BASIC EDUCATIONAL SKILLS
Department-sponsored services
Area of Service
Served
Department-Sponsored Staff Development Activities
Activity Type
Topic
Date
Total
Adjunct Informational and developmental meeting held by the Adjunct
Supervisor
11/16/2011
10
CATW Professional Development Workshop
10/12/2011
17
CATW Professional Development Workshop
10/26/2011
15
Adjunct Informational and developmental meeting held by the Adjunct
Supervisor
10/26/2011
15
Adjunct Informational and developmental meeting held by the Adjunct
Supervisor
12/7/2011
7
Adjunct Informational and developmental meeting held by the Adjunct
Supervisor
3/6/2012
10
Adjunct Informational and developmental meeting held by the Adjunct
Supervisor
3/7/2012
5
CATW Professional Development Workshop
3/7/2012
15
Adjunct Informational and developmental meeting held by the Adjunct
Supervisor
3/8/2012
5
Adjunct Informational and developmental meeting held by the Adjunct
Supervisor
3/11/2012
5
Working with Special Needs Students in the Classroom
3/21/2012
22
Nitty Gritty Grammar
4/25/2012
25
organized
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Work Type
Kitty
Bateman
Grants awarded (title,
awarding agency,
amount and period of
award)
Reference
“Culture and Literacies through Art for the 21st Century“, The
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), K. Bateman, M.
Edlin, P. Lannes,$495,000, 9/1/11-12/31/14.
Manette
Berlinger
Works
submitted/accepted/in
press or in progress;
works
reprinted/republished
Article: "Teaming up: Creating Successful Learning Communities
Partnerships" submitted to Thought & Action: The NEA Higher
Education Journal, currently being revised.
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Work Type
Reference
Two poems entitled “Open Admissions” submitted to Teaching
English in the Two-Year College,
one currently being revised.
"Teaming up: Creating Successful Learning Communities
Partnerships" submitted to Thought & Action: The NEA Higher
Education Journal, currently being revised for resubmission.
Manette
Berlinger
Service to department,
College, University,
community, and/or
professional society
Researcher, SWIG Project.
I have participated in the SWIG Project, directed by Prof.
Jean Darcy for three semesters. For the past year, I have
collaborated with Prof. T. Byas of the English Department in a
project entitled “From 225 to 225” which paired my BE-225 ESL
class with her EN-225 class which focuses on the theme of
Immigration/Migration. Using ePortfolio, our students shared their
personal narratives, contributed to each other’s work, and raised
their linguistic expertise as they deepened their understanding of
transformative experience.
Delegate to the Professional Staff Congress.
For the past two years I have served as delegate to the PSC
Delegate Assembly. I have concentrated my efforts on
campaigning for candidates who support CUNY such as Tony
Avela, and traveling to Albany to lobby State Legislators for
budget restoration and funding increases
Member, Awards and Scholarships Committee
Member, Personnel and Budget Committee, Department of Basic
Educational Skills
Member, Committee on Awards and Scholarships
(Correction of previous submission of Vendors Committee which is
this year)
Member: Department Curriculum Committee. I worked on the
development of new course offerings which integrate reading and
writing instruction, and revised course descriptions for all ESL
courses.
Member, Best Practices Committee which develops and presents
pedagogical innovations to our faculty.
Co-Director, Basic Skills Writing Contest, annual department
competition to acknowledge the best critical and creative writing
produced by Basic Skills Students in the previous year.
Co-Director, Basic Skills Writing Contest, annual department
competition to acknowledge the best critical and creative writing
produced by Basic Skills Students in the previous year.
Faculty Leader: The New York Times Reading Group. Facilitated
discussion of current events for students from all courses in Basic
Skills with aim of improving reading, comprehension and critical
thinking skills.
Member: CUNY Contemplative Practices Network. Participated in
monthly meetings to develop and implement contemplative
practices as a pedagogical tool for enhancing learning and
increasing comprehension of course material.
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Work Type
Manette
Berlinger
Conference, workshop,
training attended
Reference
Participant: CUNY Conference on Community Colleges with Dr.
