‐
Teams of 2‐4 faculty members per college or district are invited to join a community of practice that includes the following: o
Three in‐person workshops led by Katie Hern (English) & Myra Snell (Math)
To be held in the Bay Area or greater Los Angeles regions
Summer Institute: Friday ‐ Sunday, June 21 ‐ 23, 2013
Fall Institute: Friday ‐ Saturday, September 6 ‐ 7, 2013
Winter Institute: Friday ‐ Saturday, Jan.
31 ‐ Feb 1, 2014 o
Ongoing coaching from faculty experienced in teaching accelerated courses. o
Collaboration with a statewide network of innovative faculty
The California Acceleration Project is an initiative of the
California Community Colleges’ Success Network (3CSN), funded through the state chancellor’s office’s Basic Skills Initiative.
Additional support from the Walter S. Johnson Foundation and
LearningWorks. http://cap.3csn.org

Benefits of Participation:
Participating colleges will receive the following:
 Training, food, and lodging during the three in-person institutes;
 For faculty traveling long distances to the institutes, a $250 per person travel stipend to offset the costs of airfare;
 A small video camera to capture classroom footage;
 Ongoing coaching from faculty experienced in teaching accelerated English/Math courses;
 The inspiration gained from collaborating with a statewide network of innovative colleagues who are implementing accelerated courses in developmental math and English.
Selection Criteria:
 Priority will be given to colleges offering at least 2 sections of accelerated courses in 2013-
14. (In math priority given to teams who plan to offer sections that are part of a shortened alternative developmental math pathway for non-STEM students, e.g. 2 sections of pre-
Statistics or 2 sections of pre-collegiate quantitative reasoning.)
 Priority will be given to acceleration models featuring two key principles: o
Backwards Design: Engaging students in the same kinds of content, skills, and ways of thinking of the college-level course (College English, Statistics, or Liberal
Arts Math), in an environment of greater scaffolding and support; o
Just-in-Time Remediation: Addressing “basic skills” issues as they come up during challenging work, rather than through front-loading.
 In English, colleges with separate sequences in Reading and English are encouraged to apply; however, priority will be given to teams where faculty from either/both discipline(s) are willing to focus on reading and writing in the accelerated classroom.
 In Math, priority will be given to teams developing a shortened developmental math pathway for non-STEM students that provides an alternative to the traditional Algebra sequence; we especially encourage colleges offering an alternative pathway comprised of a single developmental course with no pre-requisite that leads directly to a transferable math course.
 Our expectation is that most teams will be either English or Math; however, if a college/district is ready to implement accelerated English and Math in 2013-2014, we will consider accepting two separate teams from that institution.

Requirements:
Selected colleges will agree to do the following:
 Offer at least 2 sections of an accelerated English or Math course in 2013-14;
 Provide a consistent team of 2 to 4 instructors from a single college or district who will teach an accelerated course in 2013-14; each faculty member will participate in all components of the program (three workshops, coaching, sharing classroom materials);
 Cover the costs of travel to the in-person institutes (minus $250 per person airfare stipend provided by 3CSN for long-distance travel);
 Contribute syllabi, classroom materials, classroom video, and written reflections;
 Work with 3CSN & the California Acceleration Project on follow-up pipeline studies that track how many developmental students go on to complete transferable courses in
English/Math (pilot courses compared with traditional sequence).
Submission Process:
To apply, please submit the following materials by Friday, April 19, 5pm:
1.
Completed application form
2.
Letter of support signed by Dean of relevant area and Vice-President of Instruction
(template included at end of this document).
Submission by email: khern@chabotcollege.edu
(Signed letter of support should be scanned into a pdf document.
Acceptance notices will be sent to the designated team leader by Friday, April 26.

