1. College Bridge: Transitioning ESL Students to Successful English 101 Completion Jamila Barton, North Seattle Community College jamila.barton@seattlecolleges.edu Gary Gorland, North Seattle Community College gary.gorland@seattlecolleges.edu Innovations Conference, March 3, 2014, Anaheim, CA League for Innovation in the Community College

2. Why College Bridge? Immigrant/refugee students at NSCC Immigrant/refugee students Low transition rate for upper-level ESL (20%) Avoid/Put off degree requirements for English Complete requirements without “college ready” skills English Department at NSCC Retention ↓ and Attrition ↑ from Dev English to English 101Dev English to English 101 Dev English classes are 80 – 90% ESL and IEP students Traditional approaches not effective for non-native reading and writing problems Academic IBEST Models Too expensive ( Instruction Costs) Difficult to articulate career pathway for Gen Ed degree requirements Adapted Jumpstart model from Highline Community College March 3, 2014 Barton and Gorland, NSCC 2

3. Aspects of the Program For currently enrolled ESL or ABE 05 – 06 non-native speaking students Holistic Application Process (COMPASS, CASAS, teacher recommendation, student letter to the committee) Scholarship pays tuition for English 097/098, highest level of Developmental English (10 credits) Con-currently Enrolled in ESL support class (5 credits) March 3, 2014 Barton and Gorland, NSCC 3

4. Strategic Plan – ESL Transition Progression Measures: ESL Transition BaselineBenchmark 1.10Percent of upper-level ESL students transitioning to college level courses within three years. 20% 2008-09 starts 25% 2016 for 2012-13 starts March 3, 2014 Barton and Gorland, NSCC 4

5. Data Fall 2012 Winter 2013 Spring 2013 Fall 2103 Cohort10 88 English 097/098 Completion10 78 AVG Grade (English 097/098)3.583.522.73.68 English 099/101 Completion2111 AVG Grade (English 099/101)3.42.62.7(W, 2014) English 101 Completion7624 AVG Grade (English 101)3.43.73.5(W, 2014) March 3, 2014 Barton and Gorland, NSCC 5

6. Results: Comparison Fall 2012-Winter 2014 English 97-98 College Bridge Scholarship Cohort (36) students 97% Completed and passed English 97-98 with (3.4)avg. grade Average pass rate for all students, in all 97/98 classes, is 83% with (2.67) avg. grade English 101- 99/101 To date: 68% have completed 99-101/101 with a (3.5) English 101 avg. grade and (3.0) English 99-101 avg. grade 100% completion for those who enrolled Average pass rate for all students, in all English 101 classes, is 82% with a (2.8) avg. grade March 3, 2014 Barton and Gorland, NSCC 6

7. Results: Persistence 63% of College Bridge students have enrolled in and passed additional college level courses after completing English 101 20% of all ESL level 5-6 students passed any college level courses (2005-2012 data) March 3, 2014 Barton and Gorland, NSCC 7

8. Student Comments – Winter 2013 English 097/098 class was the biggest challenges for me the first time because it was a big jump up after I finished ESL classes. All assignments which were writing and reading took so much time to finish them; however, everyday works made me improve so much! I had an interesting experience in English 97/98, which was different from ESL classes... I had to write between 3-5 pages for each assignment. That required writing many details and having good vocabulary to enrich our writing with the meaning. However, our ESL support class helped me by knowing easy ways to understand the essays, giving me valuable feedbacks, and checking my grammar. Because of my class, I did not find any lesson or assignment difficult. ESL support class helped me to easily understand the essays, know how to read quickly, and get some direction to organize my time. Moreover, my ESL instructor was always there to help me in improving my writing by giving me feedback for each assignment. That helped me to correct my grammar and smoothing my writing. March 3, 2014 Barton and Gorland, NSCC 8

9. Teacher Comments – Fall 2012 Steve Quig, English 097/098 Instructor, Fall 2012 Strengths …I would say that my College Bridge students did as well as my other English 097/098 students--in some cases, better. When I entered the classroom every day, the CB students would already be there (having their support class in the same room the hour before), filling the front seats of the room. The CB students were probably more highly motivated to do well, too, and happy to be in English 097/098. That can’t be said for all 97/98 students at the beginning of the quarter since most would rather be in English 101, of course. Challenges A few of the CB students had rather weak writing skills and this was a challenge throughout the quarter. Their writing abilities weren’t always up to the writing tasks expected of them. A few were, at least initially, a bit nervous about being in a large diverse class such as ours. I think the seating arrangement helped them in some ways to be not so nervous, but it also isolated them in some ways with less interaction with the rest of the students, at least initially… Another challenge for the CB instructor is the extra time needed to facilitate the program—before, during, and after the quarter. It’s not a huge commitment, but it’s more than it would be for a normal 097/098 class. I suppose if an instructor is not involved in the selection process, then there would be much less of a commitment. March 3, 2014 Barton and Gorland, NSCC 9

10. Teacher Comments – Winter 2013 Kaitlin McClanahan, English 097/098 Instructor, Winter 2013 Strengths The College Bridge students were very motivated and much more vocal than the rest of the class. I could depend on them to ask questions and participate in class discussion. What was most impressive to me was the sense of responsibility they felt for one another's understanding. They were constantly discussing things with one another during breaks and before and after class. Challenges I think the most difficult thing was watching a couple students struggle, despite help from one another and from having a second teacher. One student could not catch a break with home life obstacles, which made attendance sparse. Another student had such a hard time with word order and sentence structures that he needed much more time to fine tune papers and understand texts. It was hard to ask or require a student visit the Writing Loft in addition to having two classes. March 3, 2014 Barton and Gorland, NSCC 10