Developmental Education
Redesign in Colorado
Community Colleges
CACTA 2014
The problem
“The more levels of developmental courses a student
needs to go through, the less likely that student is to
ever complete college English or math.”
- Thomas Bailey (2009) CCRC Brief.
Traditional Colorado Course Sequence
MAT 030
ENG 030
REA 030
ENG 060
REA 060
ENG 090
REA 090
MAT 060
MAT 090
MAT 099
Current course completion
Course
2010-2012: 3 year average
ENG 030
61.6%
ENG 060
63.2%
ENG 090
63.5%
REA 030
64.0%
REA 060
68.1%
REA 090
63.8%
MAT 030
60.8%
MAT 060
66.3%
MAT 090
60.1%
MAT 099
57.9%
Total Average
62.9%
Why high attrition rates are a
structural problem
 For students who place two levels below a college course
there are 6 “exit points”
 Do they enroll in the first course?
 Do they pass the first course
 Do they enroll in the next course?
 Do they pass the second course?
 Do they enroll in the college-level course?
 Do they pass the college-level course?
 Students placing three levels down have 8 exit points.
Why high attrition rates are a
structural problem
 Do they pass the first course
 Do they enroll in the next course?
 Do they pass the second course?
 Do they enroll in the college-level course?
 Do they pass the college-level course?
63% x 80% x 63% x 80% x 63%
.63 x .8 x .63 x .8 x .63 = 16%
63%
80%
63%
80%
63%
A Colorado Example
Number of Students Who:
Number
of
students
enrolled
in ENG
030 fall
2010
537
Enrolled
in
ENG030
Fall 2010
Complete
d ENG030
Fall 2010
Enrolled
in
ENG060
Complete
d ENG060
537
308
274
176
145
57%
51%
38%
27%
Enrolled
in
ENG121
Complete
d ENG121
106
83
53
20%
15%
10%
Enrolled in Complete
ENG090
d ENG090
The Context
 National dialogue on developmental education within the
Completion Agenda
Collaborative effort CDHE, Complete College America (CCA) $1.0
million dollar grant, and CCCS
 History of foundation funding (Lumina, Breaking Through,
Scaling Up, OVAE, Bridges to Opportunity)
 Round One TAACT grant, designating $5.1 million for
developmental education redesign
Creation of a task force
 College representation
 Faculty + others (student services, administration, testing,
advising…)
 Charged with creating policy for the system
The goal of the redesign
.
A developmental education redesign that will move
students quickly and effectively (and successfully)
through their first college level course.
National models considered
 Washington State - iBest
 Tennessee – emporium
 Los Medinos - acceleration in math
 Community College Baltimore County - ALP
 Chabot College – Integrated reading and English
 University of Texas - new mathways
 Austin Peay State - mainstreaming
February 2013
CCCS Board approves the
Task Force recommendations
To accelerate students by reducing the amount of time,
number of developmental credits, and number of courses
in the developmental sequence so students can have access
to and be supported for success in a college level course.
What “Redesign” looks like
 Math – pathways at the developmental level
 Algebra
 Non-Algebra (statistics and math for liberal arts)
 Non-transfer (career math, clinical calculations)
 Mainstreaming with supplemental instruction when possible
 College Composition and Reading (formerly reading and
English)
 Integrated disciplines
 Options for delivery (CCR 092 0r CCR 093 or CCR 094)
 Mainstreaming when possible
 Tiers of student support in classrooms
Testing
New placement tool is at least a year out
 Working with Pearson but also exploring other vendors
 Developing a specification list to post as an RFP
 PARCC
Student support
 Use CCCSE practices
 Orientation
 Goal setting and planning
 No late registrations
 First year experience
 Student success course
 Tutoring
 Supplemental instruction
 Case management/academic advising/career coaches
 College develop a plan to use for planning, initiating, and
sustaining success for developmental students
Overall Strategies
 Courses embody specific principles
 Acceleration
 Mainstreaming
 Contextualization
 Career Pathways (Programs of Study)
 Integration of English and reading
 Placement
 New test, aligned with curriculum
 Non-cognitive questions
 System administrator for norming and for consistency of testing policies
 Student Services—CCCSE plan of promising practices
 Professional development for faculty and staff
 Plan for ongoing assessment built into model
Before
Math
 All students in college algebra track
 Four course, four semesters, 13 credits in MAT
English and Reading
 Three courses, three semester, 8 credits in ENG
 Three courses, three semesters, 8 credits in REA
 Courses taught separately
After
Math
 Students choose math pathway based on career
choice—algebraic literacy with path to college
algebra, quantitative literacy with path to
statistics, math for liberal arts, or career math,
 One developmental course before the college
level course for most students
 Some students mainstreamed into college level
course with just-in-time remediation through
support courses
English and Reading
 Composition and reading integrated into one
course
 One developmental course before the college
level course
 Many students mainstreamed into college level
course using the ALP model
Before
After
Student Services
 Many distinct, unconnected services made
available for students
Student Services
 Services provided to students within the
framework of a plan —intentional intervention
Testing
 Test not connected to Colorado content
 Local administration of tests—different policies
about number of times, cost etc
 Placement determined only by content questions
Testing
 Content aligned to course taught at Colorado
community colleges
 System level administrator to allow norming of
test and consistence of testing practices
 Addition of non-cognitive questions to content
questions
Measures of success
Successful developmental students and programs should be
measured in the following ways:
 In Math – Successful completion of any college level (100+)
math course
 In English and Reading – Successful completion of any
college level (100+) English course or any college level
discipline strands course.
 Cohort tracking – how many are completing college courses?
Implementation teams
 Core implementation team
 Faculty
 Focused on curriculum, content, training, and professional
development
 Redesign advisory process
 Administrative (Banner, fiscal, advising, financial aid)
 Testing – faculty for content. Testing center directors when
we have a platform to experiment with.
Timeline
 Spring/summer 2013: discipline team developed curriculum




and created professional development training for faculty
and staff
Fall of 2013: schools who were already working on redesign
ramped up projects
Spring 2014: all colleges transition to the new models
PCC, TSJC, NJC, CNCC, LCC, and OJC are in full
implementation for spring 2014
Fall of 2014: all colleges will be operating with the new
models in place
Places to go and people to see for
more information
 DE site http://www.cccs.edu/developmental-
education/index.html
 Weebly http://cccscoetc.weebly.com/
 D2L shells
 For Math go to https://ccd.desire2learn.com/ The username is “math” and the
password is “31415161” to access the course. Once there, use the drop down at
the top of the screen to choose the CCCS Developmental Math Resources.
 For College Reading and Composition (CCR) go to
https://ccd.desire2learn.com/ The username is “english” and the password is
“31415161” to access the course.
 College Departments
 CCCS Contacts
Contact us…
Casey Sacks
casey.sacks@cccs.edu
720.858.2841
Bitsy Cohn
bitsy.cohn@cccs.edu
720.858.2883
Elaine DeLott Baker
elaine.baker@cccs.edu
720.858.2807
Marilyn Smith
marilyn.smith@cccs.edu
720.858.2328
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Online Energy Training Consortium is licensed under a Creative
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scope of this license may be available at www.cccs.edu.