Instructional Program Review Update 2012/13 (fields will expand as you type) Section 1 ‐ Program Information 1.0 Name of Program: English (including ESL, Reading , and the Writing Center) Date: 12/17/12 1.1 Program Review Authors: David Holper, Vinnie Peloso, Deanna Herrera‐Thomas , Leslie Leach 1.2 Dean’s Signature: Rachel Anderson Date: 2/8/13 1.3 Individual Program Information # of Degrees # of Certificates 1 # of Courses NA # of GE Courses 21 6 (English 47 has been inactivated) The shaded cells below are to be populated by the Program Review Committee as needed. # of Full Time Faculty 2010‐2011 2011‐12 # of Part Time Faculty 2010‐2011 2011‐12 # of Staff FTE 2010‐2011 2011‐12 Personnel Budget 2010‐2011 2011‐12 Discretionary Budget 2010‐2011 2011‐12 1.3.1 State briefly how the program functions support the college mission: College of the Redwoods’ Mission Statement emphasizes “outstanding developmental… and transfer education.” The English department, the Writing Center (and its tutoring program), ESL courses, and reading courses make up a significant portion of the developmental education that students take at College of the Redwoods, and students’ success in such courses that often allows for further successes in other disciplines. In addition, a variety of our transfer offerings (Eng. 9, 10, 17, 18, 32, 33, 60, and 61) provide students a significant chunk of the classes necessary to earn an AA in Liberal Arts: Humanities, Language, Communication. These classes help to fulfill the college’s “transfer education” mission. In addition, the Mission Statement emphasizes that “We continually assess student learning and institutional performance and practices to improve upon the programs and services we offer.” The English faculty continually assess student learning practices (both course learning outcomes and programmatic outcomes) to improve upon the classes, degrees, tutoring, and services we offer. In fact, in spring 2013 the English department took the lead in emphasizing to the Assessment Committee, the Academic Senate, and the college’s Deans that special emphasis and training be made available, so the faculty could complete all the programmatic outcomes for all degrees—and that the work be significantly improved from last year through such emphasis and training. 7. cEnglish Program Review Fall 2012.docx 4/5/2013 Page 1 In addition, the college’s Educational Master Plan (EMP) emphasizes “ensuring student success.” The department has taken a number of steps this year to do just that. For instance, after putting together the two‐year course learning outcome schedule, the department created a two‐
year rotation of literature classes, and those are posted on the department’s website. Since we realized that we needed more literature offerings throughout the district, the department is currently creating its first fully online class, English 9 (World Literature: Early Modern to 20th Century) and will be offering that in spring 2014 after approval the college’s curriculum processes. We are also taking steps to develop other online offerings over the next two years. Furthermore, the EMP emphasizes “developing programs and services to meet community needs.” The Eureka ESL series has been created in direct response to a long‐standing community need, especially the local Hispanic community, for an ESL series that will allow a student to move through three developmental classes in preparation for English 1A. Once the curriculum is approved by the Chancellor’s Office in spring 2013, we plan to offer the full series beginning in fall 2013. Also, the college’s Strategic Plan places clear emphasis on “developmental education” (1.4 Enhance student support and student engagement; 1.5 Improve basic skills success; 1.6 Support staff and faculty development and instructional innovation). The English department has made concerted efforts this year to improve upon its developmental offerings, particularly focusing on success and persistence of students. Toward that end, for this first time in fall 2012, we offered group grammar tutoring to help students succeed in their four unit tests in grammar in English 150.