Eduardo Marti
Participant: 4th Annual Conference on Acceleration in
Developmental Education, June 6 - 8, 2011, Baltimore, Maryland
This conference focused on methods of accelerating remedial
instruction in colleges across the country.
Julia
Carroll
Conference
Presentation, other
“Preparing ESL Students for REAL College Writing: A Glimpse of
Common Writing Tasks ESL Students Encounter at One
Community College” CUNY Best Practices Conference at La
Guardia Community College, October 2011
Julia
Carroll
Curriculum or
laboratory
development, workshop
conducted
Created and Wrote the BE207 Curriculum along with Cheryl
Comeau-Kirshner and David Rothman during the summer of
2011.
Julia
Carroll
Works
submitted/accepted/in
press or in progress;
works
reprinted/republished
I am currently on sabbatical working on an ESL textbook for
Advanced ESL textbook. I started this book during the fall
semester of 2011.
Julia
Carroll
Service to department,
College, University,
community, and/or
professional society
Member of the Cultural Archival Resources Committee 2010-2011Service to College
Member of the Curriculum Committee- Service to the Department
Reader for the Department Essay Contest
Service for the Community- PTA Board Member
Cheryl
ComeauKirschner
Conference
Presentation, other
Presented "Strategies for Teaching Summary and Paraphrasing in
the ESL Classroom" at
CUNY Conference on Best Practices in Reading/Writing Instruction
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Work Type
Margot
Edlin
Works
submitted/accepted/in
press or in progress;
works
reprinted/republished
Reference
Edlin, Margot A.; Liao, Ann, Ferdenzi, Anita. Accepted for
publication. Persistence at an urban community college: The
implications of self-efficacy and motivation. Community College
Journal of Research and Practice.
Edlin, Margot A.; Liao, Ann, Ferdenzi, Anita. Accepted for
publication. Persistence at an urban community college: The
implications of self-efficacy and motivation. Community College
Journal of Research and Practice.
Edlin, Margot A.; Liao, Ann, Ferdenzi, Anita. Accepted for
publication. Persistence at an urban community college: The
implications of self-efficacy and motivation. Community College
Journal of Research and Practice.
Edlin, Margot; Liao Ann, Ferdenzi, Anita. accepted for publication.
"International Students at an Urban Community College:
Motivation, Self-Regulated Learning Efficacy, and Academic
Achievement." Community College Enterprise. expected date of
publication Fall 2012.
Margot
Edlin
Service as a
reviewer/editor/
consultant
reviewed Sweet, Chae (2012. Novel Strategies: A Guide to
Effective College Reading. NY: Pearson.
Margot
Edlin
Grants awarded (title,
awarding agency,
amount and period of
award)
recipient of Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
National Leadership Dissemination Grant. Conferrred September
2011.
Margot
Edlin
Conference
Presentation, other
Webinar presentationfor Innovative Educators on Learning
Communities for Developmental Students. May 6, 2011.
Presentation on the results of a pedagogical research challenge
grant entitled "Using Visual Thinking Stratgeies to Improve the
English Language and Critical Thinking Skills of ESL
Developmental Students" at the 2011 CUNY General Education
conference at York College, Jamaica NY, May 13th 2011.
Emily
Gordon
Service to department,
College, University,
community, and/or
professional society
Region 1 Scholarship Chair for American Mensa: recruit, train and
supervise local scholarship chairs for the New England area;
organize and lead 2nd tier scoring of essays passed on from the
local level; analyze and report results to the National Chair for
final judging
Wilvena
Gordon
Select Work Type
nothing to report
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Work Type
Susan
Hock
Select Work Type
Reference
This past spring, my BE112 class worked on a service learning
project with Dr. Rochford's BE205 class. Both classes worked on a
brochure for The Queens Historical Society.The students read,
analyzed and responded to literature about The Moore Jackson
Cemetery, a historical landmark in Queens.They visited the
cemetery and wrote summaries and reaction pieces about the
cemetery. All of these content based assignments helped prepare
them for the CATW. Dr. Rochford and I plan to write an article
about this project; we received IRB approval.