Frequently Asked Questions
Can reading teachers participate? How about ESL instructors?
Our focus is on accelerated courses that prepare students for transfer-level English. A faculty member’s discipline is less of a concern for us than the fact that they are teaching a course that accelerates students’ progress to and through college English. We encourage cross-disciplinary teams focused on strengthening students’ academic literacy.
What if a member of our team can’t make it to all three in-person gatherings?
The Community of Practice works best when all members of the community participate in all of the events. However, we recognize that this is not always possible. When submitting your application, please let us know if particular members of the team are not able to attend an event. We will consider these on a case-by-case basis.
What if we can’t get a new course approved in time to commit to two sections for 2013-14? o
Investigate the possibility of an experimental course. Experimental course outlines are usually abbreviated and have more flexible time lines for approval. o
Investigate the possibility of using an existing “special topics” course. “Special topics” courses are often a course shell with an established course number that can be used immediately for offering new curriculum. o
English faculty from previous communities of practice have met the requirement to offer two accelerated sections in other creative ways:
 Create accelerated sections of your standard two-levels-below course, teach these sections to the outcomes of the course one-level-below, and then use the pre-requisite waiver process to jump successful students directly to college-level English.
 Create special heterogeneous sections of your one-level-below course, with one-third to one-half of the slots reserved for students who placed two-levels below.
What if I can’t get 2-4 faculty to participate? What if our team is bigger than 4?
Because we want all participating faculty to have at least one ally with whom they can share ideas, we do not accept solo instructors. If an instructor is having a hard time attracting a partner on her/his own campus, a cross-district team might be a good solution. If a college/district has more than 4 participating faculty, we encourage you to organize yourselves with a core group that participates actively in the Community of Practice and then shares out with the larger group. While we can’t accommodate more than 4 people at events, coaching calls can include a larger group.
What if my college already participated in a prior year – could we apply again with a new group of teachers?
Colleges that have already participated in the Community of Practice are welcome to apply again if all members of the proposed faculty team would be new participants. If a college previously sent a team in one discipline but not the other (e.g. math faculty participated, but not yet English), the

application would be evaluated with equal priority as for colleges who have not yet participated. If a college has already participated in a given discipline (e.g. English) but wants to expand the number of faculty receiving training, acceptance would depend upon the number of strong applications received. Priority would go to new colleges with strong applications, but if space is available, we would consider applications from our previous cohorts of colleges.
Other Questions?
Contact Katie Hern, Director of the California Acceleration Project -- khern@chabotcollege.edu

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Faculty Team (2 ‐ 4 members):
Team Leader
Name: David Holper, English Department
Chair
Discipline: English
Full‐Time x Part‐Time
Email Address: david‐holper@redwoods.edu
Phone: 707‐476‐4370
Name: Jay Scrivener
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Discipline: English
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Full‐Time Part‐Time x
Email Address: jay‐scrivner@redwoods.edu
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Phone: 707‐616‐2072
Name: Peter Blakemore
Discipline: English
Full‐Time x Part‐Time
Email Address: peter‐ blakemore@redwoods.edu
Phone: 707‐476‐4314
Name:
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Discipline:
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Full‐Time Part‐Time
Email Address:
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Phone:

1.) Acceleration Model
To give us a sense of the accelerated class you’re preparing to teach, briefly describe how you are accelerating your existing developmental sequence in English or Math.
Please address how the changes you’re making will reduce “exit points” where students are lost within or between levels of the sequence:
Currently we have standard reading and writing integrated English classes 350 (two levels below 1A), 150 (one level below 1A), 1A, and 1B. We had a reading class three levels below 1A, but that class will be eliminated at the end of this semester due to budget constraints. Students who do not score high enough in Accuplacer will need to take reading classes through community education.
The department has recently agreed to pilot an accelerated 350/150 integrated reading and writing course. We’ve already sent two faculty to a recent acceleration training in the Bay Area, we’re putting in our application for the Community of
Practice, we’ve identified two faculty to teach the class in the spring, and the current chair of the department has agreed to help oversee the curriculum development and approval of the course outline of record, as well as handle any applications for travel monies, stipends, reassign time, or further training. We plan to teach two sections of the 350/150 accelerated class in spring 2014.
2.) Anticipated Changes to Pedagogy and Content
At this point, how do you think your pedagogy and course content will need to be different inside the new model?
Yes, one thing that has become apparent to us as we watch your videos, read the articles that faculty brought back from the training, and communicate with department chairs from highly successful programs around the state is that we’ve been focused on teaching stand‐alone skills at the 350 and 150 level, and the new course will require a thematic approach in which we’ll be using book‐length works. We’ll also need to teach the skills within the context of the reading and writing. In addition, currently once a student has entered our composition series, we have two routes for students to bypass a course level: 1) He/she can receive a recommendation from an instructor within the first week of class; however, that has proved problematic, as

