Expanding Minds • Changing Lives
Executive Summary
Background
were insistent in encouraging us not
to “tweak around the edges.” Board
members reiterated that approach in
conversations with the coaches during
their visits over the past four years
as part of STLCC’s participation in
Achieving the Dream. Likewise,
our data coach also encouraged us to
set realistic goals. Given the scope
of work we took on and the scale at
which we implemented changes, i.e.,
transforming the entering student
experience for all First Time In
College (FTIC) students, she suggested
that an increase of even one percent in
retention would be significant.
Increasingly over the past four years
and under the broad umbrella of
Achieving the Dream, STLCC has
used ATD as a catalyst for change,
focusing very intentionally on student
success. Through this work, STLCC
aligns with community colleges across
the country to advance overall student
success while maintaining access
and pursuing equity in educational
outcomes for students – especially for
underserved populations of learners.
STLCC has leveraged its efforts,
seeking to strengthen the entering
student experience and the transition
of students from develop-mental to
college-level work, with the immediate
goal of increasing retention and the
ultimate aim of enabling larger
numbers of students to achieve their
desired educational goals.
Celebrating Milestones
in Student Success
Thanks to the vision of the Board
of Trustees and its resolution in
2010 recommending that St. Louis
Community College apply to become
an Achieving the Dream (ATD)
institution, the college rose to the
challenge of developing strategies
designed to increase student success.
Through broad engagement, extensive
data analysis, ingenuity, problem
solving, and much team work, STLCC
has changed the entering student
experience, affecting nearly 13,000
students between summer 2012 and
fall 2013.
As STLCC developed our
implementation plan and set our goals
as an ATD institution, our coaches
After one year of full implementation
of our chosen strategies, the results are
in. Our work as an ATD institution
has already been truly transformative.
After several years of declining trends
in retention, STLCC is showing
positive results, including a three
percent increase in retention for FTIC
learners, exceeding initial expectations.
While we have miles to go before
we sleep, this positive direction in
retention and in other results tells
us that our efforts in addressing the
student success agenda endorsed
by the Board of Trustees are worth
celebrating.
Strategy Summaries
Included in this report are brief
summaries of each of the individual
strategies undertaken by the college
between 2010 and 2014 to improve
student success. Those strategies
include:
1. New Student Registration Workshop (NSRW)
2. New Student Orientation (NSO)
3. Smart Start: Student Success (STR:050)
4. First Four Weeks (F4W)
In addition to the four strategies above
that have been fully institutionalized,
we also agreed to take on an additional
body of work, namely the redesign of
developmental education. Since 2012,
we have made progress toward that
challenging goal. A brief summary of
our status in redesigning developmental
education is also attached.
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
1
Goals and Outcomes
To mark our progress in improving
student success, the college adopted the
five goals of Achieving the Dream, with
associated metrics.
Included in the information that follows
is an overview of data depicting the
college’s progress in addressing the five
ATD goals:
1.Successful completion of
remedial or developmental instruction and advancement to credit-bearing courses
(grade of C or better).
2.Enrollment in and successful completion of initial college-
level or gatekeeper courses in subjects such as math and
English (grade of C or better).
3.Completion of all courses with a grade of C or better.
4.Persistence from one term to the next.
5.Completion of a certificate or associate degree.
These goals align with many other
college initiatives, and the data
provided herein reflect information
from several different data sets (e.g.,
Performance Funding, National
Community College Benchmarking
Project, Missouri Completion Academy,
and others, all designed to measure
STLCC progress in improving student
success).
evaluation of the effectiveness of
those strategies.
• Advancement of the redesign of developmental education.
• Increased focus on retention and completion strategies,
including the engagement of
faculty and staff in the design
and implementation of academic
pathways (see related articles).
Conclusion
The Board has demonstrated timely and
courageous vision in requesting that the
college participate as an ATD institution
and in supporting the work of student
success. The college has worked
diligently over the past four years to
align its efforts (i.e., accreditation,
assessment and ATD) to advance the
student success agenda. Benefits
of participation in ATD include the
following:
• Student Success teams at the campus and district levels brought administrators, faculty and staff from across the college together
to review data, address challenges,
and work collaboratively to
identify strategies that promote student success.
• Achieving the Dream served as Next Steps
The college’s work on the student
success agenda is far from finished.
The focus for our second phase of that
work is as follows:
• Continuous improvement of the
four strategies that have been
fully implemented and ongoing
2
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
a catalyst for change at St. Louis Community College.
• Participation in ATD gave STLCC the opportunity to be part of a
high-profile, nationally recognized,
and rigorously data-informed
initiative with more than 200
community colleges participating.
• Participation in ATD gave STLCC the opportunity to be part of a national network of institutions
that have demonstrated success in
implementing high-impact practices and have courageously
addressed needs for substantial
institutional change.