Kurnit
Jeff
Select Work Type
Nothing to report
Arlene
Kemmerer
Grants awarded (title,
awarding agency,
amount and period of
award)
Arlene Kemmerer, Sharon Ellerton, Lorraine Cupelli. 2011
Queensborough Community College CUNY Pedagogical Research
Challenge Awards: Scaffolding Peer Mentoring Across the
Curriculum for Anatomy and Physiology Students.
Arlene Kemmerer, Sharon Ellerton, Lorraine Cupelli. 2011
Queensborough Community College CUNY Pedagogical Research
Challenge Awards: Scaffolding Peer Mentoring Across the
Curriculum for Anatomy and Physiology Students.
Arlene Kemmerer, Sharon Ellerton, Lorraine Cupelli. 2011
Queensborough Community College CUNY Pedagogical Research
Challenge Awards: Scaffolding Peer Mentoring Across the
Curriculum for Anatomy and Physiology Students.
Arlene
Kemmerer
Works
submitted/accepted/in
press or in progress;
works
reprinted/republished
Kemmerer, Arlene,Pantaleo, Josephine, and Vogel Rosanne.
Turning Students on with High-Impact Strategies. The Power of
Partnerships: Transforming Students and Communities through
Service Learning. 2011 NYMAPS Symposium. Working Paper
Series Vol.1. Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service,
the City College of New York, 2011
Arlene
Kemmerer
Conference, workshop,
training attended
CUNY’s 10th Annual IT Conference at John Jay College of Criminal
Justice, New York, December 2, 2011.
Using Reflection Activities in Your Classes at Queensborough
Community College CUNY. Center for Excellence in Teaching and
Learning (CETL) workshop on Reflection, Feb.25, 2011.
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Work Type
Cary
Lane
Works
submitted/accepted/in
press or in progress;
works
reprinted/republished
Reference
Authored amended article and reading comprehension questions
for the passage “Formation of the Finger Lakes” in the textbook:
Rochford, R. & Pantaleo, J. (2012). Test Taking Tips for the ACT
Reading Compass Exam and Practice Reading Passages, 3rd ed.
(pp. 57-59). New York: Pearson Publishing.
Authored amended article and reading comprehension questions
for the passage “Biofuel, Partly from Nuts, is Tested on an Airline
Flight” in the textbook:
Rochford, R. & Pantaleo, J. (2012). Test Taking Tips for the ACT
Reading Compass Exam and Practice Reading Passages, 3rd ed.
(pp. 73-75). New York: Pearson Publishing.
Cary
Lane
Lecture (Invited)
• Learning Impacts of Effective Note-Taking in Biological Sciences.
Faculty Presentations of Pedagogical Research: Recipients of
Pedagogical Research Challenge Awards Present the Results of
Their Work. Queensborough Community College, 10/11
• Promising Models In Developmental Education: Information
Literacy as a Basis for Improving Basic Skills; The January
Convocation of the College, “Are We making a Difference: Using
Research to Inform Practice,” Queensborough Community
College, 2/11
• Information Literacy: Practicum in Combing Reading and Writing
Skills. Best Practices Committee Think Tank, Department of Basic
Educational Skills, Queensborough Community College, 2/11
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Work Type
Cary
Lane
Service to department,
College, University,
community, and/or
professional society
Reference
• Consultant, SEEK Department, John Jay College of Criminal
Justice, CUNY; 5/11 -- present
o Lead an ongoing series of faculty development workshops for
instructors and tutors in John Jay’s SEEK program. The
development is focused on implementing improvements and
changes in texts used, pedagogical practices,
assessment/prescriptions and curriculum development.
• Assessment Committee, Department of Basic Educational Skills,
Queensborough Community College; 9/10-present
o Created course assessment module for BE 121. 11/11
o Compiled and implemented BSLC online reading recitation
module. 10/11
o Created and implemented reading prescription sheets
correlating with TerraNova assessments
o Sub-committee on choosing new reading assessment
instruments for BE 121, BE 225, BE 122, BE 226.
o Participated and spearheaded creation of standardized grading
rubrics for BE 121, BE 122. 3/11
o Created and implemented prescription sheets for BE 121, BE
122, BE 226, BE 226; coordinated their use in the Basic Skills
Learning center.
