CRAFTING AN AMBITIOUS PROPOSAL FOR BASIC SKILLS TRANSFORMATION FUNDING FEBRUARY 26, 2016 – COLLEGE OF ALAMEDA California Acceleration Project

Your CAP Team Today Katie Hern CAP Co-Founder English Instructor, Chabot College Terrie Nichols Math Instructor, Cuyamaca College Chris Gibson English Instructor, Skyline College And thank you to Vanson Nguyen, Math Dept, College of Alameda!

CAP and the $60M Basic Skills and Student Outcomes Transformation Program Shared Goal: Transforming remediation to substantially increase student completion of transfer-level courses in English and math

Student Success Scorecard Statewide, more than three-quarters of incoming students are classified “unprepared”

Traditional Remediation Standardized tests are used to identify students who need additional preparation Students scoring below “college-level” are required to enroll in 1-4 remedial courses in math and/or English In lower-level remedial classes, tasks are more basic, less challenging than in higher levels In math, remediation is a repeat of K-12 math content through Algebra II, students need to make it through all of this content before taking any college-level math course

Butte: What if we let more students into college English? While setting cut scores for a new placement test, Butte College discovered that twice as many students were now assessing as “college ready” in English. Placement into college English: Increased from 23% to 48% of incoming students One-Year Completion of College English Tripled for African American students Doubled for Hispanic and Asian students 1.6 times higher for white students Achievement Gaps: The gap between White and Black students’ completion of college English was cut nearly in half. Under-Estimation of Students: 40% of the students who previously would have been placed into remediation earned As and Bs in college English

CUNY: What if we let basic skills students enroll in College Statistics with extra support? The City University of New York did a randomized control experiment in which students placed into elementary algebra enrolled in a college-level Statistics course with supplemental instruction from student tutors. 56% passed the course Their pass rates were nearly 20 percentage points higher than the group that enrolled in Elementary Algebra

CAP: What if we tailored math remediation to what students wanted to study in college? Completion of Transfer-Level Math The first 8 colleges piloting accelerated statistics pathways in CAP

Las Positas: What if we provided only one level of remediation below the college level? At Las Positas College, most students take just a single semester of integrated reading and writing instruction below college English, with only the lowest-scoring 8% taking more. Fall 2014 Pilot: The lowest scoring group can take the one-level-below English course if they enroll in an additional 2 hour/week workshop with the same instructor Eligibility for College English: More than doubled in half the time. 67% passed & were eligible for college English in one semester vs. 29% who took the two-semester sequence the year before

Virginia: What if we transformed developmental reading and writing across 23 community colleges? Placement into college English (Including co-req sections) Increased from 53% to 81% of incoming students Placement into Developmental Reading & Writing Decreased from 47% to 19% of incoming students Instead of up to four separate reading & writing courses, students take just one integrated course (4 or 8 units) Statewide Student Outcomes (Fall 2013-Summer 2014) Pass rates in college English were unchanged at 74% Completion of college English in one year increased from 28% to 48%

The Unintended Consequence of Remediation Policies The more levels of developmental courses a student must take, the less likely that student is to ever complete college English or Math. Bailey, Thomas. (February 2009). Rethinking Developmental Education. CCRC Brief. Community College Research Center. Teachers College, Columbia University.

Disappearing Students: English-Writing in California Students’ Starting Placement English-Writing % Completing Transfer-Level English in 3 Years One Level Below48% Two Levels Below34% Three or more Levels Below19% Statewide data, Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, Fall 2009-Spring 2012 Across CA, students of color 2-3 times more likely to begin in lowest levels than white students

Disappearing Students: Mathematics in California Students’ Starting Placement Mathematics % Completing Transfer-Level Math in 3 Years One Level Below35% Two Levels Below15% Three or more Levels Below6% Statewide data, Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, Fall 2009-Spring 2012 Across CA, more than half of Black and Hispanic students in remedial math begin here

Outcomes for Students Placed 3 Levels Below in Math

How is “college readiness” determined? How do community colleges decide if a student does/does not need remediation? And how much?

Sample Accuplacer Item Writing a best seller had earned the author a sum of money and had freed him from the necessity of selling his pen for the political purposes of others. Rewrite, beginning with The author was not obliged The new sentence will include A) consequently he earned B) because he had earned C) by earning D) as a means of earning

More Test Items: Are You College Ready?

Attrition among Students Placed into Remediation: A Structural Problem Students placed 2 levels below college English/Math face 6 “exit points” where they fall away: Do they enroll in the first course? If they enroll, do they pass the first course? If they pass, do they enroll in the next course? If they enroll, do they pass the second course? If they pass, do they enroll in the college-level course? If they enroll, do they pass the college-level course? Students placed 3 levels down face 8 exit points.

Illustration: Chabot College Students beginning two levels below College English: Do they enroll in the first course? ??% If they enroll, do they pass the first course? 66% If they pass, do they enroll in the next course? 93% If they enroll, do they pass the second course? 75% If they pass, do they enroll in the college-level course? 91% If they enroll, do they pass the college-level course?78% (0.66)(0.93)(0.75)(0.91)(0.78)= 33% Fall 2006 Cohort. Students tracked from their first developmental English enrollment and followed for all subsequent English enrollments for 3 years. Pass rates includes students passing on first or repeated attempts within timeframe. Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, DataMart.