• The cost has been minimal (now $10,000 per year) and participation has enabled us to access resources
that support our efforts in student
success and degree completion.
The end result is increased student success, and the promise of further
progress, as demonstrated in the
information that follows.
Achieving the Dream at STLCC:
Data Summary of Goals and Progress to Date
To mark our progress
in improving student success, STLCC
adopted the five goals of Achieving
the Dream as performance metrics
for student success. After a year of
extensive data analysis accompanied
by broad engagement on all campuses
(2010-11) and a year of planning
the strategies designed to improve
successful outcomes for students at
STLCC (2011-12), four initiatives
were fully implemented beginning in
fall 2012. While we focused primarily
on retention as a leading indicator for
student success and degree completion,
we continue to look at our performance
on data for all five ATD goals.
The data summary which follows
provides an overview of how STLCC
is progressing in improving overall
student success and degree completion.
Although some increases are modest,
the data generally indicate that the
college is reversing downward trends
and showing a positive direction in
advancing student success.
For context, it is important to note
that the ATD strategies – New Student
Registration Workshop, New Student
Orientation, and Smart Start – have
only been fully implemented since
fall 2012. Longitudinal results are not
yet available for cohorts of students
who participated in these experiences.
Additionally, the ATD strategies were
implemented just as the region began
to recover from the recession and
STLCC enrollment began to decline
Commit to Complete was an initiative of
Phi Theta Kappa.
significantly. The status of each
goal outlined below reflects initial
data analysis and, for the most part,
represents a reversal in data that were
trending negatively. However, all
results should be reviewed with caution
and within those important contexts.
For purposes of this report, successful
completion was considered a grade
of A, B, C or S (for courses graded as
satisfactory or unsatisfactory). “W”
grades indicate the student received a
withdrawal from the course – reason for
withdrawal was not analyzed.
Goal 1.
Successfully complete remedial
or developmental instruction and
advance to credit-bearing courses.
To date, only pilot strategies have been
implemented to impact developmental
education. However, our goal
in changing the entering student
experience was to impact the vast
majority of STLCC students who enter
the college in developmental courses.
Students enrolled in developmental
reading and/or English courses also
have been required to complete the
Smart Start course, one of our ATD
strategies. Thus, the intended outcome
was to see improvements in successful
completion of developmental courses
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
3
• Withdrawal rates from English 101 decreased from 16 percent
in fall 2011 to 13 percent in fall
2013.
Goal 3.
Complete courses with a grade of C
or better.
and decreases in withdrawal rates as
a result of the changes in the entering
student experience.
Status for Goal 1
•
•
Students successfully completed credit hours in developmental English and reading at a rate of
54 percent in 2011, compared to
57 percent in fall 2013.
Withdrawal rates decreased
from 17 percent in fall 2011 to 13
percent in fall 2013.
Goal 2.
Enroll in and successfully complete
gatekeeper courses in subjects such
as math and English.
Again, by changing the entering
student experience for all FTIC
students, our goal was to have an
indirect impact on other key indicators.
Also as part of the assessment work
that transpired over the past several
years at the department level, several
efforts – including an intensive
emphasis on effective classroom
strategies during the critical First
Four Weeks – targeted performance
4
of students in gatekeeper courses
(required courses with high enrollment
and high failure rates). Information on
gatekeeper courses was also provided
in 2011 to all deans, with a request
to support strategies to increase
performance in gatekeeper courses.
However, these efforts were in addition
to specifically designed ATD strategies
for entering students.
The data for overall performance
in selected gatekeeper courses
(specifically, English 101, Math 140
and Math 160) show an increase in
successful completion and a decrease
in withdrawals starting in fall 2012
and continuing in fall 2013. While
this trend is not seen in math 140 or
160, the developmental math sequence
was not paired with the Smart Start
course in the initial implementation
of the redesigned entering student
experience.
Status for Goal 2:
•
Students successfully completing English 101 with a C or better increased from 60 percent in fall 2011 to 67 percent in fall 2013.
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
Since the beginning of our engagement
as an ATD institution in 2010, we have
wrestled with the perception of student
success and with related definitions
and metrics. Although grades can
be an indicator of success and will
always be recognized as such, they
can never be viewed as the result of
a compromise of academic integrity.
Rather, they should always be viewed
within the context of other assessment
strategies for the institution. Every
conversation with faculty about
Achieving the Dream has emphasized
that standards should always be high
and consistent.
The student success team and the
college’s strategy implementation
teams also planned the changes in
the entering student experience with
the express purpose of ensuring
that students took seriously the
challenge of being a college student
and that they were better prepared
to do so as a result of the redesigned
entering student experience. We also
hoped to positively impact greater
numbers of minority students, who
are disproportionately represented
in developmental courses and the
entering student experience, through
the redesigned entering student
experience and participation in Smart
Start.