o Vetted and purchased new reading assessment instruments for
the department
• Curriculum Committee, Department of Basic Educational Skills,
Queensborough Community College, 8/11 – present
o Co-authored permanent learning objectives and outcomes for
BE 121. 11/11
Cary
Lane
Grants awarded (title,
awarding agency,
amount and period of
award)
Pedagogical Research Challenge Award: Learning Impacts of
Effective Note-Taking in Biological Sciences, 1/11 -- $15,000
Jennifer
Maloy
Works
submitted/accepted/in
press or in progress;
works
reprinted/republished
“Towards an Avant-Garde Composition: Merging the Creative and
Critical in the First-Year Writing Classroom.” In the Line-Up:
Creative Writing and College Composition, Eds. Jennifer Maloy,
Stephanie Wade and Elizabeth Weaver (work in progress).
Maloy, Jennifer and Kerri-Ann Smith. Writing Identities: A
Textbook for Developmental Writers. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt
Publishing, 2012 (work accepted).
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Nancy-Laurel Pettersen
Work Type
Reference
Conference
Presentation, other
Conference presentation
Presenter, University Faculty Senate Conference on Higher
Education in the Prison. CUNY Grad Center. February 2011.
Regina
Rochford
Conference
Presentation, other
Effects of Service Learning on Remedial Reading and Writing
Students. CUNY Gen Ed Conference at York College, May 13,
2011.
Regina
Rochford
Works
submitted/accepted/in
press or in progress;
works
reprinted/republished
Rochford, Regina, A. (in press). An analysis of the effects of
service learning on remedial reading and writing students. Journal
of Community College Research and Practice.
Regina
Rochford
Curriculum or
laboratory
development, workshop
conducted
Designed an Intersession Immersion Workshop for BE121and 225
students to prepare BE225 learners for the ACT Reading Compass
exam. (January 2011, June 2011) (Pantaleo and Rochford)
January 2011 pass rate was 72% and June 2011 was 66% on the
ACT Reading Compass exam.
Designed and implemented innovative a Summer Immersion USIP
workshop for BE-225 and BE-201/203 Students. (Pantaleo and
Rochford) Summer 2011
Developed and refined curriculum with Biology Department for BI115 Introduction to Biology for Science Majors (Summer 2009 –
Spring 2011)
Worked with Dr. Raji Subramaniam in BI-115 to provide support
to students who experience difficulty reading the Biology textbook
and making notes in the new BI-115 course.
Regina
Rochford
Conference, workshop,
training attended
As a member of the CUNY Wide IRB, I participated in IRB
Educational IRB Webinar at CUNY November 17, 2011
As a member of the CUNY Wide IRB, I participated in IRB
Educational IRB Seminar at CUNY October 14, 2011
Regina
Rochford
Other
Applied for Pedagogical Challenge Grant: Improving Learning
Outcomes of Basic Skills Students through the Evaluation and
Implementation of McGraw-Hill Reading Assessments June 2011
(unfunded)
Applied for PSC-CUNY Grant Proposal to study The Impact of
Social Networks and Instant Message Usage by Community
College Students, submitted October 21, 2011
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Work Type
Regina
Rochford
Service to department,
College, University,
community, and/or
professional society
Reference
Made presentation at QCC with Paul Marchese entitled, The New
CUNY Wide IRBs: How will the change affect your human subjects
research: Timeline for the Change, IRBNET, and Downloading
Data from IRB Manager. Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011
Chaired the Queensborough Community College IRB from July
2011 - December 2011
member of the Committee on Committees at QCC
Member of the Academic Senate at QCC
Member of the Basic Skills P & B Committee
Chaired the Basic Skills Assessment Committee, 2010 - present
Member of the QCC IRB 2006 - December 2011
Deputy Chairperson of the Basic Skills Department 2006- May,
2011
Participated in New York Times Reading Group Student Sessions
in the Basic Skills Learning Center, Spring 2008- present
As Chairperson of the IRB has assisted many faculty members in
designing IRB applications: Ed Volchok, Amy Traver, Tirandi
Hermaj-Benny, Michael Guy, Jo Pantaleo, Sheila Beck.
