Improving Student Success in Developmental Education – Update Report
#1. Describe the past year's accomplishments and the current status
of this Action Project.
Our FY 08 work plan for improving student success in developmental
education is outlined below and is available at
http://ncstatecollege.edu/aqip/where%20we%20are.htm
Strategy 1: Strengthen the college advising system
Action
Timeline
Implement mandatory assessment and placement for
In place
mathematics courses.
Leader(s)
MTH Dept
B. Walker
Prepare study guides (basic skills sheets) and other
tutorial materials for each of the developmental math
courses to be used with COMPASS assessment.
In place;
now being
revised
MTH Dept
B. Walker
Utilize COMPASS mathematics diagnostics tool
In place
Require FYE161 for every student taking one or more
developmental mathematics, reading or writing courses.
In place
B. Walker,
SSC
M. Puckett
B. Walker
Expand the DIRECTIONS advising program to include
every student testing into any developmental
mathematics, reading or writing course(s).
In place
B. Walker
Utilize the Noel-Levitz College Student Inventory with
every student taking one or more developmental courses.
In place
B. Walker
Student Success Center advisors will share information
with students about the number and frequency of NCSC
students starting in developmental work in an effort to
reduce the stigma and increase acceptance by students.
In place
B. Walker
Create protocols in each developmental course for
triggering the Early Alert process.
 Developmental Reading and Writing and FYE
Completed
 Developmental mathematics
In process
Strategy 2: Improve curriculum and instruction
Action
Timeline
Add a computer enhanced tutorial to each of the
In place;
developmental math classes
being
redesigned
Convert MTH100, 102 & 103 from lecture format to
In place,
R. Birk
MTH Dept
Leader(s)
B. Cyders
Mathematics
faculty
B. Cyders
lecture/lab combination.
Utilize PLATO software to enhance developmental
curriculum and instructional methods as appropriate.
being
redesigned
In place;
progress
continues
Mathematics
faculty
R. Birk
J. Karbula
B.Cyders
T. Coleman
Data Team
R. Birk
B. Cyders
Analyze student success rates in Plato-enhanced courses
and compare to success rates in other sections of the
same course taught in the traditional fashion
By 9-1-07
Research and develop standard protocol to trigger
mandatory, one-on-one tutoring in developmental writing
classes. Based on protocol, implement mandatory tutoring
for writing.
In place
R. Birk
B. Walker
Convert RDG115 from a 3-credit, 3 contact hour course to
a 1-credit, 2-contact hour lab course that will be taken
concurrently with RDG116.
In place
R. Birk
Implement a tutor training program for developmental
reading, writing, and mathematics tutors
In place
S. Luckie
B. Walker
Provide training to FYE instructors on best practice
techniques for success courses.
In place;
will be
ongoing
First draft
completed;
ongoing
Fall 07
M. Puckett
Explore modularized developmental mathematics credits
Provide additional Plato lab coverage for dev. math
support.
B. Cyders
B. Cyders
For information on our preliminary results, go to Assessment Results Report
and Assessment Results PowerPoint.
We have made much progress. However our work in improving student
success in developmental mathematics has presented some unforeseen
challenges, and for this reason we will refocus our efforts in this area in the
coming year. Many of the proposed changes in developmental math courses
were not implemented in the way that they were conceived in our original
work plan. Some were conceived without sufficient input from the
Mathematics faculty. The Plato software acquisition occurred very late in the
planning process and therefore was not addressed very thoroughly in the
original work plan. Use of the software as an instructional tool has met with
mixed reviews from mathematics faculty.
A transition to a new department chair mid-year presented some trust and
communication challenges for the Math department. There is now new
leadership in the Mathematics area and a readiness to re-think and re-design
our developmental mathematics strategies.
#2. Describe how the institution involved people in work on this
Action Project.
From the beginning, our Board of Trustees and our president have kept this
work on the institution’s priority list. This Project is one of the institution’s
five strategic initiatives for FY08. The college has supported this Project with
institutional dollars and has added grant dollars where appropriate.
The college community is updated on the Project at quarterly “President’s
Open Forum” meetings as well as fall convocation, the staff in-service day in
November and faculty/staff in-service day in April. Our Board of Trustees
receives regular reports on the status of our work.
There is a lot of energy behind this Project. The work is directed by a Core
Team that meets twice a month to discuss progress and next steps for this
Project. There is also a Data Team handling data collection and analysis, and
a Communications Team charged with keeping the campus and extended
community aware of this work. One member of each of these teams serves
on the Core Team and acts as a liaison.
Our Communications Team prepares a quarterly publication which can also
be viewed via the web at http://www.ncstatecollege.edu/atd/newsarchive.html and is distributed widely on campus and in the community. This
electronic newsletter won the Gold Medallion Award from the National Council
for Marketing and Public Relations (NCMPR) in 2007 (to view the award
electronically, visit www.ncstatecollege.edu/offices/ia/awards).
A presentation regarding our work was made to the Ohio Council of Student
Development. Representatives from North Central State College made
multiple presentations at the 2007 Achieving the Dream Strategy Institute in
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
#3. Describe your planned next steps for this Action Project.
Step 1: Redesign our strategies to improve student success in developmental
mathematics with the assistance of a new dean and the Mathematics faculty.
Step 2: As we have measured and reported the outcomes of the changes
made in the developmental reading and writing areas, our results have raised
questions that need to be answered by additional data analysis. In
particular, we believe that we need to look more closely at the age of our
students and its relationship to success in developmental courses. Our data
indicate that our median student age is dropping steadily, and that our
youngest students are also those most likely to struggle in developmental
courses. We will do more data analysis and then, if appropriate, design new
or different strategies based on promising practices with younger learners.
Step 3: Continue to find linkages and partnerships with other work going on
at the institution or in our community that supports our efforts, or that our
efforts can help to support. For example, our college is part of a regional P16 initiative which we envision will assist us in developing relationships with
our secondary partners. This in turn will enable us to better serve the needs
of our younger learners. The long term goal is to better align the curriculum
in the secondary schools with the expectations of the colleges so that
students graduating from our high schools are academically ready for college
level work.
#4. Describe any "effective practice(s)" that resulted from your work
on this Action Project.
a. Our developmental reading faculty created a reading course that
converted a lower-level reading course from a 3-credit, 3 contact hour course
to a 1-credit, 2-contact hour lab course that is taken in conjunction with the
upper-level reading course. The reading course combines computer assisted
instruction via Plato software, tutoring, and in-class learning experiences.
Students complete a reading pre-test and post-test.
Prior to the curriculum redesign, student reading levels increased an average
of one grade level during the class. Since the implementation of the
redesign, students are improving an average of two grade levels.
b. Developmental education faculty created protocols (specific to each
course) for triggering the Early Alert process. Not only did our number of
Early Alerts to students increase significantly, but the success rate of
students receiving Early Alerts increased as well.
#5. What challenges, if any, are you still facing in regards to this
Action Project?
We have some challenges with assuring that we are using the appropriate
data to measure our expected outcomes. We tend to look primarily at
student success rates (passing with grade of C or better) and in some cases
there is other data that might better inform us as to our progress or success
with this work. We rely on our faculty who are doing the work in the
classroom to alert us to these other measurements (e.g. a reading faculty
member suggested that we look at Nelson Denny pre and post scores and
reading level improvement for students as another indicator of success,
rather than relying so heavily on course grades).
#6. The optional question:
Outside assistance with a research design for our future work in improving
student success in developmental education would be most helpful. Please
contact Margaret Moir, Vice President for Learning Support and retention, at
pmoir@ncstatecollege.edu or 419.755.4704.