•
Data show districtwide progress
for three separate (but overlapping)
cohorts (all new, FTIC students;
minority students; students enrolled in
the Smart Start course) in successful
completion of courses since the
implementation of the ATD strategies.
It should be noted that the Smart
Start course was preceded by a nonmandatory college orientation course
that was phased out in 2012-13.
Status for Goal 3:
•
•
All new, FTIC students successfully completed (grade of C or better) nearly 50,000 credit hours of course work at a rate of
62 percent in fall 2013, up from 56 percent who successfully
completed over 56,000 credit
hours of course work in fall 2011. Withdrawal rates dropped
from 16 percent to 11 percent
during that same time.
Minority students successfully
completed course work (grade of
C or better) at a rate of 55
percent in fall 2013, compared
to 49 percent in fall 2011.
Withdrawalrates dropped from 18 percent to 12 percent for
minority students during that
same time.
Students enrolled in Smart Start
in fall 2013 successfully
completed courses (grade of C
or better) at a rate of 55 percent,
compared to a 50 percent
completion rate for those who
would have been required to
enroll in fall 2011 had the course
been available at that time.
Withdrawal rates dropped from
18 percent to 12 percent for
students enrolled in Smart Start.
Goal 4.
Persist from one term to the next.
After a year of evaluating data and
performance on a range of goals
and through a range of metrics, the
college focused very intentionally on
improving retention as its primary
metric for student success. The
consensus of opinion is that we were
“bleeding” students from fall to fall
at an alarming rate since 2008 (i.e.,
losing approximately one out of every
two students, a statistic very near the
national average), and that we had to
impact retention if we are ever going
to impact completion. The adage was
simple: If they do not stay, they will
not complete. Therefore, we leveraged
most of our efforts by redesigning the
front end (entering student experience)
of the overall college experience,
with a goal of giving students specific
knowledge and skills they would need
to have in order to be able to succeed
in college. Below are early indicators
that through this approach, particularly
including the implementation of
our four ATD strategies, STLCC is
actually producing a reversal in the
trend of declining retention rates. The
summary of results presented below
represents all new, FTIC students,
minority students, and Pell recipients.
Status for Goal 4.
•
•
•
Fall to spring retention rates
for all new, FTIC students has
increased from 70 percent in
2010-11, prior to strategy implementation, to 73 percent
for fall to spring 2012-13.
Fall to fall retention rates for
the 2013 cohort are not yet
available, although fall to fall
rates for the 2012 cohort
increased by 3 percent.
Fall to spring retention rates for
minority students in the first
time in college cohort has
increased from 66 percent in
2010-11 to 67 percent in 2012-13,
although the rate is still below
the retention rate for the
previous three cohorts (2008,
2009, and 2010). Fall to fall
retention rates increased 3
percent for the 2012 cohort.
Fall to spring retention rates
for Pell recipients in the first
time in college cohort has
increased from 70 percent in
2011 to 74 percent in 2013. Fall
to fall rates increased 4 percent
for the 2012 cohort.
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
5
Goal 5.
Earn a certificate or associate degree.
While it is too early to track results in
degree completion rates for cohorts of
students who have been impacted by
our Achieving the Dream strategies
(i.e., fall 2012 and fall 2013 FTIC
students), STLCC’s recent three-year
graduation rates are provided below as
context for future discussion.
Recent Graduation Rates
Cohort
6
Number of Graduates
3-Year Graduation Rate
Fall 2006
2,301
9%
Fall 2007
2,204
10%
Fall 2008
2,671
8%
Fall 2009
3,102
9%
Fall 2010
3,359
10%
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
Redesigning the Entering Student Experience:
Strategy 1
New Student Registration Workshop (NSRW)
Description:
New Student Registration is a
90-minute mandatory experience
for all First Time in College (FTIC)
students who have completed the
required steps prior to registration. It
consists of the following:
• Presentation on terminology, payment options, college
resources and services (30
minutes).
• Academic Advising to plan student’s first semester (15-20
minutes).
• Registration to introduce
students to technology and learn
how to register for classes.
The Original Goals:
Students will know and/or understand
the following as a result of this
experience.
• Know college terms, policies and
procedures related to enrollment.
• Understand the importance and
•
•
•
•
•
begin to create an academic plan
that allows them to attain their
personal and educational goals.
Have awareness of the college
resources and services available
to them on campus and where to
find those services.
Be prepared with basic
understanding of responsibilities
as a college student (arrive on
time, bring appropriate tools, respect others, pay for classes).
Understand the different payment options and their responsibility in
securing payment for their courses.
Understand the necessity of a
student ID card and activation of
their student email.
Be able to use technology to
register for courses.
