Acceleration: Re-Thinking the Delivery of Developmental

Acceleration: Re-Thinking the Delivery of Developmental Writing through ALP Patricia Bergh, Dean of Humanities Professors Laura Tobias, Michele Dunnum, and Jackie Knoll

Mott Community College (MCC) Located Open in Flint, MI admissions policy Enrollment: 10,269 (Fall 2013) 72% of students require developmental coursework (Fall 2012) 44% require one or more developmental writing classes (Fall 2012)

MCC’s Placement Process Most students take a placement test (Accuplacer) when they register (others are placed by transfer credit or ACT scores) Students scoring below a certain point write a short essay Based on the short essay, a student is placed into one of four writing classes:

MCC’s Developmental Writing Course Sequence ENGL 101: Freshman Composition ENGL 099: Basic Writing II ENGL 098: Basic Writing I ENGL 095: Writing Exploration

MCC’s Developmental Writing Course Sequence (cont’) Mandatory ENGL 095, 098, and 099 are pass/fail Courses A placement are sequential 2.0 (equivalent of a ‘C’) is considered “passing” for transfer purposes and as a prerequisite for the second semester composition course, English 102.

Retention and Success Problems in the Traditional 099-101 Route In a 2012 study of retention and persistence, we recognized a problem: In the traditional 2semester 099-101 route, we lose a lot of students along the way.

The Leaky Pipeline: The Traditional 099-101 Route (Fall ‘11-Winter ‘12) 500 400 300 200 100 0 252 490 73 238 165 73 92 t nt es es en e m m m o o lm l l l tc tc o o r r u u O O En En 9 1 9 1 9 0 09 10 0 1 r r ll e e t a t F in in W W # of students with a negative outcome # of students with a positive outcome

A new approach : CCBC’s ALP

An ALP section of English 101 17 seats for 101-ready students 12 seats for 099-ready students

Students Intermingle in 101 No distinction is made between the two groups within 101. The 101 class functions as any 101 would, with the same course outcomes and learning activities.

30 minutes after 101 ends, 099 begins The 099 section is tailored around the particular needs of the 12 enrolled students. The 12 099 students move as a cohort to their 099 class, with the same instructor.

Our Success Data The first 4 terms of ALP at MCC 3 sections in Winter 2013 1 section in Spring 2013 1 section in Summer 2013 4 sections in Fall 2013

ALP Student Success in 101 Of the 94 ALP students who were enrolled in ALP courses at the dates of record, 64 earned grades of 2.0 or higher in English 101. That is a success rate of 68%. ALP students Enrolled at Dates of Record 30 64 Earned 2.0 or higher in 101 Failed or Did not Complete the Course

Comparing ALP to Traditional Route ALP: 68% SUCCESS 30 64 Earned 2.0 or higher in 101 Failed or Did not Complete the Course TRADITIONAL 099-101 (FALL 2011-WINTER 2012): 18.7% SUCCESS 92 398 Passed 101 with a 2.0 or higher Failed or Did Not Complete the Sequence

CCBC’s Numbers A paper published by the Community College Research Center in 2012 shows that at CCBC, between the years 20072010, their successful rate of completion of English 101 for ALP students was about 75%, compared to 38% of students who took the developmental course the traditional way.1 1 Woo Cho, Sung, et al. “New Evidence of Success for Community College Remedial English Students: Tracking the Outcomes of Students in the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP).” Community College Research Center. Teachers College, Columbia University. December 2012. Web.

Classroom practices that contribute to this success Retention: Remind 101 Program to text updates, support, reminders, links to assignments and resources Virtual office hours at times students are typically working at home Community-building activities in class

Classroom practices that contribute to this success Support: Point out growth and triumphs often Involve students with each others’ writing Encourage students to support one another Model making schedule for completing work outside of class

Classroom practices that contribute to this success Reading and Writing Together: Reading Apprenticeship activities, such as Think/pair/share Think-Alouds Talking to the Text Double-column log reading responses

Classroom practices that contribute to this success Scaffolding: Short writing tasks breaking a paper assignment into parts Immediate feedback Help with higher order concerns, not just editing Mini workshops on aspects of composing, for ex., thesis development

Classroom practices that contribute to this success Scaffolding: Once a semester, spend 20-30 minutes on one student’s paper Initiate discussions of language and dialect differences, prestige forms Full-class workshops where students receive each others’ papers 5 days ahead of time Anticipate and prepare students for work coming up in 101

Institutional Support for ALP One of the most important keys is for all stakeholders– administrators, instructors, advisors, and students– to have a thorough knowledge and understanding of goals and structure of the linked courses.

Administrative Support for ALP Prepare for future pushback about smaller class size

Advising Support for ALP Effective advising– while the ALP works, it isn’t magic. Students must commit to be successful. Readiness for ALP isn’t always indicated by test scores; there is a work ethic required for success. Advisors aren’t always aware of these non-quantifiable qualities in students.

Our immediate plan to inform students and advisors about ALP Create a questionnaire for advisors and students to use for guided selfplacement-- to determine whether a regular 099 or ALP 099 is best for that particular student.

Detailed Grade Data W1 ALP W1 REG W2 ALP W2 REG W3 ALP W3 REG Sp ALP Sp REG Su ALP Su REG Numb er of grades given 11 11 7 11 10 11 7 12 7 15 Averag e grade 3.27 3.04 2.21 2.18 2.45 3.22 3.78 2.58 2.5 3.16 F1 ALP F1 REG F2 ALP F2 REG F3 ALP F3 REG F4 ALP F4 REG Numb er of grades given 7 9 8 12 7 11 10 11 Averag e grade 1.64 2.5 2.06 3.2 1.86 2.32 2.4 2.68

Comparing ALP students to “regular” 101 students Taking the 9 sections as one group, the average grade for the 81 ALP students who transcripted number grades in 101 is 2.28, and the average grade for the 103 “regular” 101 students who transcripted number grades in those same sections of 101 is 2.78. So the ALP students are averaging about .5 below the regular 101 students.