Leading from the Middle: Acceleration Reform in Three Colleges Jennifer Brezina, College of the Canyons Leslie Henson, Butte College Laura Hope, Chaffey College

COC’s Path to Scaled Up English Acceleration Fall 2010: Strengthening Student Success/Department Discussions Spring 2011: Faculty Inquiry Group Fall 2011: Department Approval and Curriculum Development Spring 2012: Planning for Pilot Fall 2012: Pilot Begins + CAP Training for Initial Instructors Spring 2013-Spring 2015: Data Collection and Continued Discussions Fall 2015: Fully Scaled Up for Initial Accelerated Course and Not Done Yet! Removed traditional sequence and implemented second accelerated course FIG for Co-Requisite Remediation Models Placement Changes Ongoing

Acceleration Pilot (Fall 2012-Spring 2015) Traditional Sequence Accelerated Sequence 071 081 091 101 (Transfer Level) 071 096 101 (Transfer Level)

English Accelerated Program Growth 2012-15 Term Number of Accelerated Sections/Students Number of Traditional Fall 2012 9 sections 253 students 20 sections 623 students Spring 2013 11 sections 239 students 14 sections 402 students Fall 2013 420 students 16 sections 536 students Spring 2014 12 sections 294 students 13 sections 343 students Fall 2014 427 students 431 students Spring 2015 382 students 271 students Fall 2015 27 sections 866 students 0 sections 0 students

Pilot Results (Spring 2012-Spring 2014) Traditional Path (2 levels below transfer) Transfer-Level Completion Accelerated Path Asian/Pacific Islander 44% (N=120) 62% (N=84) African American 30% (N=101) 51% (N=43) Latino 30% (N=930) 54% (N=475) White 35% (N=492) 61% (N=206) Two or More Ethnicities 25% (N=53) 42% (N=38) Overall 32% (N=1742)* *Also includes other groups not broken out above due to small numbers 56% (N=875)*

Pilot Results (Spring 2012-Spring 2014) Increased Likelihood of Completing Transfer-Level English Course for Students in the Accelerated Pathway Asian/Pacific Islander 41% African American 70% Latino 80% White 74% Two or More Ethnicities 68% Overall 75%

Growth in Transfer-Level English 2012-2015 TERM SECTIONS OF TRANSFER-LEVEL ENGLISH STUDENTS ENROLLED IN TRANSFER-LEVEL ENGLISH Fall 2012 37 1082 Spring 2013 49 1561 Fall 2013 46 1540 Spring 2014 1524 Fall 2014 52 1588 Spring 2015 50 1602 Fall 2015 58 1873

Current Course Sequence For students who previously placed two levels below transfer (minimum placement score required) For students who previously placed three levels below transfer (no prerequisite to begin in 089) 096 101 (Transfer Level) 089 (New Accelerated Course) 091 101 (Transfer Level)

Strategies Build coalitions of the willing – don’t be the Lone Ranger Engage the internal objectors Pilot, pilot, pilot Be persistent and resilient Work across disciplines – and areas (Student Services, Research) Jump in and help (curriculum, teaching, research) Use your influence where you can

Butte College’s Path to English Acceleration through Curricular Redesign Fall 2010: Basic Skills and English Department members go to CAP area workshop Spring 2011: Partnership between both departments Reassign time for course outline and curriculum development CAP training for teams from each department Fall 2011/Spring 2012: Course Pilot, 2 sections each term Slow scale-up: from 2, to 4, to 6, to 12, to 20 sections per term Fall 2012: Implemented training program for accelerated teachers using BSI funds, based on the CAP model. We are currently planning our fourth round of training.