The Facts:
NSRW Sessions Offered
Number of Sessions
No. of Students Who
Attended NSRW
Fall and Summer 2012
638
5,878
Spring 2013
348
1,692
Fall and Summer 2013
720
5,053
Spring 2014
267
1,318
1,973
13,941
Cohort
Total
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
7
Feedback Collected and
Data Analysis Conducted:
•
•
•
•
NSRW Exit Survey Fall 2012 –
Fall 2013 focused on the delivery of the NSRW experience.
NSRW Component Checklist used by two “Secret Shoppers.”
Student Focus Group (Data
analysis – January 2013).
ATD Strategies Faculty Survey Fall 2012.
Changes Made:
• PowerPoint updated as needed.
• Printed materials updated as
needed.
Continuous Quality
Improvement Process
2013-14:
The Academic Advising staff meets
throughout the year to discuss advising
issues, including NSRW. This year, we:
• Met with Institutional Research to
review and revise Goals and
Learning Outcomes.
• Refined original goals to be
written in terms that were
measurable.
• Reduced Learning Outcomes from
29 to four (see chart).
• Met with director of Curriculum
and Assessment to determine
measurable outcomes as defined
by Higher Learning Commission.
• Met with director of Online
Learning to share Goals and
Learning Objectives so online
services parallel face-to-face
services.
• Met with director of Technology
and Educational Support Services to explore enhanced scheduling software.
• Met with vice presidents of Student
Affairs to ensure consistency in
delivery and format, and that
opportunities were available for all
students to attend.
Strategy 1
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ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
Goals
Learning Outcomes
As a result of attending NSRW,
students will…
Specifically, as a result of attending NSRW, students will …
1. Express the importance
of and begin to create
an academic plan that
allows them to attain their
personal and educational
goals.
a. Identify their initial academic goals through conversation with an academic
advisor.
b. Recognize the role of the advisor in academic planning.
c. Connect their placement scores to their academic plan.
d. Recognize the need for determining a realistic course load by factoring in their
time commitments and expectations of college.
2. Relate college terminology a. Define college terms specific to registration.
and resources to
b. Identify the purpose of the catalog and credit enrollment guide.
registration.
c. Identify resources (e.g., advisors, degree audit, program/general education
checklists) available to assist them with their academic planning decisions.
3. Be able to use technology
to register for courses.
a. Use the MySTLCC ID wizard.
b. Understand the importance of the MySTLCC ID wizard.
c. Use the Interactive Class Schedule to look up courses for registration.
d. Use Banner Self-Service to register online.
e. Identify the importance of the Student ID/OneCard.
f. Understand the importance of regularly checking their STLCC email account.
4. Communicate their
responsibility in securing
payment for their courses,
books, and supplies.
a. Explain the different payment options.
b. Indicate the next steps required for their payment option to secure payment.
c. Recognize the repercussions of failure to pay.
d. Understand the repercussions of non-attendance after making a financial
commitment.
e. Know they need to buy their books before classes begin.
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
9
Strategy 2
Redesigning the Entering Student Experience:
New Student Orientation (NSO)
Orientation LIVE: Arrive and Thrive
Description:
Originally known as the New Student
Orientation and now known as
Orientation LIVE: Arrive and Thrive,
the redesigned entering student
experience includes a two-hour program
for First Time in College (FTIC)
students. These orientation sessions
introduce students to the individuals
and resources they will need when they
are in personal or academic jeopardy.
Orientation programs are the bridge
between the last stages of recruitment
and the first stages of retention.
Orientation LIVE: Arrive and Thrive is
an interactive experience led by student
leaders and offers a consistent student
success message at every STLCC
campus location.
Program Goals:
Students will know and/or understand
the following as a result of this
experience.
1.Understand the responsibilities of a college student at STLCC.
2.Become aware of the college
resources and services available on campus and where to find
those services.
3.Understand how to use the technology tools required of STLCC students.
4.Understand the importance of getting involved on campus as a tool to persist in college.
5.Know and understand how to navigate the college campus.
10
The Facts:
NSO Participation
Number of NSO
Opportunities
Number of Students
Fall 2012
57
2,663
Spring 2013
15
567
Summer 2013
1
37
Fall 2013
40
2,201
Spring 2014
13
270*
Total
126
5,738
Semester
*Overall number of participants was down due to inclement weather.
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
Feedback Collected and
Data Analysis Conducted:
• Student Survey focused on
the delivery of the NSO
experience.
• Student Focus Group (Data Analysis – January 2013).
• ATD Strategies Faculty Survey Fall 2012.
• Student Focus Group (Data Analysis – October 2013).
Changes Made:
• Modified the PowerPoint presentation and facilitator’s guide:
– Name changed to Arrive and Thrive.
– Moved the Banner slides
to the front of the technology
section, per feedback that
Banner is the first system they will access.
– Revised the slide regarding the SkyDrive applications.
