academic success first-time/full-time students fall 2008, 2009 and 2010 concurrently enrolled in...
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Academic Success
First-time/Full-time StudentsFall 2008, 2009 and 2010
Concurrently Enrolled in English and Select Courses
Background to the Study
• College History– Late 1970s
• Restrictions upon enrollment– Dependent upon type and number of developmental courses– Reading and writing developmental placement
» Restrictions to largely performing arts courses
– 1990s• Change in state funding criteria
– Open enrollment– Regardless of developmental placement
» Especially in Humanities and Social Sciences
The Study
• Appreciate the support provided by the Faculty Research Program to allow for the study
• Appreciate the support of Institutional Research for providing the data
• Appreciate the support of numerous colleagues with whom I have spoken
The Study
• Assess the success rates of students– Concurrently enrolled in English and– Select General Education Courses
• Judged as Reading Intensive through their outlines– Anthropology– History– Philosophy– Political Science– Psychology – Sociology
The Data
• Student anonymity assured• Faculty anonymity
– All course data comingled by discipline
The data sets
• Three cohorts– 2008, 2009 and 2010
• First-time fulltime
– Represents some duplicate head counts• Some students may be enrolled in more than one Gen
Ed course
The data SetsOnly those students co-registered in select credit courses
– Fall 2008• N=904
– 15 students in English 050– 74 students in English 060– 815 students in English 111
– Fall 2009• N=940
– 14 students in English 050– 108 students in English 060– 26 students in English 070– 792 students in English 111
The Data Sets
– Fall 2010• N=
– 39 students in English 050– 236 students in English 060– 195 students in English 070– students in English 111
» Ambiguous
The data sets
• English 050– N is small for all years– Statistically unreliable
• English 070– N is small for 2009– Statistically unreliable
• Solid sample sizes– English 060– English 111
Accuplacer PlacementReading Sentence Skills →
Comprehension ↓ Write ↓ 0-57 58-82 83+
20-61
1-2ENGL 050 * ENGL 050 * ENGL 050 *
3-4ENGL 050 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 *
5ENGL 050 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 *
6+ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 *
62-82
1-2ENGL 050 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 *
3-4ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 *
5ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 111 w /ENGL 070 *
6+
ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 Recommend ENGL 070 * ENGL 111
83+
1-2ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 *
3-4ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 *
5ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 Recommend ENGL 070 *
6+
ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 Recommend ENGL 070 * ENGL 111
Percentage of FT/FT StudentsDevelopmental Courses
• English 41% N=533• Math Computation 10.3% N=134• Elementary Algebra 52% N=676
Remedial EnglishCourse Enrollment Data
• Fall 2011– English 050
• 98 students
– English 060• 362 students
– English 070• 329 students
• Spring 2012– English 050
• 28 students
– English 060• 229 students
– English 070• 257 students
The Reference Points• Using English 111 and Success Rates in Gen Ed
courses as base reference points– Contrast student success rates
• Placed in English 050• Placed in English 060
• Grade determinants– Successful
• Grade of C or higher
– Unsuccessful• Any grade below or C including course withdrawal
English 111/Fall 2008Write down % success rate grade of C or better
Fall 2008-Grades earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 115 66 107 78 152 83 158 39 17
Total 815
N %• Successful 518 63.6%• Unsuccessful 297 36.4%
English 111/ Fall 2009
Fall 2009-Grades Earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 136 53 127 61 136 73 142 51 13
Total 792
N %• Successful 513 64.8%• Unsuccessful 279 35.2%
English 050 Fall 2008 Write down % success rate grade of C or better
Fall 2008—Grades earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 2 10 3 Total 15
N % Engl 111• Successful 2 13.3% 63.6%• Unsuccessful 13 86.7% 36.4%
The resultsEnglish 050 Fall 2009
Fall 2009-Grades Earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 2 2 1 10 1 Total 16
N % Engl 111• Successful 4 25.0% 64.8%• Unsuccessful 12 75.0% 35.2%
English 050 Fall 2010
Fall 2010—Grades earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 1 1 1 10 4 16 4 Total 37
N %• Successful 13 35%• Unsuccessful 24 65%
Observations/English 050• Despite the small N
– Very low success rate– Few grades above C+– Very high failure rate– Notable trend in Success Rate 25% to 35%
• Conclusion– Students concurrently enrolled in English 050 are not
likely to succeed• Consequences
– Demoralizing– Questionable use of College resources
English 060 Fall 2008 Write down % success rate grade of C or better
Fall 2008-Grades Earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 2 4 4 4 13 9 29 8 1 Total 74
N % Engl 111• Successful 27 36.5% 63.6%• Unsuccessful 47 63.5% 36.4%
English 060 Fall 2009Fall 2009 Grades Earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 7 6 10 15 17 15 31 6 1 Total 108
N % English 111
• Successful 55 50.9% 64.8%• Unsuccessful 53 49.1% 32.2%
English 060 Fall 2010Fall 2010-Grades Earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 14 5 25 11 34 29 68 24
N % Engl 111• Successful 89 42.4% N/A• Unsuccessful 121 57.6% N/A
English 070 Fall 2010 Write down % success rate grade of C or better
Fall 2010—Grades earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 15 6 18 16 34 31 53 25
N % Engl 111• Successful 99 47.6% 63.6%• Unsuccessful 109 52.4% 36.4%
Observations/English 060
• Dramatically different results– 2007, 2008 and 2010 vs 2009
• Large increase in the success rate for 2009• Unclear about causes
– Better First year experience– New institutional support programs– Margin of error, etc
• Hope that is 1 or 2 above
– Success rate still too low
Interesting Point of ComparisonEnglish Grade distribution
• English 111– Reference points for comparison– Different rubrics for developmental courses?
