Transcript ppt

Accelerated Basic English at San Diego Mesa College
ACCELERATION:
A POWERFUL LEVER FOR INCREASING COMPLETION AND CLOSING
EQUITY GAPS
APPLICATION WORKSHOP – COMMUNITY COLLEGES BASIC SKILLS
AND STUDENT OUTCOMES TRANSFORMATION PROGRAM
Jason Kalchik
Presented by Jennifer Cost
Professors of English
San Diego Mesa College
THE CALIFORNIA ACCELERATION
PROJECT
CAP supports colleges to increase student completion of transferlevel English and math through evidence-based practices that
reduce or eliminate students’ time in remediation.
High-Leverage Practices:
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Transforming placement policies to broaden access to transfer-level courses
and enable all students to begin higher in the sequence
Contextualizing math remediation to students’ program of study -- algebra
for math-intensive pathways, statistics & quantitative reasoning for others
Redesigning curricula to accelerate students through remediation, including
co-requisite models at the transfer-level and single-semester remedial
courses aligned with the transfer-level courses in students’ program of study
http://cap.3csn.org
ACCELERATED REMEDIATION:
STATE-WIDE RESULTS
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The Research and Planning Group for the California Community
Colleges examined outcomes at 16 community colleges piloting
accelerated remediation models in 2011-12
They found odds of completing a college-level course were 2.3 times
greater in “high acceleration” models than traditional remedial
pathways
“Low acceleration” models tended to show little or no acceleration
effect
Students saw significant gains regardless of whether they were
assessed as one, two, three, or four levels below college; students in
the lowest levels saw the largest relative increases in their completion
“The implication is that students from an array of skill ranges can be
prepared for success in transfer–level English. No specific placement level
was associated with negative outcomes, indicating that these accelerated
pilots adhered to a ‘do no harm’ principle.”
- Craig Hayward & Terrence Willett
(“Curricular Redesign and Gateway Completion: A Multi-College Evaluation of the
California Acceleration Project”)
ACCELERATED READING, WRITING AND REASONING
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Fall 2010: 2 of 3 colleges in the San Diego Community
College District piloted Accelerated Basic Writing:
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Open-access
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One-semester
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4-unit course
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Integrates reading and writing (based on Chabot College
model)
Since 2010, San Diego Mesa has offered 95 sections.
CURRENT ENGLISH ACCELERATION AT
MESA
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS WHO MAKE IT
THROUGH THE TRADITIONAL PATHWAY
Within 4
terms
Enrolled
in English
43
Completed
English 43
Enrolled
in English
49
Completed
English 49
Enrolled
in English
101/105
Source: CCCCO Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, Fall 2010 –Fall 2012 cohorts;
students tracked for 3 primary terms after their initial course enrollment
Completed
English
101/105
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS WHO MAKE IT
THROUGH THE ACCELERATED PATHWAY
Enrolled
in English
47A
Completed
English
47A
Enrolled
in English
101/105
Completed
English
101/105
Source: CCCCO Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, Fall 2010 –Fall 2012 cohorts;
students tracked for 3 primary terms after their initial course enrollment
MESA’S ACCELERATED STUDENTS…
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place at the lowest levels of writing (far more
than those enrolling in the traditional sequence)
and represent disproportionate numbers of
African-American and Latino students….