• Revised the exit survey to align
with the program learning objectives, which were reviewed
and revised.
Continuous Quality
Staff from all campuses meet to
review alignment of orientations
from campus to campus. Efforts
also are being made to develop
online versions of the orientation
experience.
Strategy 2
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
11
Redesigning the Entering Student Experience:
Strategy 3
Smart Start: Student Success Course
Description:
Smart Start is St. Louis Community
College’s student success program, an
outcome of data collection and analysis
completed in 2010-12 as part of the
college’s Achieving the Dream work.
Input from all college stakeholders,
along with research of other ATD
colleges, indicates that a student
success program benefits students in
their initial efforts to adapt to college
expectations as well as in their longterm efforts to complete certificates
and/or degrees.
The Smart Start program
consists of two courses:
1.Smart Start Student Success
(STR:050), a mandatory three-
credit offering for students who
test into developmental English
and/or reading.
2.Smart Start College Success (STR:100), an optional one-credit course for students in 100-level and above courses.
STR:050 was initially offered in Fall
2012, and STR:100 will be available to
students in Fall 2014.
The Goals:
(from the STR:050 Course Profile)
Upon successful completion of the
course, the student will know or
understand:
• The components of self-
awareness.
• The skills and attitudes necessary for success in college.
12
• The college environment.
• The application of time management and goal setting skills for academic success.
• How to build a program of study that aligns with career goals, personal interests and abilities.
• The need to integrate new
knowledge and skills into all
aspects of one’s academic
program.
• Behavior appropriate to varied college settings.
• The importance of education as a life-long priority.
The Facts:
STR:050 Enrollment Counts
Semester
Number of Sections
Number of Students
Fall 2012
107
2,242
Spring 2013
56
1,233
Summer 2013
13
235
Fall 2013
99
2,253
Total
275
6,062
There appears to be a decline in
Smart Start enrollment for spring
2014; however, late-start registration
continued into the first week of
February, and those numbers are not
available at the current time.
Because Fall 2014 will be the first
semester that STR:100 is offered, we
are planning to offer a small number
of sections on each campus and then
increase the numbers as interest grows.
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
We are discussing the possibility of
offering this one-credit course in late
July/early August before the semester
starts, as well as during the semester.
Training:
A total of 235 STR:050 instructors
have been trained. The majority of
instructors, approximately 200, were
trained in Spring and Summer 2012 in
preparation for the course’s launch in
Fall 2012, and a smaller group of 32
participated in training in Spring 2013.
Training sessions will be offered again
in Spring 2014 for the 50 potential
instructors who have expressed
interest. STR:100 training, which
is currently in development, will be
offered after spring break in March
and April 2014.
Continuous Quality
Improvement:
Smart Start is designed to incorporate
Continuous Quality Improvement
(CQI), using assessment of student
and instructor classroom experiences
with course components as the basis
for course enhancements. The CQI
process is designed to support creation
of meaningful learning experiences
and to ensure course components
remain relevant over time.
STR:050 student feedback is collected
in culminating activities toward the
end of the semester, and qualitative
analysis is performed to determine
students’ perspective on their
experiences with the course. Instructors
provide feedback in campus-based
information exchange sessions, and
through conversations and e-mail. All
of this information is documented and
presented to the Course Enhancement
committee, which prioritizes changes
for each year’s update to course
materials. Committee members are a
diverse group who teach STR:050 and
represent all college locations.
Strategy 3
Additional CQI activities include:
• Creation of a report for instructors indicating STR:050 students who are also enrolled in online classes in their first semester.
• Pilot 8-week sections, with the
second 8-week class serving as a safety net for students who
might otherwise be withdrawn from all of their classes due to STR:050 non-attendance.
• NSRW and NSO presenters, along with English and reading faculty in all locations agreed to
emphasize the critical nature of
STR:050’s required status, and
its link to English and reading courses, in an effort to reduce
student withdrawals from STR:50
for non-attendance.
• A pilot 6-week STR:050 planned for Summer 2014, designed to
align with reading and some
English course offering schedules
that are less than eight weeks.
When implemented, STR:100 will
include similar CQI activities.
Future Plans:
Spring 2014:
• Complete the curriculum process for STR:100 so that it can be
offered in the fall.
• Complete STR:100 training
design by spring break.
• Create a STR:100 marketing plan
to make students and college
personnel aware of this new offering.
• Provide an informational session at the Student Affairs PD Day.
• Recruit faculty to teach STR:100.
• Review, revise, and include the new CTL coordinators in STR:050
training.
• Offer STR:050 and STR:100 training on Fridays after spring break.
• Complete Fall 2014 STR:050 materials changes based on committee decisions.
• Schedule and staff summer and
fall sections of STR:050 and
STR:100.
• Hold information exchange sessions for STR:050 instructors on all campuses.