David
Rothman
Service as a
reviewer/editor/
consultant
reviewed a new textbook for St Martin's Press. 'Teaching the
CATW Writing Exam'by Lawrence Berkeley.
David
Rothman
Works
submitted/accepted/in
press or in progress;
works
reprinted/republished
1. 2nd edition of a nationally marketed Pearson Reading skills
textbook, co-authored with Jilani Warsi was accepted and slated
for a February 2012 publication. The title is: Read to Succeed.
2. A lower-level Reading Skills textbook: Read to Achieve,
co-authored with Jilani Warsi was completed in 2011, and is
slated to be published in January 2013.
Jed
Shahar
Play
Produced/Performed
Designed sound and music for a version of The Bachhae
preformed at the Collapsable Hole, September 7 -17.
Jed
Shahar
Works
submitted/accepted/in
press or in progress;
works
reprinted/republished
Poetry collection, 6 Forms, under consideration at Insert Presse in
Los Angeles, Ca.
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Work Type
Jed
Shahar
Other
Reference
Co-edited and co-published Greetings 14, with Jeffrey Joe Nelson.
An issue of poetry and art magazine.
Jed
Shahar
Service to department,
College, University,
community, and/or
professional society
Conducted workshop on teaching grammar at department's Best
Practices meeting in Spring 2011.
Presented workshop on summarizing for the CATW at
department's Best Practices meeting in Fall 2011.
Kerri-Ann
Smith
Service to department,
College, University,
community, and/or
professional society
Faculty Cohort Group-Basic Skills across disciplines.
Department of Basic Educational Skills Curriculum Committee
Jilani
Warsi
Service to department,
College, University,
community, and/or
professional society
As director of a Title V Grant, a contractual agreement between
QCC and John Jay College of Criminal Justice to increase the rate
of graduation of non-native English speaking QCC students, I
collaborated with my colleagues at John Jay and achieved several
measurable objectives for the Year 2011. Through on-site and
online activities, JJC and QCC both continued to increase capacity
for tutoring NNES students. In addition to Joan Vaccari, an
experienced Basic Skills faculty and the John Jay College graduate
student, Katherin Higuera-McCoy, two more tutors were hired and
trained to help non-native-English-speaking students at QCC. The
new tutors are Brain Nemeth and Madiha Shamim and will be
providing service to the students until the end of September
2011. Together, these tutors provided 32 hours of service in the
spring and fall 2011 semesters.
In the fall 2011 semester, CELL prepared 108 Basic Skills students
for the CUNY ACT COMPASS reading test. These students were
given early test tickets so that they could exit from remediation
and take mainstream courses at QCC. Of a total of 108 students
who were eligible for the test and attended 1 of 4 3-hour reading
workshops taught by CELL tutors, 87 passed the standardized
CUNY tests. It should be noted that this was not a Measurable
Objective for the grant, but that we identified the students who
were eligible for the early tests at the beginning of the semester
and gave them the opportunity to retest.
In the Year 2011, CELL tutors provided 88 hours of service to 68
Hispanic students (see attached Excel file). Also, a file showing
total CELL usage by QCC students is attached.
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Work Type
Reference
In the spring and fall 2011 semesters, I organized several CATW
norming sessions with David Rothman for Basic Skills faculty. In
addition to these 6 CATW-related workshops, I invited John
Troynaski and Richard Pisciotta, Chief Readers from Queens
College, to speak to Basic Skills faculty in the fall 2011 semester
about preparing students for the CATW.
To keep Basic Skills faculty and BSLC tutors abreast of
cutting-edge research in second language acquisition and
pedagogy, I acquired several books.
I hired two additional tutors and trained them in ESL methodology
in the Year 2011. These tutors, Brian Nemeth and Madiha
Shamim, offered CATW workshops to Basic Skills students who
qualified for an early test in September 2011. The total number of
tutors who provided service to QCC students in the Year 2011
was 4.
I collaborated with Kate Szur and Christopher David on creating
online language sensitive advisement modules for non-native
English speaking students pursuing an academic career in forensic
science.
