1. College Skills Duncan Graham & Lucy Rodriguez November 5, 2008

2. Foothill College Roundtable 2 Welcome! Basic Skills ~ College Skills Definition: “Basic skills are those foundation skills in reading, writing, mathematics, & English as a Second Language, as well as learning skills & study skills, which are necessary for students to succeed in college-level work.” Source: Basic Skills as a Foundation for Student Success in California Community Colleges Report. March 2007. p.4.

3. Foothill College Roundtable 3 Why Focus on College Skills? The need today is greater because: –Increased volume of students accessing higher education –Increased diversity of academic & social backgrounds –Culmination of 2 centuries of opening access to higher education to the less than academically qualified –80% of future jobs need a degree

4. Foothill College Roundtable 4 State of College Skills Our Students –K-12 educated students –Returning adults (English & ELL) –Immigrants (none or minimal K-12 education) –International students

5. Foothill College Roundtable 5 Educational skills are necessary to achieve success in present-day society Skills deficits damage CA economy Lack of literacy wastes human potential –Adapted from Payne, G. (2006, June). Re-counting ‘illiteracy’: literacy skills in the sociology of social inequality. British Journal of Sociology, 57(2), 219- 240. Why Focus on College Skills? Functional Literacy (Reading Street Signs / Balancing a Checkbook) Losing high paying jobs to the global economy

6. Foothill College Roundtable 6 Administrative Policy Issues No Common Definitions of College Skills courses and student services –Masking basic skills under college funding umbrella –Insufficient & fragmented funding structure High School Curriculum not Aligned with Colleges Inconsistent Community College Standards & Definitions

7. Foothill College Roundtable 7 Economic Policies Access to college is “required by our present-day technological society.” - Markus & Zeitlin, 1998 In the next 25 years - McCabe, 2001; ETS, 2007, Adelman, 2004 –80% of jobs will required post-secondary education –30% of California high school grads are prepared for college –Large numbers of workers will retire & need to be replaced by people with post-secondary education

8. Foothill College Roundtable 8 Economic Policies Taxpayers paid about $1 billion on national basic skills education - Breneman & Harlow, 1998 Less than 1% of the entire U.S. higher education budget is spent on basic skills - Brothen, 2004 For every $1 billion spent = ROI of $44 million from tax revenue - Saxon & Boyle, 2001 70% in California need basic skills remediation - Adelman, 2004. In 2008-09, CA designated BSI funding from the state representing less than a tenth of 1% for Foothill’s budget. ROI $44 Million

9. Foothill College Roundtable 9 CA’s Solution to Education Gap The CA Basic Skills Initiative –Provides additional funding source –Provides common framework for understanding basic skills

10. Foothill College Roundtable 10 Basic Skills Initiative Phase I Developed & Produced the Poppy Copy –Extensive literature review –Self assessment tool –Cost-revenue tool

11. Foothill College Roundtable 11 Basic Skills Initiative Phases II & III Phase II: Provide training seminars to all 109 colleges on the Literature Review & how to complete their self-assessment evaluation & selection of implementation strategies for local program improvement of basic skills Phase III: Provide regional training seminars on in-depth topics such as integrating student services with academics

12. Foothill College Roundtable 12 College Skills at Foothill Over 35 Foothill staff & faculty members joined one of four investigative teams: –Team A: Organizational and Administrative Practices –Team B: Program Components –Team C: Staff Development –Team D: Instructional Practices

13. Foothill College Roundtable 13 College Skills at Foothill Campus-wide dialogue was generated by the 4 investigative teams through: –Interviews with various departments and individuals –Surveys, phone calls, emails –Division meetings devoted to basic skills learning Each team presented their findings at a campus-wide meeting & some division meetings

14. Foothill College Roundtable 14 College Skills at Foothill Each Investigative group was asked to: –Submit a summary of their discoveries –Create an initial set of recommendations to improve basic skills –Create a list of things we should be doing and/or new & revised goals The recommendations were compiled into the current college skills action plan

15. Foothill College Roundtable 15 College Skills Action Plan at Foothill Looking at this from an State perspective, our action plan needs to provide: –Accountability measures –Proof of taxpayer money well-spent –Legal compliance –Deadlines & timelines for getting the job done –Something to help Judy & Dolores practice writing their signatures

16. Foothill College Roundtable 16 College Skills Action Plan at Foothill Looking at this from an Foothill perspective, the action plan provides: –A course of direction –A policy and planning tool to generate change –A topic of conversation –A list of priorities to focus on –A tool to measure impact of change

17. Foothill College Roundtable 17 Reporting Structure College Skills at Foothill College –College Skills Steering Committee –Roundtable College Skills Subcommittee –Roundtable

18. Foothill College Roundtable 18 College Skills Steering Committee Develop highly coordinated college skills program Support staff development Integrate student & academic services Recognition that college skills are a college-wide concern

19. Foothill College Roundtable 19 College Skills Action Plan Action: Incorporate basic skills evaluative components into all formal institutional & program review & planning processes for both academic & non-academic programs. Based on Effective Practice B2. Accountability: Produce a comprehensive basic skills pattern or map that shows where students enter/exit sequence Impact: Research: Capture data on where students get stuck or succeed. Students have transparent route to careers, degrees, transfer colleges, life enrichment… Cleaned up curriculum database, courses, curriculum sheets, identified proper TOPS codes, definitions, prereqs

20. Foothill College Roundtable 20 College Skills Action Plan Action: Administration actively supports staff development opportunities on basic skills topics. Based on Effective Practice C1. Accountability: What 3 good ideas did you get from the basic skills conference you attended? Impact: “We found a college doing an intensive combined beginning & intermediate algebra course. It would be a fully loaded course (12 quarter units) & this is all the student would be doing. It's a similar idea to a language immersion course.” “I learned that learning communities do not have to be elaborate to be effective, & have begun conversations …about doing some of that next quarter.” “Based on the work of Ruth Stiehl, I learned how mapping a program illuminates the logic (or illogic) of course sequences, pre- requisites & student learning outcomes. This strategy is useful for program planning & curriculum development since it highlights how the themes & outcomes of a course align with those in other courses. Or not!”

21. Foothill College Roundtable 21 College Skills Action Plan Action: Use collaborative efforts of the Language Arts faculty to pilot a new ESL assessment test for incoming freshmen. Accountability: Shift in student success rates in ESL classes. Impact: More consistent standards and streamlined learning. Improved student success, retention & persistence rates in ESL & beyond. Exposes additional problems to address More accurately places students in classes.

22. Foothill College Roundtable 22 College Skills Action Plan Give access to view financial aid screens on SIS to all Outreach staff so they can answer simple questions for students. Effective Practice B4. Accountability: Staff have access to screens. Impact: Students receive timely assistance in identifying and applying for appropriate sources of financial aid.

23. Foothill College Roundtable 23 Questions? http://www.foothill.edu/staff/irs/BSI/discussions.html