there are rarely open spaces in our composition classes; 2) The student can take a challenge exam to bypass a course; however, the challenge exams, in all honesty, are so rigorous that, as far as I know, no student has ever passed. The combined 350/150 needs a mechanism at the end of the course by which students can jump past unnecessary levels.
We’ve been operating under the assumption that all students proceed at the same pace, and this new course needs that mechanism so that students can move more quickly through our series, if they are ready to do so.
3.) Reasons for Applying
Please briefly describe what you hope to gain from participating in the Community of Practice in Accelerated Curriculum and Pedagogy, and any particular issues or topics you hope the facilitators will address during the trainings.
Several aspects that we hope to gain from participating in the COP in Accelerated
Curriculum and Pedagogy:
1) Answers to questions about best practices among accelerated programs in
California. For instance, we would like to know whether we need to adjust our
Accuplacer cut scores for this class or just abandon them. We would like to learn best practices for student placement into accelerated classes. We would like to know what texts work best at this level, as well as what themes instructors have found most interested students. We would like to better understand how to address grammar and structural skills within the context of the reading and writing. We would like to know what means of assessment seems to work best at the end of the course to determine whether or not students can bypass higher levels.
2) We would like to learn how other schools have gone about selecting students to enroll in pilot programs. Should we choose students who simply want to go through our composition series faster? Should we select higher or lower cut scores?
3) We would like to locate Course Outlines of Record for successful classes that departments have developed elsewhere in California. We don’t want to reinvent the wheel.
4) We would like to learn what other colleges are doing in California to address the

affective domain with developmental learners. Among the faculty that teach developmental students, there is a widespread recognition that personal issues can represent a significant aspect of teaching. However, at our main campus, we currently have one DSPS counselor to deal with life issues that arise among students: that’s one counselor for approximately 4,000 students. In the past we had a crisis counselor, but that position was eliminated. We’d like to know what best practices are being utilized at other institutions that help to address this problem.
5) We’d like to learn what Katie Hern means when she says her department doesn't believe in sequencing writing. What writing skills has she felt it necessary to teach in isolation, if any? Also, given the amount of writing she assigns, how does revision and pre‐writing work?
4.) How many sections of this accelerated course do you plan to offer?
Fall 2013 ____none_____ Spring 2014 _____2_____
5.) Anticipated Challenges
Implementing accelerated models of English and Math can present a host of political and logistical challenges, including:
 Securing department approval
 Responding to concerns from related departments (e.g. reading, ESL)
 Navigating district‐wide curriculum sharing agreements
 Securing curriculum committee approval
 Securing enrollment management/dean’s approval to offer sections
 Navigating pre‐requisite issues in the college registration system
 Recruiting students to an experimental course
Please describe any challenges you have encountered, or expect to encounter, as you implement acceleration in your own context. This question is intended to help us provide the best support possible, not as a way to screen out colleges where challenges exist (100% of applicants).