Acceleration through Curricular Redesign (Fall 2011-Present) Traditional Sequence Accelerated Sequence 215 217 219 119 2 (Transfer Level) 215 217 118 2 (Transfer Level)

English 118 Program Growth 2011-15 TERM TRADITIONAL 2LBT COURSE/ACCELERATED COURSE SECTIONS Fall 2011 2 sections accelerated 26 sections traditional Fall 2012 4 sections accelerated 22 sections traditional Fall 2013 6 sections accelerated 17 sections traditional Fall 2014 12 sections accelerated 10 sections traditional Fall 2015 20 sections accelerated 8 sections traditional

College English Completion for Accelerated vs College English Completion for Accelerated vs. Non-Accelerated Cohorts , Fall ‘11, Spring ‘12, Fall ‘12 Cohorts 17% 37% 24% 26% 46% 79% 40% 42% 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 80.00% African American (n=71) Asian (n=112) Hispanic (n=216) White (n=628) All (n=1145) Non-Accelerated (ENGL 219, n=1022) Accelerated (ENGL 118, n=123) Source: Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, Chancellor's Office Website, accessed 2.14.15 (Fall 2011, Spring 2012, and Fall 2012 cohorts)

Butte College’s Path to English Acceleration through Placement Reform Spring 2011: Change in placement test accidentally results in increase in placements into college English From 23% of incoming students, to 48% Basic Skills and English Department members negotiate the issue The English Department votes to go with the change (with thanks to Katie Hern for her influence!) Fairly sudden expansion of college English sections, from 48 in Fall ‘10, to 55 in Fall ‘11, to 66 in Fall ‘12 Ongoing data analysis to show increased completion rates, equity gains

Completion of College English in One Year College-Wide – first-time freshman cohort Tripled for African American students (8%  23%) Doubled for Hispanic students (13%  27%) Doubled for Asian students (17%  35%) 1.6 times higher for White students (23%  37%) Old policy: Whites’ completion nearly 3 times higher than African Americans’ New policy: There’s still a gap, but whites’ completion now just 1.6 times higher than African Americans’

Strategies Determine parameters for role in the college and act within it Seek help from administration when necessary Area dean helped to achieve inch-by-inch scale-up of accelerated English by meeting with the two departments Vice President for Student Learning met with faculty from both departments to discuss concerns over scale-up Every yard counts Continue to work with others across differences Bring on the data “Your success rates didn’t go down.” New chart every meeting. Do not give up! Seek support from broader networks within and outside of your organization. Honey badger on!

Fast Track Timeline at Chaffey College English/Reading redesign Mathematics redesign Fast Track grows from 100 sections to 25% of Math and English offerings 10% of total offerings 5,000 students Fast Track “College” planned and growth to 25% of all offerings Initiated 50 section prototype Initiated Faculty Inquiry Team 2000 students Findings from FIT circulated Data shared regarding success from prototype Fast Track offerings grow to over 100 sections—math and English run sequences Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Fall 2013-2015 2016-17

Chaffey’s Journey Toward Acceleration Acceleration as a philosophical framework at Enrollment and Success Management for two key goals Prototype approach to design and innovation Data collection considerations Faculty Inquiry Team

Logistics and Philosophy Compression as a form of acceleration (2 Fast Track terms) --Restructured calendar --Redesigned student/faculty behavior --Restructured grading and admissions --Re-engineer room utilization “I prefer Fast Track because it gets me my units quicker, and you make more friends this way because you have to be on top of things because you have to work in teams.”

Accelerated Curriculum: English Read 450 Redesign of English/Reading curriculum from 3 pretransfer English and 6 pre-transfer reading courses to 2 pre-transfer reading/writing courses Read 550 English 475 35% of assessments Read 530 VS Engl 450 Read 520 English 575 Engl 550 25% of assessments Read 510 English 675 3% of assessments Engl 500 Read 500

Accelerated Curriculum: Math Institutional research confirms that approximately 70% of the students who take a non-credit “refresher” shift “up” 1-2 levels in their math assessment Math 610

Leadership Strategies Build an “appetite” for transformation Prototype thinking Build coalition with opinion leaders and champions at all levels Secure resources for support (internal and external) Pursue results Create infrastructure impervious to people

Formulate your acceleration timeline for your college. What are the milestones on your journey? Where is it leading? What are the “accelerators” that will help you to get there? What leadership strategies would you consider “accelerators” that may help move you along? What leadership strategies have you experienced that “decelerate” progress? How can they be avoided?