Finally, 1.3.2 Program highlights/accomplishments: 1) This fall, in response to spring 2012 assessment results, the Eureka campus offered an English 150 unit test review in grammar during the weeks before the four unit tests in grammar. This group grammar tutoring results in improved scores for the students who attended the review sessions. 2) This fall at the Eureka campus there was an ESL A series class offered, and curriculum for the B & C series classes is currently in the pipeline for approval by the Chancellor’s Office in time for fall 2013. Once these classes are approved, the Eureka campus will have an ESL series that will take a student from Reading 360 through English 150, so as they finish, they will be ready for English 1A. These additional courses will replace our former English 353 and 153 courses, which had an ESL focus. The ESL 302A course has been assessed on all CLOs. 3) In spring 2013, based on current ARCC data, the English department will convene revision committees for new and more effective approaches in teaching both English 350 and 150. In addition, we will also be sending two faculty to a one‐day training on accelerated composition that is being led by Chabot College faculty, where this idea has been pioneered. 4) In spring 2013, the English faculty in Eureka will reactive the Visiting Writing Series and bring two professional writers to the main campus. 7. cEnglish Program Review Fall 2012.docx 4/5/2013 Page 2 Section 2 ‐ Data Analysis 2.1 Enrollment & Fill Rate Review and interpret data by clicking here or going to: http://www.redwoods.edu/District/IR/Program_Select.asp Select your program and click on: Enrollments & fill rates Enrollment ☐ Comment if checked: English and Reading are both currently outperforming the district average. There is no data available for ESL. Fill Rate ☐ Comment if checked: English and Reading are both currently outperforming the district average. There is no data available for ESL. 2.2 Success & Retention Review and interpret data by clicking here or going to: http://www.redwoods.edu/District/IR/Program_Select.asp Select your program and click on: Success & Retention Success x Comment if checked: Although English and Reading fall below the district average by an average of about 10 percent, some of what pulls down our success rate are the following: 1) English 52: Many students sign up for access to tutors in the Writing Center; however, only 37% of 267 students went on to complete the course for credit. In part, these low success rates can be explained by the fact that students obtain the tutoring they need, but don’t necessarily value the half credit that they would receive if they completed their hours and tutoring requirements. 2) In addition, a much larger proportion of younger students are enrolled in English (63% are 24 or younger), and this situation is especially the case at Humboldt (Eureka + 101 corridor) with 68% of students 24 or younger, and typically, these students are not as successful or prepared as more mature students. 3) There is larger discrepancy in success of males and females in English (64% female, 54% male) than exists for the district, and this, too, tends to pull down the overall success rate. However, this trend is not at all unique to our district and reflects national trends in college success in terms of gender. 4) Because the English Department provides many developmental gateway courses for the college, we are more likely to have at‐risk, underprepared students in our courses who are also less likely to be successful. 7. cEnglish Program Review Fall 2012.docx 4/5/2013 Page 3 Nonetheless, the English department will be addressing this issue in spring 2013, starting at the department work day. For both English 350 and English 150, we are going to convene working group to improve success rates, not by altering the course outline but by considering different pedagogical approaches to developmental English education. In addition, we are sending two faculty in spring 2013 to an accelerated composition training led by Chabot College faculty, in order to learn how to improve our success rates. For English 150, we are considering eliminating the competency exam, breaking our unit tests in grammar into small quizzes that student will now be able to retake one time (for a failing score), and utilizing portfolios to norm and to score, in the way that we have done with the competency exam in the past. English 350 will also be considering revamping pedagogical approaches to the class, based on planning in spring 2013. Retention x Comment if checked: Both English and Reading fell marginally below the retention rate: English by 1%, Reading by 2%. Although these percentages are marginally below the district average, we see the activities described under the Success block also applicable to Retention. Although data are not currently available for the fall 2012 ESL 302A course offered at the Eureka site, it did yield high retention numbers within the class cohort. All of the students enrolled in the class were retained. It would be important to distinguish past community education offerings from the current college preparatory courses in the next program review cycle, as the fall 2012 course attracted and retained predominately Latino students, with additional API and African American students, and the success rates for this course (as opposed to those offered in Mendocino which are not Basic Skills college preparatory) are much higher with the majority of students passing the class. 