One challenge will be to develop a COR, bring the department to a concensus about the COR, and then get Curriculum Committee approval. One huge advantage we have is that Peter Blakemore, one of the instructors who has agreed to teach in the pilot program, is the Curriculum Committee Chair.
Another challenge will be working with advisors and counselors in advertising this program to students. We want to make sure that we get the right population into this class so that students either match our current success rates in regular English classes, or better yet, improve upon it.
We want to make sure that the program works reasonably well the first time around. We don’t expect that our first semester will be perfect, nor that instructors will instantly master a new curriculum; however, about ten years ago there was an attempt to bring accelerated learning into the English department, and that attempt, largely because it was a top‐down effort with no support, resulted in the effort being a failure. We don’t want to repeat those mistakes.
6.) Your Local Pipeline Data
Spend some time reviewing your college’s data on the Basic Skills Cohort Tracker
(easily accessible on the top left corner of the 3CSN homepage – http://3csn.org
).
Look especially at the percentage of students from different starting placements who go on to complete a transferable English or Math course within 3 years. Please comment on what stands out for you in your college’s data, and how this connects to your plans for acceleration.

Cohort: Fall 2010-Spring 2012
Fall 2010-
Spring 2012
Initial
Cohort
Fall 2010-
Spring 2012
Two Levels
Below
Transfer
Fall 2010-
Spring 2012
Two Levels
Below
Transfer
Fall 2010-
Spring 2012
One Level
Below
Transfer
Fall 2010-
Spring 2012
One Level
Below
Transfer
Fall 2010-
Spring 2012
Fall 2010-
Spring 2012
Transferable Transferable
First English Course Attempted:
Students
Elidgible to progress
Attempt
Rate
Elidgible to progress
Attempt
Rate Progressed
Attempt
Rate
Two Levels Below State
Redwoods   (ENGL ‐ 350)
30012
210
73.6%
70.0%
1.15
1.16
42.4%
36.2%
1.15
1.15
26.6%
14.3%
1.41
1.10
One Level Below Redwoods   (ENGL ‐ 150) 289 66.4% 1.15
33.2% 1.28
Eligible to progress indicates the % of the overall cohort who were successful in the given class, and therefore eligible to take the next course in t
Attempt Rate indicates the number of times the course was taken by this cohort. 1.0 would indicate that each student in the cohort took the cour
What’s evident in this data is that the lower a student starts and the more exit points there are, the less likely that student will complete English 1A and beyond. We already knew that it’s very rare for a 350 student to finish all the classes in our composition series. What is surprising, however, is to see that 70% of our English
350 students are succeeding at that level, but by the time that they get to English 1A, only 14.3% of that original group has progressed. Similarly, if they start at the 150 level, 66.4% of these students are succeeding at that level, but only 33.2% of them will succeed at the 1A level. What we hope to accomplish by creating an accelerated
English 350/150 is to not only provide fewer exit points for students in our developmental composition series but also to significantly improve our progression and success rates for these students in college‐level classes.

[Template: Letter of support from college administration]
[To be printed on college letterhead, signed, scanned into pdf format, and submitted electronically with application materials]
Deborah Harrington,
Dean of Student Success, Los Angeles Community College District
Executive Director, 3CSN
California Community Colleges Success Network
[date]
Dear Dean Harrington;
This letter expresses support for our college’s application to the upcoming
Community of Practice in Acceleration.
We understand that in exchange for the training and resources provided to participants, our college agrees to meet certain program requirements:
 We will offer at least 2 sections of an accelerated English or Pre‐Statistics course in 2013‐14;
 We will provide a consistent team of 2 to 4 instructors who will teach one of these sections and participate in all components of the program;
 We will work with 3CSN and the California Acceleration Project on follow‐up pipeline studies that track how many developmental students go on to complete transferable courses in English/Math (pilot courses compared with traditional sequence).
We understand that funding from 3CSN and the California Acceleration Project will cover training, food, lodging, and equipment for participating faculty. We understand that our college will bear the primary responsibility for travel to the three in‐person institutes, with 3CSN providing a $250 per person stipend to offset the cost of airfare for long‐distance travel.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[Signature and Title, Vice ‐ President of Instruction
Signature and Title, Dean from relevant area (English or Math)]