Summer 2014:
• Continue STR:100’s marketing and implementation preparation work.
• Support faculty’s preparation to teach initial offerings of STR:100.
• Work with the copy centers and
bookstores to have STR:050 materials for fall available to students in a timely manner.
• Assess the 6-week STR:050 summer pilot.
• Monitor and adjust scheduling and
staffing of fall sections of STR:050 and STR:100.
Fall 2014:
• Support the launch of STR:100 in designated locations.
• Provide support to faculty who are teaching STR:100 for the first time.
• Continue to support faculty teaching STR:050.
• Hold information exchange
sessions for STR:050 and STR:100 instructors on all campuses.
• Schedule and staff spring sections of STR:050 and STR:100.
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
13
Redesigning the Entering Student Experience: Strategy
Description:
First Four Weeks is a strategy created
by the Professional Development
coordinators on each campus. F4W is
STLCC’s response to faculty who could
not see a place for their participation in
any of the other four selected Achieving
the Dream strategies. F4W is a list
of tried and true classroom activities/
approaches. Faculty are asked to
choose from those activities/approaches
and to commit to implementing at least
four of them during the first four weeks
of a semester.
The Goals:
First Four Weeks (F4W)
1.To involve as many faculty as
possible in student success
strategies.
2.To provide faculty with information with regards to:
a. Best practices.
b. Student resources.
3.To increase the fall to spring retention rate by at least 1% each year.
4.To increase the fall to fall retention rate by at least 1% each year.
5.To increase the number of students passing courses with a “C” or better by at least 1% each year.
6.To increase the number of students passing the courses of participating faculty by at least 1% each year.
The Facts:
First Four Weeks Faculty Participation
Semester
Number of Faculty Who Participated in F4W
Fall 2011
250
Spring 2012
287
Fall 2012
412
Spring 2013
243
Fall 2013
239
Spring 2014
215
Feedback Collected and Data
Analysis Conducted:
• First Four Weeks Survey Fall 2013.
• First Four Weeks Survey Spring 2013.
• First Four Weeks Survey Fall.
• First Four Weeks Survey Spring 2012.
• F4W Fall 2011 Success Stories.
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• First Four Weeks Faculty Survey Results Fall 2011.
• ATD Strategies Faculty Survey Fall 2012.
• First Four Weeks Strategies Submitted by Faculty Spring 2012 – Fall 2013. (Also, see Continuous Quality Improvement Process, next section.)
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
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Changes Made:
1.Survey changed from a TESS-
created survey for the Fall 2011 to a Student Voice Survey ever since.
2.Number of strategies was decreased from fall 2011 to spring 2012.
3.Survey was sent out twice: once a week before service week as an attached word document with links to information about the strategies or to STLCC services; the other time during service week with a link to the student voice survey.
4.Number of strategies was decreased and some reworded from spring 2013 to fall 2013.
5.The top 10 strategies were changed from fall 2013 to spring 2014.
Continuous Quality
Improvement Process
2013-14:
When the number of participants in
F4W took a downturn in the spring
of 2013, a call went out to all faculty
for volunteers to serve on the F4W
committee. That committee of six
began to meet in the spring of 2013.
The committee examined the previous
four F4W survey results as well as the
feedback from the faculty in 2011 and
2012 and decided to not only decrease
the number of strategies, but to do some
rewording as well. In the fall of 2013,
not only did this dedicated committee
improve F4W itself, but it has also
worked with Mike Swoboda and one
of his graphic design students to create
a logo for F4W, has distributed a vinyl
cling to display bearing the F4W logo
to all faculty members who have ever
committed to F4W, has worked with
Robin Grebing to create a Blackboard
site for F4W, as well as made contact
with every campus Student Government
Association, PTK chapter and AAMI
organization to begin the work to create
a student version of F4W. The goal is
for the student version to be ready to
pilot in spring 2014.
herself to trying out some new
quantitative techniques she just learned
at a conference. Providing new insights
to the impact of F4W will either move
it forward as is or will cause the team to
rethink the goals and purpose of F4W.
This committee plans to continue to
survey faculty each year regarding
the merits, impact and delivery of
F4W. The committee will examine the
information given in the survey and is
committed to making whatever changes
improve results. The committee is
also committed to following through
on some data collection. In the fall of
2013, quantitative data analysis began
on a small scale and offered promising
results. In the spring of 2014, one of
the committee members has committed
Presently all data related to F4W has
been housed with the ATD coordinator.
In the future, the chair of the F4W
committee will be the person charged
with that responsibility.
Qualitative analysis has taken place
from the perspective of the faculty.
Qualitative analysis from the student
perspective also needs to take place.
Surveying students taking classes where
faculty have committed to F4W versus
students taking classes from faculty
who have chosen not to commit may
be enlightening. Clearly there is a gap
in carrying out CQI in regards to this
strategy. The committee this spring will
also be charged to create such a process.