2.3 Persistence Review and interpret data by clicking here or going to: http://www.redwoods.edu/District/IR/Program_Select.asp Select your program and click on: Persistence ☐ Comment: This data set was not available because there was no degree or certificates directly associated with this program for which students could persist in or complete. 2.4 Completions Review and interpret data by clicking here or going to: http://www.redwoods.edu/District/IR/Program_Select.asp Select your program and click on: Completions & Transfers ☐ Comment: This data set was not available because there was no degree or certificates directly associated with this program for which students could persist in or complete. 7. cEnglish Program Review Fall 2012.docx 4/5/2013 Page 4 Student Equity Group Data 2.5 Enrollments Review and interpret data by clicking here or going to: http://www.redwoods.edu/District/IR/Program_Select.asp by group Select your program and click on ~ by Student Equity Group next to Enrollments & fill rates Comment: The only noticeable anomaly is that English enrolls considerably more students in BSI classes than the district average. 2.6 Success & Retention Review and interpret data by clicking here or going to: http://www.redwoods.edu/District/IR/Program_Select.asp by group Select your program and click on ~ by Student Equity Group next to success & retention Comment: This data largely reflects the same issues that are addressed under 2.2 under Success & Retention. It is notable, however, that African Americans and Native Americans are experiencing lower success rates than other ethnic groups. In fact, in all BSI courses, African American males fare significantly worse than all other groups in terms of success and retention and Native American males follow this trend to a lesser extent. 2.7 Persistence Review and interpret data by clicking here or going to: http://www.redwoods.edu/District/IR/Program_Select.asp by group Select your program and click on ~ by Student Equity Group next to persistence Comment: This data was not available. Additional Indicators 2.8 Faculty Information Review and interpret data by clicking here or going to: http://www.redwoods.edu/District/IR/Program_Select.asp Select your program and click on: Faculty (FT/PT) & FTES/FTEF Comment: Perhaps most noteworthy is the ratio of FT/PT faculty. For the district, this ratio is 49/51%; for English the ratio is 34/66%, in large part due to retirements over the last decade. English went from a high of 10 FT faculty in Eureka in 2000 to five in 2012 (with a likely retirement by the end of spring 2013). During that same period, Mendocino went from 1 FT faculty member to 0. As a result, the English FT faculty have ever fewer faculty to handle increasing workloads related to mentoring and evaluating associate faculty, guiding assessment tasks, leading the various course levels (350, 150, 1A, 1B), handling course outline revisions, etc. This increased work load prevents the department from functioning at its optimum capacity. Although 7. cEnglish Program Review Fall 2012.docx 4/5/2013 Page 5 we have repeatedly requested additional FT faculty and ranked last year as the number 1 choice for new faculty, funds have not been available for these replacements. It is imperative that we hire at least one FT faculty member as the course leader for English 350, because of the possible retirement of our lead faculty at that level by the end of spring 2013; otherwise, that one retirement will leave the department without experienced FT faculty at this level. Beyond that, it is also imperative that we hire an additional FT English generalist at the Eureka campus to reverse the long‐term loss of English faculty. 2.9 Labor Market Data (CTE/Occupational programs only) Refer to the California Employment Development Division: http://www.edd.ca.gov/ www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov
Provide a narrative that addresses the following: a. Documentation of labor market demand b. Non‐duplication of other training programs in the region c. Effectiveness as measured by student employment and program completions. Narrative: NA Overall, what has been the impact of the change in indicators on student achievement and learning: see below Provide narrative on the factors that may have contributed to the improvement or decline in the identified population: Although clearly below the district averages, success and retention have remained fairly stable, and some of this is driven by lower success in reading from 2010‐