A Thought experiment: What if more students passed the first course? How many would complete the college level course? (0.66)(0.93)(0.75)(0.91)(0.78 ) = 33% If 75% passed the first course… 37% If 80% passed the first course… 40% If 90% passed the first course… 45% What if 90% passed and persisted at each point? (0.90)(0.90)(0.90)(0.90)(0.90) = 59%

BOTTOM LINE Improving our results within the existing multi-level system will never be enough – we must eliminate or significantly reduce the exit points where we lose students in remediation.

Three High-Leverage Strategies Changing Placement Policies: Colleges broaden access to transfer-level courses, and make access more equitable, by adjusting cut scores, using robust multiple measures, and requiring algebra-based testing and remediation only for access to courses that require substantial algebra. Implementing Co-requisite Models: Students classified as “below transfer level” are allowed to enroll in a transfer-level course with extra concurrent support, saving them at least a semester of stand-alone remediation and reducing their chances of dropping out (e.g., “1A-plus” models: students co-enroll in English 1A and 2 additional units with the same instructor). Redesigning Remedial Courses: Multi-level sequences in English and math are replaced with accelerated courses that are well aligned with the transfer-level requirements in students’ chosen pathway.

Individual Reading Time Take 5 minutes to quietly read the handout “Acceleration Strategies that Produce Powerful Results.” As you read, think about implementing these ideas on your campus. How might you integrate these strategies into your college’s planning for Transformation funding – what would you spend money on? What questions or concerns would you anticipate being raised in your institution?

Pair/Small Group Discussion Take 5 minutes to discuss: How might you integrate these strategies into your college’s planning for the Transformation fund – what would you spend money on? What questions or concerns would you anticipate being raised in your institution?

Common Questions/Issues Raised The need for professional development to implement these strategies Transfer articulation with UC/CSU for statistics pathways Are statistics pathways “tracking” students away from STEM-related fields? Are we closing options for students? Enrollment management implications & concerns about faculty job security

What would we fund? Institutional inquiry group on improving placement, with membership from across institution Faculty development participation (e.g., CAP Community of Practice) Paying faculty to transform curricula & pedagogy (reassigned time, stipends, hourly pay) Developing accelerated curricular models in English, math, and ESL Local training/meetings to support faculty to teach in accelerated pathways Developing curricular materials for accelerated pathways Training math faculty to teach statistics Workshops for faculty teaching college-level Statistics and English to a less- filtered student population – maintaining rigor while increasing support Funding for research office to run data, evaluate efforts

Overview Transformation Program RFA & Cross Walk to Three CAP Strategies

Looking at Placement Practices: First, a Fess Up

Looking at Placement Practices Did You Do Your Homework?

The Invisibility of Under-Placement “When a student is placed into a college-level course and fails there...the fact that there has been a placement mistake is painfully obvious to all.” But “when a student does well in a remedial course, it is unlikely to be perceived as a problem.” Judith Scott-Clayton Community College Research Center Teachers’ College, Columbia University

Sample Placement Rules: English Students qualify for college English through any of the following multiple measures, whichever is higher: Overall high school GPA of 2.6 or higher, as self- reported during placement process OR Grade in AP English of C+ or higher OR Qualifying score on placement test e.g., 80 or higher on either the Accuplacer sentence skills or reading test

Sample Placement Rules: Statistics Students qualify for Statistics course through any of the following, with high school information self-reported by student: Overall high school GPA of 3.0 or higher OR High school GPA of 2.7 or higher and Algebra 2 completion with a C or higher OR High school GPA of 2.7 or higher and Algebra 1 completion with B- or higher OR Qualifying score on placement test (ideally, only those skills/concepts without which the student is “highly unlikely to succeed” in Statistics)

Team Time Looking at your own Data and Current Acceleration Efforts

Get Connected CAP website – Links to research, videos of accelerated students and teachers, curricular materials… Facebook group – California Acceleration Project Includes access to an online folder with materials to help with your proposal Apply for the 2016 CAP Community of Practice

Spotlights on Colleges Doing Ambitious Acceleration

Engaging Data: Mt San Jacinto College MSJC Data – English White students are 2x more likely to be placed into transfer-level English than Hispanics and nearly 4x more likely than African Americans Chance of passing college English in 2 years: 73% African American and Hispanic students are more than 2x more likely that white students to have to take multiple semesters of remediation in English Chance of passing college English in 2 years: 23%-38%

Taking Action: MSJC Accuplacer cut scores for English 101 were lowered from 100 to 80; students who score above the line on either test (reading/sentence skills) will qualify. The use of multiple measures was expanded so that students qualify for Eng 101 by test scores OR if they self- report an overall high school GPA of 2.5 or higher. Students scoring below 80 on Accuplacer who report a high school GPA of will be eligible for the new co- requisite model (“101-plus”). Courses 2 and 3 levels below were eliminated.

Team Time & Coaching From CAP Faculty Before you leave, please complete 3CSN evaluation form and leave it on your table