained, Certified Tutors

Academic Support Center  13,000 visits since September

Promoting Success: Monitoring and Intervention

• • • • • Early warning grades for developmental courses Midterm warning grades for all courses Improved tracking & easier referrals: Student Space (Title III) Prescription for Math Success (Title III) Advising

Initiatives under Development

• • • • • Adopt Accuplacer--enables benchmarking Faculty Advising Goal tracking (through Title III) Improved intake assessment (Title III) – writing samples – math diagnostics Working with K-12 systems to gather disaggregated data

Bridging the gap: Working with high schools

• • • Science & Math workshops for H.S. teachers (3M grant) Partnering w/ Vo-Tech faculty: Math, English, & Science Partnering with Bound Brook High School for early assessment and preparation

Bridging the gap: Working with high schools

• • • • “Writing Agenda” project with Centenary to fuel reform in writing education Workshops for science teachers in Biotech (NSF grant) Working together to develop seamless transitions Working to expand early credit and concurrent enrollment programs

Mike and Jan

• • • • Recent high school graduates From large suburban high school Exemplary high school records Did not take senior year math

Mike & Jan

Both tested into developmental Algebra • • Mike took the 2-week Algebra review course, re-tested and placed into college level Math.

Jan took developmental Algebra. It took 2 semesters to complete developmental math. Meanwhile, she earned 16 credits in other courses.

Angelica

• • • Recently graduated from a small high school with >50% language minority students First in her family to go to college Qualified for the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) program based on economic need

Angelica placed into developmental Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic

• • • For 1-4 semesters, she will take almost exclusively developmental courses Students who place into 3 developmental subjects also take First Year Seminar EOF students have access to additional support

How RVCC helped Angelica

• • • • • • Summer bridge program (EOF) Mandatory tutoring Service learning tutor in her Math class Course content included study skills, time management, note-taking practice Aggressive advising (EOF) Tracking and referrals to advising, tutoring

Developmental Ed Works

Students who complete required developmental coursework are MORE successful than students who are not required to take developmental courses.

Pass Rates for English I

Fall 2004 No remediation required 76% Completed remediation 82% Spring 2005 67% 81%

Pass Rates for PreCalculus I

Fall 2004 Spring 2005 No remediation required 77% Completed remediation 80% 54% 67%

OUR GOAL

To develop in each learner the skills necessary for the attainment of academic and career goals