Strategy 4
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
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Redesigning the Entering Student Experience: Strategy
5
Developmental Education Redesign
Description:
During the 2011-12 academic year, the
Developmental Education Redesign
Team (DERT) was formed under the
leadership of Juliet Scherer, Ph.D.
All faculty from English, Reading
and Mathematics were invited to
participate. In the fall, Dr. Scherer
held a number of districtwide and
campus-based events that invited input
from all STLCC employees. The goal
of these events and additional data
analysis was to develop a collaborative
plan for advancing the redesign of
developmental education. As result of
those sessions, three* guiding principles
for developmental education redesign
emerged:
•Semesterless/courseless/
accelerated.
•Contextualized/integrated.
• Immersion/higher touch.
*Supporting all three guiding design
principles are these two tenets: that
greater developmental education
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coordination is desired across
the district and that professional
development for faculty and staff is
necessary to ensure that the future
redesign will be successfully employed.
(Source: Developmental Education
Update 10-25-11, written by Dr. Juliet
Scherer.)
From the outset, it was clear that
developmental education redesign
varied by discipline. Generally, the
following alignment occurred in
response to the conversations for
advancing redesign of developmental
education:
• Math faculty embraced modularization.
• English faculty embraced acceleration.
• Reading faculty focused on contextualization, integration,
and immersion.
In the spring of 2012, disciplinespecific teams met, conducted desired
research and discussed best practices
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
that incorporated one or more of
the agreed upon design principles.
“Semesterless/courseless” also has since
been aligned with “accelerated” and/or
“modularized” as faculty have reviewed
best practices of other institutions across
the country in advancing redesign of
developmental education. Additionally,
principles of addressing “alignment”
and bridging the gap between K-12 and
postsecondary education also have been
considered and developed.
Since the 2012-13 academic year, the
charge to carry out one or more of the
researched best practices has been
carried out by English, Reading and
Mathematics department chairs along
with their respective deans and faculty
champions for change.
The Goals:
1.To increase the number of students who pass their developmental
education courses with a “C”
or better.
2.To decrease the number of
semesters students are taking developmental education courses.
3.To increase the fall to spring and
fall to fall retention rates of
students taking developmental
education courses.
4. To increase the number degrees and certificates earned by students who begin their education with developmental education courses.
The Facts:
Math Boot Camps
Number of
Students Enrolled
Number of Students Who Skip
at Least One Math Course
2011
43
29 (67%)
2012
34
11 (32%)
2013
37
11 (30%)
Total
114
51 (45%)
Summer
Boot Camp for Roosevelt and Beaumont Students
Summer 2013
Offered on the FP campus by Enrollment Management
Number of Students
Enrolled
Number of Students Who Skipped
at Least One Course
19
7 (37%)
Reading
18
(2 already proficient)
6 (including the 2 already
proficient) (25% improved)
English
18
0
Subject
Math
STLCC ACE Students
Number of
Sections
Number of Seats
Taken by 030
Students
Number of Students
Passing Both 030 and 101
Fall 2012
8
72
47 (65% of seats taken)
Spring 2013
8
72
50 (69% of seats taken)
Fall 2013
7
65
45 (69%of seats taken)
Semester
• Rate of success for students taking ENG:030 in Fall 2012
and ENG:101 in Spring 2013 was 24% (of seats taken.)
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
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MOHealthWINs Developmental Education Data
As of March 7, 2014,
232 students registered for Adult
Learning Academy (ALA): PreAlgebra. This learning experience
is equivalent to MTH:020, is
self-paced, is contextualized to
healthcare, and is also competencybased. The ALA: Pre-Algebra
includes all MTH:020 competencies
plus additional competencies
relevant to entry-level health careers
(e.g. military time, metric system).
Students are registered on rolling
admission, with a new cohort
beginning every two weeks.
To date, the mean time to complete
is 6.3 weeks. Many students
“stopped out” for various reasons
(financial, transportation, illness)
and returned to complete the
course as their personal situations
stabilized. The students were
able to resume without penalty
and without repeating lessons
already mastered, a requirement
of traditional, semester-based
developmental education courses.
Students from earlier cohorts
remain active participants. Mean
improvement on COMPASS is 16.7
points.
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The literacy component of the Adult
Learning Academy collapses four
developmental courses (ENG:020,
ENG:030, RDG:020, and RDG:030)
into one course. In this recently
redesigned experience, there are 41
active participants. While 31 students
have stopped out, the program has 36
completers, with an average time to
complete of 15.8 weeks, as opposed
to a minimum of two full semesters in
traditional courses.
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
Feedback Collected and
Data Analysis Conducted:
• Qualitative Analysis of Sept. 14, 2011 meeting (Recommendations – Next Steps).