As director of the Title V Grant, I organized the 6th Annual
Colloquium on Second Language Acquisition in the Fall 2011
semester. This year’s lecture was entitled Teaching Speech to
English Language Learners and was given by Dr. Martin
Gitterman, Professor Emeritus at Lehman College and the
Graduate Center. The event was sponsored by the Office of
Academic Affairs.
I organized and participated in a panel discussion on
cross-cultural awareness and contrastive rhetoric in the spring
2011 semester. I spoke about the contrasting cultural values of
South East Asian countries and how they impede acquisition of
the English language for students from that part of the world. I
was joined by colleagues from the Foreign Languages Department
who shed light on the different ways Hispanic and ESL students
learn to read and write in their native language. 45 QCC faculty
members and administrators attended the panel discussion and
greatly appreciated learning about the areas of difficulty for
Chinese, Haitian, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Arabic
students in learning the English language.
In the fall 2011 semester, I offered panel discussions on peer
teaching and the art of leading a discussion. Faculty members
from the Departments of Basic Skills, Foreign Languages, Physics,
Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, and Business participated in the
panel discussions.
One of the Measurable Objectives of the Title V Grant was to
develop on-line faculty training modules and ESL help desk in the
Year 2011. I promoted faculty resources on QCC campus.
As a certified CATW reader, I read student appeals to the exam
and graded CATW exams at Queens College in the Year 2011.
I participated in a 2-day CATW workshop at John Jay College of
Criminal Justice in the summer of 2011, reading and reviewing
possible reading prompts for the CATW exam and rated student
responses to them.
I facilitated several New York Times reading sessions in the Fall
2011 semester and led discussions on current topics with small
groups of native and non-native English speaking students.
Individual faculty/staff professional activities
First Name
Last Name
Work Type
Reference
As a member of a Liberal Arts faculty cohort group, I evaluated
my ESL students' pre- and post-reflection essays using the
Integrative Value Learning Rubric in the Year 2011 and submitted
a report to Dean Cuomo.
I wrote a department action plan in the fall 2011 semester,
addressing four critical areas: personnel, philosophical and
pedagogical approaches, curriculum, and assessment. This report
included proposed structural changes in the curriculum and
focused on student-centered learning with the ultimate goal of
achieving timely remediation documented by measurable student
learning outcomes. Most of these goals were actively addressed
and achieved in the fall 2011 semester.
Jilani
Warsi
Conference, workshop,
training attended
Conducted CATW workshops with David Rothman in the Year
2011 to help Basic Skills faculty understand how to use the
analytical rubric to rate student papers.
Jilani
Warsi
Works
submitted/accepted/in
press or in progress;
works
reprinted/republished
Co-authored and submitted the final manuscript of Read to
Achieve: Gateway to Academic Reading to Pearson Education.
The book is slated to be published in December 2012.
Rothman D. & Warsi J. Read to Succeed: A Thematic Approach to
Academic Reading. 2nd Edition. Pearson Education (scheduled to
be published in 2012)
Curricular Changes - Course
Program Change
Course Number
Course Title
Semester
Comments
BE102
Developing Competence
in Reading, Writing, and
Study Skills
Developing
This experimental course used an
Competence in integrated skills approach and
Reading,
combined reading and writing. The
Writing, and
pass rate was more than 80%.
Study Skills
New Course
Personnel or organizational structure changes, newly developed projects
Changes
Dr. Jeffrey Kurnit retired in Fall 2011 and Ms. Kerri-Ann Smith and Dr. Jennifer Maloy joined the department in 2011.
The Text Committee was formed and expanded to compile a list of approved texts for each of the remedial reading and writing
sequences.
Equipment changes
Equipment Changes
Purpose
Semester
Evaluation
Resource changes
Other Resources Purpose
Semester
Resource Evaluation
Other changes affecting department
Departmental procedures for conducting assessment
The department has procured the TerraNova and TABE reading diagnostics to assess students' reading proficiency. To this
end, Professor Cary Lane has created prescription sheets for the various versions of the TerraNova and TABE to highlight
students' areas of strengths and weaknesses. The prescription sheets are made available to the Basic Skills Learning Center for
identified content reinforcement using all resources available: tutors, computer programs, single-skills websites and tutorials.