English 111 Academic Performance
Fall 2008A B+ B C+ C D F W I 122 102 181 84 79 24 116 55 18
Total 796 N %
• Successful 573 72.0%• Unsuccessful 223 28.0%
English 111 Academic Performance
Fall 2009A B+ B C+ C D F W I 136 53 127 61 136 73 142 51 13
Total 791
N %• Successful 568 72.7%• Unsuccessful 213 27.3%
Summary
Data from RVCC Fall 2003-05
Not all Academic Courses Alike
• Success Rates for English 1 students– Varies according to discipline
• Criminology 73% Successful• Psychology 59% Sucessful
• Success rates for lowest English proficiency– Varies according to the discipline
• Sociology 45%• Psychology 33%
Developmental English Academic Performance
Fall 2008• Successful 66 74.2% (36 “A”s and 30 “B”s)
• Unsuccessful 23 25.8%
Fall 2009• Successful 121 74.2% (58 “A”s and 63
“B”s)• Unsuccessful 42 25.8%
Observations
• Students enrolled in Developmental Courses– Very high success rate
• Much higher than success rate in Gen Ed courses
– Possible artificial grade inflation
• No C grade in 060• Grade assigned has bearing on next year placement• Need to track academic performance in Gen Ed courses
Conclusions
• Final grade in Developmental Course– Reflects status towards end of semester
• Final Grade in Gen Course– Reflects more summative grade averages
• Students enrolled in Gen Ed courses– By midterm have likely dug a deep hole
• Comments offered by students– “I don’t understand my grades in your course”
• Receiving high grades in my other classes, possibly English
Conclusions
• Departmental Perspective– Far too many unsuccessful students in our classes– Need the Spring grades for each cohort
• Those that took 050 and 060 in the preceding Fall semester
– Without taking a Gen Ed course listed above– Took a Gen Ed course in the preceding semester
Where do We Go From Here?
• Suggestions– Each department should have their grades analyzed– Online courses
• Many are nearly entirely dependent upon reading and writing
– Follow students in second semester to determine better the benefits of the developmental courses and institutional support
– Figure what the heck happened in 2009 for 060 students• Hopefully spot some institutional changes
– Analyze Fall 2010 cohort
Food for Thought
• The Accuplacer Score– Composite Measure of 3 different criteria
• Reading Comprehension• Writing• Sentence skills
– Is anyone of these a better predictor of student success?
Institutional Questions
• Given the enormity of our institutional commitment– Are our policies supportive of student success and
retention?– Are our policies making best use of our resources?
Institutional Questions
• What are our ethical obligations to students who arrive with English language deficits?
• Should we continue our open course environment in our Reading Intensive courses—that is no prerequisites?
• Should we institute prerequisites?• How do we inform students about the difficulty
of certain courses relative to their English proficiency? Do we inform them?
Institutional Questions
• Why is the College more restrictive when it comes to Math proficiency and Science courses?
• Why is the College more restrictive about English Literature courses and English proficiency?– In most cases, don’t college texts require the same if
not more reading proficiency? • What about online courses
– Nearly exclusively dependent upon reading• Little or no auditory reinforcement
Restricted Courses at Collin County Community College
Requires Completion of or English 1 Ready• BCIS-1305• BIOL-1406• BIOL-1407• CHEM-1411• COSC-1300• ECON-2301• ECON-2302• ENGL-2311• ENGL-2322• ENGL-2323• ENGL-2327• ENGL-2328• ENGL-2332• ENGL-2333• ENGL-2342
• ENGL -2343• GOVT-2301• GOVT-2302• HIST-1301• HIST-1302• PHIL-1301• PHIL-1304• PHIL-2303• PHIL-2306• PHIL-2307• PHIL-2321• PHIL-2371• PSYC-2301• SOCI-1301
Still more Food for Thought
• How do we provide students who enter with serious deficiencies a College-like environment that encourages them to continue?– Enrollment in select courses?
• What is the impact on the overall classroom by the presence of inadequately prepared students?
• There are many more questions but this is a starting point.
Data for 2007 Cohort
• Given the “mixed” results– Check the 2007 cohort for 060
N % Engl 111Successful 10 28.6% Data N/AUnsuccessful 25 71.4%
• Food for thought– A– B– C– D