• Heather Wathington’s Report June 2012.
• Developmental Education Assessment – Compilation of
summer 2012 work by English/
Reading/Math Committees.
• English DERT Outcomes Alignment.
Fall 2013 Developmental
Education Status Report
(produced by Institutional Research
and Planning)
Changes Made:
Mathematics
1.Offered summer math boot camps (Immersion/Higher Touch).
2.Obtained Board of Trustees approval for a generic MTH:140 articulation agreement to be
offered to interested school districts. This initiative grew out
of a pilot project involving
STLCC-Florissant Valley and
Pattonville High School (Acceleration) and developed
under the League for Innovation’s Significant Discussions projects
(Alignment).
3.Adopted the same textbook districtwide to be used for both
MTH:020 and MTH:030. The
book selected was “MyMathLab
Basic College Math with Early
Integers and Beginning and Intermediate Algebra.” Beginning fall 2013 all the campuses are using this book for MTH: 020
and MTH:030 except for the FP campus. That campus plans to
adopt that textbook in spring
2014 (Acceleration and
Modularization).
4.Are working with their vice presidents of Academic Affairs
and their deans on the Forest Park
and Florissant Valley campuses
to create a mathematics computer
classroom so that developmental
education math courses can be
offered using individualized
instruction (taking advantage of the modularized structure) and in a hybrid format beginning in the
spring of 2014 (Acceleration and Modularization; Immersion/
Higher Touch).
English
1.Agreed to adopt the Community College of Baltimore innovation of combining ENG:030 with
ENG:101. STLCC called this innovation ACE–Advancing 2
Courses in English (Acceleration).
2.Worked with the Reading department and created a
literacy course as part of the
Adult Learning Academy that
is part of MoHealthWins
(Contextualization).
3.Created and offered an English
boot camp to 14 Beaumont/
Roosevelt students enrolled
in an experience organized by
Enrollment Management and
held on the Forest Park campus (Acceleration).
proposal has not been advanced;
however, reading faculty
engaged in the development of
the proposal were encouraged to
work with their campus
departments and departments
across the district to determine
what, if any, components of
the proposal should be infused
into the reading departments’
strategy development for redesign
of developmental education. The
strategies included in the proposal have also been incorporated into
the MoHealthWINS Adult
Learning Academy (Acceleration,
Immersion, Contextualization).
2.Created and offered a reading boot camp to 18 Beaumont/
Roosevelt students enrolled in an
experience organized by
Enrollment Management and
held on the Forest Park campus
(Acceleration).
3.Advanced innovations in reading
through MoHealthWINS by
developing an accelerated model
for literacy, Integrated Reading
and Writing (IRW) (Acceleration,
Immersion, Contextualization).
4.Embedding skills in courses offered
through the MoManufacturingWINS
grant (Contextualization).
Reading
1.Developed a proposal for two
levels of pre-college level
reading skill development:
College Preparatory Reading
(C-Pre) and a lower-level
Transition Experience. This
ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
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Continuous Quality
Improvement Process:
Developmental education redesign is
presently in the hands of the department
chairs and deans for reading, English
and mathematics. Each discipline has
moved forward in its effort to increase
the rate of success in developmental
education courses in various ways
as described above. Additionally,
plans have been developed for
institutionalization of the strategies that
have proven successful or promising in
the Adult Learning Academy.
Next Steps with
MoHealthWINS
Developmental
Education Strategies:
As STLCC nears conclusion of the
MoHealthWINS grant, we will be
focused on assessment and evaluation
that will lead us through decisions
regarding what should and should not
be institutionalized.
• An assessment plan is being
developed to compare student performance on the Compass test after completing ENG/RDG
020 courses and ENG/RDG
030 courses to compare with the
performance of students who have
completed the MoHealthWINs
Adult Learning Academy.
• Course-level student learning
assessments are ongoing in the
Adult Learning Academy for
the intent of continuous quality
improvement as we continue to
review the ALA IRW curriculum.
positive results. The Integrated version
of the Connect program was released
shortly after we signed the agreement
for Connect Reading.
The ALA IRW faculty and EAs
meet weekly to discuss the program
structure and policies, student progress,
and issues that need to be resolved.
The ALA IRW team members have
recently agreed that every other week,
the staff meeting would be a workshop
format devoted to the (re)design of
assignments, assessments, and other
curricular items.
The ALA IRW has been using Connect
Reading 2.0 by McGraw-Hill, an
online tool, with success. The tool
provides both a diagnostic assessment
and a continuously adaptive
“personalized learning plan” to support
our students in their reading. We
are also piloting Connect Integrated
Reading and Writing and experiencing
Strategy 5
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ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACHIEVING THE DREAM INITIATIVE
It’s ALL about student success!
Expanding Minds • Changing Lives