2014 Best Practices Exchange
Achieving Success— from Boutique Interventions to Institutional Transformation
October 28, 2014
McGavick Student & Conference Center (Building 23)
Clover Park Technical College, Lakewood
Agenda
9:00 am
Welcome & Overview of the Day
9:15 am
Key Note Session
“How a Culture of Inquiry Can Help Your College Move the Needle on Student
Success”
Dr. Rob Johnstone, National Center for Inquiry and Improvement
Dr. Johnstone will talk to us about how the education community needs to ask different questions as
we continue our progress towards improving student outcomes. He argues we have been too
focused on data itself, and he'll teach how to shift the focus of the questions we ask about student
learning.
10:30 am
Break
10:45 am
Concurrent Session 1
Breakout
Room A
“Start to Finish- New Students Progress Further and Faster”
Seattle Colleges: Carin Weiss, Vice Chancellor; Kim Manderbach, Dean for Student Achievement,
South Seattle College; Alice Melling, Associate Dean Student Success, North Seattle College; Jane
Muhich, Pathway to Completion Lead, Productive Persistence and Accelerated Math, Seattle Central
College; Math Faculty member, Seattle Central College;
Judy Reed, Director, Special Projects, Pathways Initiatives, Seattle College District; Paul Verschueren,
Seattle Central College
Start to Finish is a successful model created as part of the Pathway to Completion initiative
funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The model redesigns the first year
experience with high impact best practices including proactive advising, accelerated precollege math courses, and productive persistence. The first year results are promising—a
21% increase in new students completing the pre-college math sequence in one year, and a
13% increase in new students completing their first 15 credits in one year.
Breakout
Room B
“Using Data to Change the Developmental Sequence”
Bellevue College: Scott Bessho, English Co-chair and Assessment Coordinator, Assistant Dean for
A&H; Jin Wang, Arts & Humanities Program Assistant
This presentation will describe the process we used at Bellevue College to secure support
for changes in the placement of incoming students in English and for the establishment of an
accelerated composition sequence. Although some background and results are included, the
focus will be on how we accomplished this rather than what we accomplished.
Breakout
Room C
“C2C: Collaboration to Completion”
Walla Walla Community College: Kristi Wellington-Baker, Director of Student Retention
Session participants can expect an engaging dialogue identifying specific strategies known to
impact student momentum and completion built on a foundation of collaborative
relationships. The session will include a facilitated discussion engaging participants in the
process of developing framework for moving forward with a completion agenda at their
respective institution.
12:00 pm
Lunch & Networking
1:00 pm
Concurrent Session 2
Breakout
room A
“Culture SHIFT Happens”
Tacoma Community College: Kim Ward, Associate Dean for Transitional Studies; Bekah
Townsend, Faculty, Basic Education for Adults; Alisa Ulferts, Faculty, Developmental English; Lisa
Wilmot, Faculty, Developmental English; Rachelle McGill, Faculty, Developmental English; Lee Sledd,
Faculty, English as a Second Language
At TCC we transformed pre college education, starting with a new model grounded in the
seven principles of acceleration from California’s Acceleration in Context (AIC). Our
changes ultimately led to a shift in our institutional culture- and a substantial increase in the
percent of pre-college students who transition to college-level courses. Come hear about
our journey: what worked, what didn’t…and explore ways to transform the educational
culture on your campus that lead to evidence of deeper learning.
Breakout
room B
“IBEST and Transition Strategies to Boost Student Achievement”
Peninsula College: Brian Walsh, Associate Dean of Basic Skills and Corrections; Bruce
Hattendorf, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences
Peninsula College boosted SAI points per students over several years by focusing on
completions, IBEST and transitions. Learn the specific strategies that the college has used to
increase its SAI attainment.
Breakout
room C
“Individualized Pathways, Unified Goals”
Bellingham Technical College: Christopher Zwolenski, Director of Academics and Basic Skills;
Matthew Bryant, Advisor
Bellingham Technical College (BTC) has some of the state’s highest rates in transitioning
Basic Education for Adults (BEdA) students. This presentation will discuss BTC’s successes
in transitioning students in BEdA coursework into college-level education and
professional/technical programs. We will investigate both the structural and curricular
changes made to accomplish these increased transition rates.
2:15 pm
College Team Time/Guided Mentoring
3:30 pm
Closing
Reflection Questions:
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What is one transformative thing you learned today?
What is one question or challenge about collaborative leadership/achieving scale in the
context of your institution that you are now thinking about?
What is one “next step” you and your team might take in terms of making substantive
change at your institution to improve student outcomes?