North Seattle Community College
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Abstract
The Institution and Its Students: North Seattle Community College was established in
1967 as part of the three-college Seattle Community College District. The college serves
students from throughout the metropolitan Seattle area, with the majority coming from
the city’s north end. North Seattle awards associate transfer degrees, a wide range of
professional-technical degrees and certificates, and a high school completion certificate.
In 2007-08, the college employed 85 full-time faculty and approximately 200 part-time
faculty to serve over 6,000 credit-seeking students (approximately 3,200 FTE students)
each quarter (excluding summer quarter whose figures are much smaller). The student
body comprises 62% female, 35% students of color, 71% part-time, 58% employed. The
college serves nearly 1,000 ESL (English as a Second Language) students each quarter.
Fifty percent of students taking the English placement exam place into developmental
(belowcollege-level) English; 75% who take the math placement exam place into
developmental math.
The Problem: Too many students leave the college prematurely and too few persist to
achieve well-researched academic momentum points that predict long-term educational
and occupational success. Forty percent of students who intend to study for a year or
more leave after only one quarter never to return. Of degree/certificate-seeking students,
only 30% earn a minimum of 45 credits or an award. While one-third of them express
the desire to do so, only 4% of ESL students progress into college-level coursework.
The Solution: The college proposes an activity—Strengthening Student Engagement for
Persistence and Educational Achievement—comprised of these three components: (1)
increase the number of students benefiting from learning communities within the
classroom – leading up to and throughout their first year of college-level work1. ,; (2)
increase instructional supports – targeting key student transition points and high risk
classes (methods proposed include supplemental instruction, tutoring, self-paced
language lab for ESL students), (3) implement a “first quarter success” initiative
including a 2 credit “first quarter student seminar”, a student calling campaign to connect
with each student systems to ensure contact is made all with all students during their first
quarter of studyoutreach by student support services staff to first quarter enrolled students
and better aligned advising activities to specifically support the first quarter student.
This Proposal: Drawing on state and national research conducted by the Washington
State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, North Seattle requests $2.0 million
over five years to (1) decrease from 40% to 25% the number of students who leave after
only one quarter, (2) increase from 30% to 45% the number of degree-seeking students
earning 45 college-level credits or an award, and (3) increase from 4% to 15% the
number of ESL students who progress into college-level coursework. All measures are
over the five-year duration of the grant.
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A cohort-model strategy that demonstrably improves retention and educational success including I-BEST
programs (I-BEST – Integrated Basic Education Skills Training. This model integrates ESL/ABE learning
with high-demand college-level professional-technical training) Coordinated Studies and Service
Learning).
North Seattle Community College
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Institutional Strengths
o Breadth of services to support student academic success (stats here)
o Extensive self-knowledge and planning through recently completed (1) three-year
institutional self-study and (2) four-year master planning study (self study for college
ten eyar accreditation completed xx and Master Planning study completed xx – both
with multi-year planning processes soliciting input from stakeholders across campus
and local community)
o History of and reputation for strong transfer program (xx students transfer to 4-year
college each year compared to some average?)
o Models of Service Learning and I-BEST (stats on this)
o New energy, vitality, commitment from a new generation of full- and part-time
faculty (xx new faculty hires over the past 5 years)
o Stable executive-level leadership (stats on our executive team’s tenure)
o Statewide community/technical college system supporting the Student Achievement
Initiative that lays the groundwork for our proposal (based on David Prince Research,
supported by Ford Foundation initiative xxx)
o Strategic Enrollment Management Initiative begun in Winter 2008 (data for this?)
o Strong and renowned Coordinated Studies program (learning communities) – data for
this?
o Strong tutoring services in The Loft Writing Center and the Science/Math Learning
Center (serving an average of xx students per quarter)
o Teaching and Learning Center supporting professional development trusted and
respected by the faculty (established in xx with Title III funding support and Carneige
Foundation Funding, serving xx faculty per year and/or offering xx training programs
per week/month, etc.)
o A transition from the teaching to learning paradigm has begun, although it has not
been completed (stats for this)
o A strong distance learning program and support for faculty teaching DL courses. (xx
courses offered each quarter with a full or hybrid distance learning options)
o A team of highly qualified advisers (X% with M degrees or above).
o Highly qualified faculty who represent a wide range of ethnic/racial diversity (stats of
faculty degrees and ethnic/racial balance)
o Comprehensive review of our general education requirements and the assessment of
general education outcomes (supported by a cross disciplinary faculty and
administrative team since 2007 with support from institute xxx ).
o Recently emerged from serious financial crisis in xx and experiencing a new period
of fiscal stability with increasing reserves (data?)
o Strong and growing international student program which generates additional
resources for the college at $xx per student over the state funded formula.
Institutional Weaknesses/Challenges
o Beliefs about ESL students that limit their ability to learn and progress (stats?) Maybe
a way of expressing this is to say there’s a lack of institutional integration between
the faculty and programs serving ESL/ABE students and the college-level systems??
North Seattle Community College
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o High numbers of part-time faculty with less connection to/involvement in the college
than is the case for full-time faculty (something about committee participation among
PT faculty?)
o High numbers of under-prepared and ESL students (stats)
o High percentage of non-traditional students—older, part-time, working, with “stop-in,
stop-out” patterns—whose lack of homogeneity challenges traditional servicedelivery models (stats on the number of students who enroll out of HS and/or go to
school FT)
o History and culture of “siloed” services that result in duplication of services and/or
piecemeal or disconnected services (student support services offered through
workforce education programs for special populations, international student
programs, advising services at the departmental level and through student services,
department level tutoring as well as centralized tutoring )
o Lack of clearly defined educational and career pathways in many programs (stats on
this)
o State funding model for community/technical colleges that does not provide for the
addition support required by under-prepared and ESL students (only 25$ tuition
collected for xx % of our students…..)
o Student attrition before achieving educational milestones/goals (what about
something like xx % of students entering college without a clear educational goal and
only xx% accessing services to create a IEP during the time they’re enrolled)
o The advising center is understaffed (stats for this….talk to advising)
o More than one-half of the faculty report that they do not have sufficient time to
engage in professional development activities. (based on xxx survey contributing to
the self study)
Goals/Objectives
This section is under construction as of Jan 18, 2008.