11 to 2011‐12. Nonetheless, English will seek to address pedagogical approaches to developmental English courses, in order to raise the success and persistence rates to the district averages. Research on student success in underrepresented populations consistently reveals the importance of maintaining mentor relationships with faculty in programs that highlight classroom community development. This underscores the importance of increasing full‐time faculty in this program to facilitate these necessary relationships. Section 3 – Critical Reflection of Assessment Activities Curriculum & Assessment Data 7. cEnglish Program Review Fall 2012.docx 4/5/2013 Page 6 Are all courses on track for complete assessment of all outcomes in two years? Y/N What courses, if any, are not on track with regard to assessment? Explain. # of PLOs Assessed and Reported during the 2011‐2012 academic year. % of Course Outlines of Record updated If there is no plan for updating outdated curriculum, when will you inactivate? View curriculum status: click here or go to: http://www.redwoods.edu/District/IR/Program_Select.asp Select your program and click on: Curriculum Status Assessment Reporting completed? Y/N Program Advisory Committee Met? Y/N Y None 4 100% (the curriculum stoplight is not fully current) Y NA 3.0 How has assessment of course level SLO’s led to improvement in student learning (top three): 1) As mentioned earlier, in English 150 in Eureka it has led to group grammar reviews; 2) In English 1A it has led to a more thorough discussion about the quality of research papers, and the idea of using norming samples to prevent students from writing subjective narratives with little research. It has also led to a discussion or more rigor in teaching MLA documentation both in text and in works cited pages; 3) Finally, in both 350 and 150, assessment has led the department to address how to improve both success and retention in basic skills English classes, as mentioned earlier. 3.1 How has assessment of program level outcomes led to degree/certificate improvement (top three): 1) One way that mapping of SLOs to PLOs has improved degree/certificate performance is that for the first time, the department is now publishing on its website the two‐year rotation of literature classes toward an AA in Liberal Arts & Humanities; 2) It has also led to the department creating our first hybrid course (English 1A) for Spring 2013, as well as the upcoming development of our first online literature class, English 9 for spring 2014; 3) It has led to plans to begin creating additional online offerings to improve degree attainment (see Section 5 for Planning). 3.2 (Optional) Describe unusual assessment findings/observations that may require further research or institutional support: Mendocino has a strikingly low success rate for ESL students although the retention rate is high. This could be a result of a number of variables that will be identified and may require support in the future. Assessments conducted thus far for ESL 302A reveal that students are meeting outcomes. Section – 4 Evaluation of Previous Plans 4.1 Describe plans/actions identified in the last program review and their current status. What measurable outcomes were achieved due to actions completed. Actions 7. cEnglish Program Review Fall 2012.docx Current Status 4/5/2013 Outcomes Page 7 NA: there were no plans cited in the last PR. Refer to Program Plans below. 4.2 (If applicable) Describe how funds provided in support of the plan(s) contributed to program improvement: College funding to pay for the group grammar tutoring served numerous English 150 students in improving their grammar scores on the four unit tests, as well as better prepared them for English 1A. Section – 5 Planning 5.0 Program Plans (2012/2013) Based on data analysis, student learning outcomes and program indicators, assessment and review, and your critical reflections, describe the program’s Action Plan for the 2012/13 academic year. If more than one plan, add rows. Include necessary resources. (Only a list of resources is needed here. Provide detailed line item budgets, supporting data or other justifications in the Resource Request). 5.1 Program Plans Relationship to Institutional Plans Revamp approaches to 350 & 150 Provide improved developmental education (mission statement), ensure student success (goals 1 & 3 in the EMP Goals & Objectives for 2012‐
2017) Action to be taken: 7. cEnglish Program Review Fall 2012.docx 4/5/2013 Relationship to Assessment Although our assessment results show that students are mastering CLOs, our success data suggest that too many students are not completing these courses. Expected Impact on Program/Student Learning Improve both success and retention rates to better match or outperform the district averages Page 8 Resources Needed None Improve 1A through use of norming samples and more attention to MLA documentation Continue to offer group grammar tutoring at the Eureka campus to assist English 150 students with their unit test performance Expand the Eureka Writing Center on the ASC side (just beyond the back door of the WR). This would allow for a room of approximately 15 additional computers and a space for group tutoring in the WC. This space could then be used by English faculty without incurring additional costs for tutoring because it would be on site tutoring. Develop additional online English courses. 7. cEnglish Program Review Fall 2012.docx Since recent assessment shows that some students are having difficulty crafting strong, documented arguments, these steps will help ensure that students are writing stronger arguments with accurate, relevant research. This group tutoring should continue to improve assessment results in applying basic grammar and punctuation rules, particularly those that address sentence boundaries. This expansion should Provide improved result in improved developmental education and transfer assessment results in our composition sequence education (mission statement) and ensure and literature classes. student success (goals 1 & 3 in the EMP Goals & Objectives for 2012‐
