QUALITY FOCUS ESSAY #1: ACCELERATION AND INCREASING STUDENT SUCCESS
With the inception of the Basic Skills Initiative in 2006-2007, English and Mathematics faculty began the process of studying effective practices for increasing student success. Conference attendance, visits to college programs, and immersion in the literature, most especially the Center for Student Success and RP Group document Basic Skills as Foundation for Student Success in California Community Colleges, resulted in the inauguration of new courses. English offered a combined pre-transfer writing and reading class English 250/260P, and Math an eight week format for Pre-Algebra and a pilot summer boot camp. Over time, Math added Integrated Pre-Algebra, Algebra and Algebra II for Statistics as well as regular summer Boot Camps, and English developed a comprehensive acceleration model with increased units for first year composition combined with English 250/260P. As these academic models were being developed, Student Services began piloting grade point average placement.
The Basic Skills Student Outcomes Transformation grant set a new standard for acceleration, that students must complete a transfer level course within a sequence of three or fewer courses after enrollment. As Gavilan was moving forward to meet these goals, a new goal arrived in the form of AB 705, which set the standard of maximizing the probability that students complete a transfer-level course in English and mathematics within one year. In academic year 2017-2018, critical masses of Gavilan faculty attended professional development conferences and workshops in acceleration it order to be educated about how to accomplish the new goal; subsequently, faculty wrote additional curriculum, much of it for co-requisite courses. Faculty also developed support materials, which in English took the form of a manual for all aspects of accelerated instruction. At the same time, ESL faculty worked on compressing their courses and providing mirrored classes with Noncredit as strategies for meeting AB 705 goals. Finally, Student Services, in collaboration with Math and English, created a branching tool for student placement. Personnel were then put in place to begin evaluating transcripts for student placement. In short, Spring 2018 saw the beginnings of an integrated acceleration program.
Time is now needed to put the full program in place, both by increasing the numbers of transfer level sections, adding co-requisite classes to support the transfer-level courses, and fully replacing test-based assessment with multiple measures. 2018-2019 will see increases in transfer level classes and decreases in pre-transfer courses, including the elimination of unneeded course, increasingly larger cohorts of students placed through multiple measures; the first level of curriculum alignment; and the development of protocols for students who lack the materials for placement, such as transcripts. By 2019-2020 the acceleration program will be fully developed in accordance with AB 705 with a complete build out of transfer level and co-requisite classes and full use of multiple measures for student placement. Curriculum alignment will also be completed during this academic year. The next step in 2020-2021 is to assess the acceleration program to find where there are gaps in implementation, student progress, and forward mobility. This year will include research into best practices in preparation for adjusting existing practices and onboarding new methods. 2021-2022 will allow for implementation of the ideas gleaned from the program analysis. Finally, academic year 2022-2023, the five year mark, will be the time for a full scale analysis of the acceleration effort against the canvas of the work of the other 114 California community colleges. The expectation is that the learning arc will have at least kept pace with the previous five years, but in all likelihood would have exceeded what occurred in that time period, and that major changes will be called for.
In all, California acceleration calls for rapid changes in instruction and assessment, and building time for the new model to unfold as well as mechanisms to continuously assess the program should help ensure that student learning needs are met. The goal is to increase opportunities for students, and approaching that task deliberately with thought and care over a five year period gives Gavilan the best opportunity of achieving that goal.
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Spring 2018 |
● English and Math determine GPA placement scores ● Math writes co-requisite and accelerated courses ● English begins offering four unit accelerated English 1A ● Self-placement begins in CCC Apply |
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Summer 2018 |
● English/Math work on acceleration resources and handbooks ● Math Boot Camps/Refreshers offered ● High School Boot Camps implemented |
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2018-2019 |
● Offer additional transfer level Math courses Spring 2019 ● Offer additional transfer level English courses Spring 2019 ● Begin reduction of remedial courses Spring 2019 ● Begin GPA placement ● Begin curriculum, degree and certificate adjustments to reflect new placement standards ● Develop protocols for assessing students who lack transcripts |
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2019-2020 |
● Offer full transfer level English and Math classes ● Offer co-requisite courses for transfer level classes ● Use GPA placement for transfer courses and co-requisites ● Continue curriculum, degree and certificate alignments |
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2020-2021 |
● Assess student success in transfer level classes ● Investigate additional support mechanisms for transfer classes ● Assess effectiveness of GPA placement ● Develop supplemental placement protocols as needed |
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2021-2022 |
● Modify instructional programs as needed ● Modify assessment and placement as needed ● Implement appropriate tutoring, SI, peer mentoring, workshop, and other student support services ● Develop funding sources for transfer level support |
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2022-2023 |
● Conduct a full scale analysis of acceleration and placement ● Adjust curriculum as determined by study ● Adjust type/number of course offerings as needed ● Adjust placement levels as needed |