Dr. Jed Shahar has also created an analytic rubric to grade in-coming student essays. He has also created a department writing
diagnostic which is administered to give early test tickets to students enrolled in lower level courses.
In addition, the department conducted BE111 Assessment with the assistance of Dr. Jed Shahar, Dr. Regina Rochford, and Ms.
Emily Gordon. Overall, for the pretest the students scored an average of 49% and after the lesson the students scored an
average of 63%. That represents almost a 30% increase in performance. The pretest scores ranged from 46%-51% across
four sections, showing relative consistency across the sections. The post-lesson results had a much wider range across five
sections 57%-75% (it is worth noting that the section with 75% rate was the one without a pretest). The post-lesson range is
57%-65% if the outlier (section B) is removed. It should also be noted that removing the outlier (section B) lowers the
post-lesson results to a more modest but still not insignificant 56% (or 14% improvement in performance).
Dr. Shahar also looked at how many students scored all right or all but one right on both tests. Only three students out 84
(4%) satisfied the criteria before the test, but 23 out of 92 satisfied the criteria after the lesson (25%). That's a more than
six-fold increase. Even if the outlier (section B) is removed, there are still 18 out of 77 students showing mastery or near
mastery of the skill (23%) after the lesson. The results are very encouraging.
Departmental participation in self-study/program review
Program(s): Reviewed
Program Review Follow-up
Action Item
Timeline
Accomplishements
Course Objectives and Course Assessment
Results of certification exams, employer and alumni surveys, student surveys, advisory board
recommendations
Data Source
Results
Action Plan
Goals/objectives for year just completed
Goals
Strategic
Plan
Evaluation of achievement
Action Plan
Goals/objectives for year just completed
Goals
Strategic
Plan
Evaluation of achievement
Action Plan
True
Improve ACT Reading pass
scores
Exit statistics are not available yet. The
Continue faculty development and
department used TerraNova and TABE
use of TerraNova, Tabe and
exams to determine placement and
department writing diagnostic.
students’ readiness to take the ACT exam
and exit from remediation in an
accelerated manner. Ms. Josephine
Pantaleo and Dr. Rochford revised their
ACT Reading textbook in order to provide
new articles and test questions that
address the needs of students.
Furthermore, our active participation in
high-impact practices such as service
learning and SWIG benefit ACT scores.
Improve CATW writing pass
scores
Exit statistics are not available yet. Dr.
Shahar prepared a report comparing our
pass rates and CUNY pass rates in fall
2011and submitted it to President Call for
reference.
After having more hands on experience
preparing students for the CATW exam,
Dr. Rochford revised her textbook the
Keys to the CATW so that it fits the needs
of our students more closely. The new
edition was released in the Summer
2011. Ms. Kerri-Ann Smith and Dr. Maloy
are working on a textbook that can be
used in BE111, 112, and 205. It
integrates writing with readings
resembling those on the CATW and asks
students to perform writing tasks that
prepare students for the CATW. Several
faculty members used the New York
Times on a regular basis to prepare our
writing students for the CATW exam.
Finally, our participation in SWIG,
learning communities, and service
learning projects all strongly benefit
CATW scores.
Dr. Shahar will continue to
compare QCC CATW pass rates and
CUNY pass rates for both ESL and
non-ESL students.
Goals/objectives for year just completed
Goals
Design and develop the CATW
materials to prepare students
for the new CUNY writing test.
Strategic
Plan
Evaluation of achievement
Action Plan
The CATW section on our department
website has been updated to include links
to CATW preparation materials from sites
across CUNY
In October 2011, David Rothman and
Jacqueline Pascarelli led a CATW exam
norming session for Basic Skills and CLIP
faculty as well as for our tutors. In March
2012, The Best Practices Committee
offered a workshop entitled, ‘How to
Teach the CATW Without Teaching for
the CATW’. This workshop offered faculty
members the opportunity t o share
successful classroom activities related to
this exam. During April 2012, the Basic
Skills Department volunteered to take
part in the Spring 2012 CATW new
prompt field-testing sessions. This ‘mock’
exam gave our students the opportunity
to practice for the CATW under ‘test-like’
conditions.
We have developed a number of new
CATW practice prompts and have put
them on our CATW link on our website.