2017). Provide better transfer preparation, which both fulfills the mission statement of the college, as well as ensures student success (goals 1 & 3 in the EMP Goals & Objectives for 2012‐
2017). Provide improved developmental education (mission statement), ensure student success (goals 1 & 3 in the EMP Goals & Objectives for 2012‐
2017). Improve degree completion due to classes being provided in areas where they are not regularly offered 4/5/2013 These offerings are more likely to affect degree completion than assessment. Improve research paper approaches in argumentation, research, and documentation None Improved grammatical knowledge and application BSI funds to pay for tutors (outside of the Writing Center) To offer regular group tutoring in various subjects, such as grammar, MLA usage, paragraphing, thesis development, etc. Approximately $25,000 for the construction of walls, wiring, purchase of computers, etc. Note that this is just an approximation, not an actual quote. Better transfer rates None Page 9 Continue to develop ESL community education courses, extend outreach efforts, investigate methods for appropriate assessment and provide for one ESL tutor. Expand course offerings to Del Norte which has the largest Latino population of all district sites. (Mendocino, Del Norte, KT) ESL programming supports the SEP as consistent with Title 5 standards, Goals 1 and 2 of the EMP, Goals 5,3 and 1 of the Strategic Plan, AP 5300 and BP 5300 Data will continue to be monitored regarding student mastery of CLOs in ESL courses to determine at which point students are most vulnerable to drop out or to fail to determine if changes are necessary in teaching methods. Improvement of overall ARC indicators of success and improvement of SEP Indicators as students matriculate through the ESL sequence of courses to take English IA. Increase transfer rates for underrepresented students. Funding for one tutor with ESL expertise at the Eureka site. Continued BSI funding for outreach. 5.2 Provide any additional information, brief definitions, descriptions, comments, or explanations, if necessary. As a point of clarification, the ESL courses follow two distinct tracks. One is the community education track that serves Goal 2 of the EMP and is made up of one course, ESL 202A. Two additional courses in this track are in development. The other track serves Goal 1 of the EMP and includes a sequence of three courses that are designed to lead students to English 1A entry. This sequence includes ESL 302A, 302B and 102 and is specifically for students who wish to transfer. Section 6 ‐ Resource Requests 6.0 Planning Related, Operational, and Personnel Resource Requests. Requests must be submitted with rationale, plan linkage and estimated costs. If requesting full‐time staff, or tenure‐track faculty, submit the appropriate form available at inside.redwoods.edu/ProgramReview Requests will follow the appropriate processes. Check One Amount Recurring Rationale Request $ Cost Y/N Linkage Planning Operational Personnel $28,739.00
Y (in 5‐7 These computers are used 29 New Computers for the Eureka Writing x (see attached
years) by English 350, 150, and 52 Center quote) students on a daily basis. Nine chairs in the Writing 9 new chairs for the Eureka Writing Center x $973.00 ($110 Center are currently each plus tax) damaged and not functioning properly 2 new FT faculty for English in Eureka X (see This rationale is already attached provided in 2.8 (faculty faculty information) 7. cEnglish Program Review Fall 2012.docx 4/5/2013 Page 10 Renew district license for Lexia Reading Strategies for Older Students (SOS) x request forms) 1 ESL tutor X Outreach X X $3,375 for three years $410 (15 weeks @ $14 an hour) Y Current license expires in April 2013 Y Software is used by students in Reading 360 and beginning S13 in ESOL classes as well. Y BSI continued funding for this effort for spring 2013 Section 7‐ Program Review Committee Response Do not type in this section. To be completed by the Program Review Committee following evaluation. 7.0 The response will be forwarded to the author and the supervising Director and Vice President: S.1. Program Information: Satisfactory. S.2. Data Analysis: Good evaluation of the data, narrative is consistent with data and explains outliers. Satisfactory. S.3. Critical Reflection of Assessment Activities: Assessments led to good changes, especially English 150. More thorough discussion of English 1a, 350 and 150 assessments led to department discussions. Satisfactory. Commendation on assessment discussions. S.4. Evaluation of Previous Plans: N/A S.5. Planning: Detailed connection to institutional planning, as are the resource requests. This could be a model for tying planning together. S.6. Resource Requests: Rational linkage somewhat generic for some requests, where other areas are well linked/justified. There is an opportunity for some resource requests fulfilled internally by the tutoring center remodel. 7. cEnglish Program Review Fall 2012.docx 4/5/2013 Page 11