Bri Hays: “Examining Mesa College English Pathways”
THE DIFFERENCE? PERCENTAGE OF
SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES IN DIFFERENT
PATHWAYS AT SAN DIEGO MESA COLLEGE
Lowest placement in the traditional pathway: 21%
 Placement in an accelerated pathway: 41%
 Assessed as “1 below” in traditional pathway: 32%
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NAYSAYER NUMBER 1: “YOU’RE JUST DUMBING
DOWN CURRICULUM AND PUSHING STUDENTS
THROUGH”
Actually, those putting the core principles of
accelerated pedagogy into practice believe that
the opposite is true
 Principle 1: Backwards Design: More Rigorous,
Collegiate Experiences
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“Look at what students are asked to do in college
English, then have them work on exactly those
tasks. If they’re going to have to read books and
write essays at the college level, that’s what they
should be doing in their preparatory experiences. If
college-level courses are not going to ask them to
complete grammar workbooks, or write personal
essays about their friendships, then developmental
courses shouldn’t either” – “Toward a Vision of
Accelerated Curriculum & Pedagogy”
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Principle 2: Relevant, Thinking-Oriented
Curriculum: Re-envisioning What We Ask
Students To Do, and How We Use Class Time
 Increases student
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motivation
 Demonstrates skill/degree
utility
 Unites class in shared focus
 Increases agency and
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inclusion in conversations
that matter to students
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Can model and instruct
composition and reading
skills more effectively (and
more interestingly) within
this shared context
Wrestle with open-ended
problems
Reach and defend their own
conclusions
“Class readings, assignments, and lectures should provide
opportunities for students to make explicit linkages between what they
are learning in class and their lives. This approach will better enable
students to interrogate misinformation and to recognize how the
information they are learning can lead to a better life for themselves
and their families.” - Teaching Men of Color in the Community College
NAYSAYER NUMBER 2: “YOU’RE COVERING THE
SAME MATERIAL IN FAR LESS TIME. SOME
STUDENTS WILL INEVITABLY BE LEFT BEHIND”
This is a real concern which requires “targeted
support designed to address class-wide deficiency
as well as provide differentiated support to help
each student learn
 Principle 3: Just-in-time remediation
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“Students’ writing shows us that each individual tends to make just a
handful of errors, and that patterns of mistakes vary from one student to
the next. Students have enough intuitive grasp of the language that they
don’t need to be taught all of English grammar, including its opaque and
alienating terminology. With an individualized, just-in-time approach, our
focus is not to ‘teach grammar,’ but to help students recognize and
correct their own mistakes.” – “Toward a Vision of Accelerated
Curriculum & Pedagogy”
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Principle 4: Intentional Support for Students’
Affective Needs: Mitigating the Disadvantages
Presented by Non-cognitive Issues
 Keep students coming back
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and submitting work
 Understanding self-sabotaging 
behaviors
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 Being flexible and
understanding when
appropriate while maintaining
high expectations
Building in incentives and
accountability
Intrusive interventions
Structure grading with revision
in mind, emphasizing a
“growth mindset”
“Those who are the least conversant with the norms of higher
education are at a distinct disadvantage; they are more likely to feel
like outsiders and to doubt their ability to fit in. Indeed, for fearful
students, every interaction in the classroom and with their professors
outside class holds the potential to confirm their feelings of
inadequacy.” – The College Fear Factor
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Principle 5: Low-Stakes, Collaborative Practice
 Help students develop mastery of  Note patterns of errors and provide
ideas and skills
instruction after group work as a
 Student-centered, student-directed
follow up (invert the traditional
 Expect errors, withhold corrections, model: “just-in-time” remediation)
allow space for productive struggle  Keep a running metacognitive
and self-correction
conversation going
 Direct with guiding questions
 Praise demonstration of
“We’re focusing on pair work with a
thoughtfulness or skillfulness
product, not just large group discussion
where students who haven’t read, or
didn’t understand, can hide. We are
really challenging the students to come
prepared and be ready to do something
in class and not just to sit there and wait
for other, prepared students to do the
work.” – Melissa Reeve, Solano College
EQUITY IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR CURRENT
ONE-BELOW ACCELERATED COURSE
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Completion rates are greater for accelerated
students than comparison groups across all
ethnicities.
Since we know that Latino and African-American
students are generally more likely to enroll in
accelerated English than other students, we
know we’re doing a good job of getting them into
the accelerated pipeline.
Assuming our course mirrors statewide trends,
we are improving overall transfer English
completion rates for these groups
Source: Bri Hays, San Diego Mesa College Campus-Based Researcher
“EVERY SYSTEM IS PERFECTLY DESIGNED TO
ACHIEVE THE RESULTS IT GETS.” –PAUL
BATALDEN, M.D.
“This is no small task. The approach advocated here represents a
significant break from traditional models of developmental
reading, writing, and math, which UC Berkeley Professor
Emeritus Norton Grubb observed have been dominated by
‘remedial pedagogy: drill and practice on sub-skills, usually
devoid of any references to how these skills are used in
subsequent courses or in adult roles.’ Making change even more
difficult is the fact that most of the products on the
developmental education market—textbooks, online programs,
tests—also are geared toward decontextualized sub-skills.”
– “Toward a Vision of Accelerated Curriculum & Pedagogy”
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