Our department has gotten stricter about
only allowing faculty who have gone
through CATW training to teach the
upper level writing classes (where the
CATW is the exit exam). We have revised
our department final for our upper-level
writing courses to be in line with the
CATW exam. While in the past we would
administer these finals a week after the
standardized writing test, we have now
restructured and administered the final a
few weeks before the standardized
writing exam. This gives our faculty a
better sense of each student’s level of
readiness. An analysis of the writing final
can key instructors in on their students’
strengths and weaknesses so they can
better guide their writing students in the
final period before the CATW.
Since the CUNY Writing Test is still
relatively new, the department will
continue to offer several CATW
workshops every semester to the
faculty and tutors. The CATW
tutorials at the eResource Center
continues to be useful for both
faculty and students.
Goals/objectives for year just completed
Goals
Strategic
Plan
Evaluation of achievement
Action Plan
Apply for grants
Dr. Kitty Bateman and Dr. Margot Edlin
Basic Skills faculty will apply for the
received a grant jointly. Dr. Regina
Pedagogical Challenge Grant.
Rochford also applied for and received a
PSC-CUNY grant to examine the impact
of Social Media, text messages and IMs
on community college students when
they are in class, studying or doing
homework.
Cary Lane and Dr. Rochford applied but
were not funded a Pedagogical Challenge
Grant to examine the use of the
TerraNova exams to assess our students
readiness to exit from remediation.
Mentor Adjunct Faculty
Dr. Helene Dunkelblau, the Adjunct
Coordinator, held several meetings with
adjunt faculty in small groups and
individually. All adjunct faculty were
invited to all Best Practices professional
development workshops, all CATW
workshops and norming sessions.
Mentor new full-time faculty
Dr. Regina Rochford has mentored Dr.
As the department hires new
Jennifer Maloy to ensure that she meets full-time faculty, support will be
the criteria for tenure: service to the
provided to them.
department and the College, publishing
and teaching. Dr. Rochford is also helping
her write an IRB application. In addition,
David Rothman has been mentoring Ms.
Kerri-Ann Smith who is settling
comfortably into the department. Both of
these junior faculty members have
become leaders in the department’s
initiatives.
Faculty should become CATW
certified
We have encouraged ALL faculty
members, both full-time and adjunct,
teaching our upper level writing courses
to go through CATW certification training,
if they have not yet done so. We now
have two more certified CATW readers in
our department, Dr. Jennifer Maloy and
Ms. Margaret McConnell. Dr. Maloy has
been rating CATW essays at Queens
College on a regular basis since becoming
a certified reader.
The Adjunct Supervisor will meet
with the adjuncts in small groups
and individually to offer support
and guidance. Professional
development programs will be
offered to the adjuncts and the
Adjunct Coordinator will work
closely with them to help them
meet the curricular objectives of
the courses they teach.
Full-time and adjunct faculty
teaching upper-level writing
courses will be encouraged to pass
the CATW certification exam and
read CATW essays to familiarize
themselves with the new writing
test.
Goals/objectives for coming year
Upcoming Goals
Related Strategic Plan
Objective
Planned Method of Evaluation
Improve ACT reading pass scores
3.2
Diagnostic pre and post reading tests will be
administered and scores will be compared with
the ACT Compact reading test scores.
Goals/objectives for coming year
Upcoming Goals
Related Strategic Plan
Objective
Planned Method of Evaluation
Improve CATW writing pass scores 3.2
QCC Writing pass scores and CUNY pass scores
will be compared.
Design and develop the CATW
materials to prepare faculty and
students to prepare students for
the new CUNY writing test.
3.2
Several CATW workshops will be offered to Basic
Skills faculty and BSLC tutors.
Apply for grants
8.5
Basic Skills faculty will apply for grants to do
research on pedagogy.
Mentor Adjunct Faculty
3.2 and 3.1
The Adjunct Coordinator will work closely with the
adjuncts and offer support and guidance to help
them meet course-specific curricular objectives.
Mentor New full-time faculty
3.2 and 3.1
Support will be provided to new full-time faculty if
they are hired in the 2012 - 2013 academic year.