Lessons from Scaling Innovation 1 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER June 07, 2012 Melissa Barragan, Community College Research Center Peter Adams, Community College of Baltimore County Susan Bickerstaff, Community College Research Center Annual Conference on Acceleration in Developmental Education Baltimore, MD Building Momentum for Pedagogical Improvement: Lessons from Scaling Innovation

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 2 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Lessons from Scaling Innovation COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER We conduct quantitative and qualitative research on Teaching and learning in higher education Access to and success in postsecondary education High school to college transition Missions, governance, and accountability Workforce education

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 3 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Our Challenge Over 60 percent of entering community college students are referred to developmental education Outcomes for students are discouraging –Vast majority of students do not complete the sequences to which they are referred –Developmental education is not effective for students near the cut-off point –Completion rates of those who skip the sequence are similar to compliers

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 4 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER CCRC scan of reforms in developmental education suggests that innovation is widespread However, most reforms affect relatively few students and remain small in scale and largely unknown outside their institutions In rigorous evaluations, impacts are modest and short-term Innovation in Developmental Education

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 5 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Instructional Reform Approaches Structure Curriculum Pedagogy Approaches are NOT mutually exclusive Structural reforms focus on reorganization of instructional time and delivery (e.g., compressed courses, mainstreaming, and modularization). Curricular reforms focus on rationalizing and refining content (e.g., alternative pathways, contextualization, and course elimination). Pedagogical reforms focus on changes to teaching (e.g., student- centered activities, conceptual learning, and metacognition).

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 6 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER CCRC and partner colleges work to scale promising reforms at new institutions. –Faculty-driven effort, with intentional focus on classroom practice CCRC researchers document the implementation process and evaluate the impact of reforms on student success. –How can promising innovations in developmental education be introduced, sustained and scaled to enhance student learning, persistence and academic progression? Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 7 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Our partners: –Accelerated Learning Program from Community College of Baltimore County –Concepts of Numbers from Montgomery County Community College –California Acceleration Project, led by faculty from Chabot College and Los Medanos College For more information, read Inside Out or visit

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 8 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Describe the evolution of ALP faculty engagement and learning at CCBC Highlight the ALP Inquiry Network (ALPIN) as a structure for sustained professional learning Share preliminary findings from Scaling Innovation research on how structures for faculty learning can create opportunities for pedagogical improvement Presentation Goals

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 9 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER ENG 101 semester 1 ENG 052 semester 1 ALP The Accelerated Learning Program (ALP)

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 10 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER 1.Our model was mostly structural. 2.There were no experts to call in. 3.We were afraid the faculty would resist if we started telling them how to teach. 4.We didn’t agree on a pedagogy. ALP Why We Thought We Didn’t Need to Do Faculty Development

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 11 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER 1.Most of our faculty have graduate degrees in literature. 2.Even those with formal training in teaching writing have little training in teaching developmental writing. 3.No one had any training in teaching in an ALP classroom. ALP Why We Were Wrong

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 12 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER 1.We found we wanted to spend time talking with each other about what worked and what didn’t. 2.Our new ALP faculty complained that a two-hour orientation was not adequate preparation. 3.We realized that after four years of teaching ALP, we had figured out some things. 4.We got wonderful encouragement and suggestions from CCRC. ALP What Changed Our Minds

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 13 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER We’ve arrived at a different concept of faculty development. Rather than experts teaching novices how to teach. We now see faculty development as a group of teachers seeking answers to important questions. ALP Faculty Development for

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 14 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER We also recognized how hard it is to do faculty development at a community college. Everyone is teaching five courses and serving on committtees and we’re spread over three campuses so we’ve concluded that there is no silver bullet. Faculty development has to be multi-faceted. ALP Faculty Development for

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 15 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER 2.Three to four hour orientation sessions for new faculty 3.Half-day workshops in August and January 4.Informal monthly meetings 5.A mentoring system 6.ALPIN ALP Faculty Development for Two twenty-hour faculty institutes

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 16 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Monwhy ALP works backward design curriculum development active learning in a writing classroom Tueintegrating reading and writing thinking skills in the writing classroom Wedaddressing affective and life issues financial literacy Thuimproving students’ ability to edit their own writing culturally responsive pedagogy Fricoordinating the 101 and the 052 classes selecting texts and readings planning your syllabi planning the first week of the course ALP ALP Faculty Institute

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 17 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Lessons from Scaling Innovation COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Preliminary Findings from Scaling Innovation Research

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 18 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER 1.Infrastructure for collaboration and refinement is important, but challenging to implement and sustain. 2.Instructors’ questions about teaching in innovative courses vary over time and according to their personal and professional dispositions and identities. 3.Professional learning activities and venues should be responsive to faculty needs.

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 19 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Collaborative Infrastructure Diverse coalitions build buy-in and ensure sustainability –Full-time and adjunct faculty –Administrators –Counselors and advisors –Instructional support staff –Institutional researchers –Students By reviewing data, the coalition can create processes for ongoing refinement ‒ Course grades, student persistence to subsequent courses, student success in subsequent courses ‒ Artifacts of practice

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 20 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Challenges to Collaborative Work Antithetical to professional culture and structure of higher education –Institutional culture –Individual dispositions toward collaborative work Skills required are different from those typically associated with faculty role –Leadership, management, coaching Successful structures are contextually specific and challenging to sustain (e.g., curriculum writing team)

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 21 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Varying Questions and Needs Reluctant to change Satisfied with status quo Ready to act Reform Implementation Faculty Identity and Disposition How will this reform address student needs? What is the problem with the current system? What is the evidence of success? How is the new course structured? Which students are eligible? How will students get enrolled? What are course policies? What are the course materials? How are students assessed? What are the assignments? How will I use class time? What are students learning? What instructional techniques are most effective? Disagree with reform premise Discomfort with new approach Have ideas for improvement Unsure how to improve

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 22 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Pathways to Pedagogical Refinement Embedding “design principles” into curriculum and structure ‒ Small class size invites pedagogy that is responsive to student needs ‒ Fewer practice problems enables more conceptual and less procedural instruction Engaging faculty in the work of reform −Curriculum development −Ongoing refinement: Review of outcome data and student work −Training new instructors

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 23 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Purposeful and Responsive Faculty Engagement Activities Structure Audience What are instructors’ dispositions toward the reform? What expertise do they bring? How will participating in the activity benefit them? Purpose At what phase of implementation is the reform? Do instructors have questions about administrative issues, course structure, curriculum, and/or pedagogy? What structure best meets the goals of the activity? What format is realistic given time and resource constraints?

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 24 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER Purposeful and Responsive Faculty Engagement Activities Purpose StructureAudience

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 25 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER It’s really hard to get faculty to look at teaching differently or changing curriculum in drastic ways when they’ve invested their identity in that way of teaching. ‘You’re not challenging a certain curriculum; you’re challenging me or the essence of who I am.’ - Faculty Leader It has been one of the most positive and rewarding experiences of my professional career in higher education. I’m having opportunities to do things I didn’t know were possible in this way. Doing research, publications, presentations; those were all things I’ve dreamed of, and now I’m living that dream. - Faculty Leader Building Momentum Through Reform

Lessons from Scaling Innovation 26 COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER June 7, 2012 Please visit us on the web at where you can download presentations, reports, and briefs, and sign-up for news announcements. We’re also on Facebook and Twitter. Community College Research Center Institute on Education and the Economy, Teachers College, Columbia University 525 West 120th Street, Box 174, New York, NY Telephone: For more information