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
(below college-level) English; 75% who take the math placement exam place into
developmental math.
The Problem: Too many students leave the college prematurely and fail to achieve wellresearched 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 proposed activity—Strengthening Student Engagement for
Persistence and Educational Achievement—is driven by three inter-related goals: (1)
implement a “first quarter success initiative” to include mentoring, enhanced advising,
and a “College-Ready Seminar” (need better name) integrating student support services
and academic success strategies for the new student; (2) increase instructional supports
targeting key student transition points and “high risk” courses. Methods proposed
include Supplemental Instruction (SI), tutoring, and a self-paced language lab for
ESL/Basic Skills students; and, (3) support and expand innovative, student-centered
instructional models to accelerate the shift towards a learning-centered campus-wide
culture
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.
DEFINE OUR “PROJECT STUDENTS” – Degree Seeking AcTr/ProfTech and
ABE&ESL
North Seattle Community College
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Institutional Strengths
Institutional Strengths (AS/IMS/FS)
o AS Breadth of services to support student academic success (stats here)
o IMS Extensive self-knowledge and planning through recently completed (1) threeyear institutional self-study and (2) four-year master planning study. The self study
for college ten year 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 AS History of and reputation for strong transfer program (xx students transfer to 4year college each year compared to some average? UW has highest CC transfer rate
from NSCC?)
o AS Models of Service Learning and I-BEST (some soft of stats on this)
o New energy, vitality and commitment from a new generation of full- and part-time
faculty (xx new faculty hires over the past 5 years)
o IMS Stable executive-level leadership (stats on our executive team’s tenure)
o IMS 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 IMS Strategic Enrollment Management Initiative begun in Winter 2008 (data for
this?)
o AS Strong and renowned Coordinated Studies program (learning communities) –
(awards, data for this?)
o AS Strong tutoring services in The Loft Writing Center and the Science/Math
Learning Center (serving an average of xx students per quarter)
o AS A trusted and respected Teaching and Learning Center supporting faculty and
staff professional growth (established in xx with Title III funding support and
Carnegie Foundation Funding, serving xx faculty per year and/or offering xx training
programs per week/month, etc.)
o AS The transition from a teaching to learning paradigm has begun, although it is not
yet completed (stats for this, somehow?)
o AS 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 AS A team of highly qualified advisers (X% with M degrees or above).
o AS Highly qualified faculty who represent a wide range of ethnic/racial diversity
(stats of faculty degrees and ethnic/racial balance)
o AS A cross-disciplinary faculty and administrative team is leading a comprehensive
review of all general education requirements and the assessment of general education
outcomes. Work has been supported since xxx with technical assistance from xxx
institute).
o FS Recently emerged from serious financial crisis in xx and currently experiencing a
new period of fiscal stability with increasing reserves (data?)
o FS Strong and growing international student program which generates additional
resources for the college at $xx per student over the state funded formula.
Institutional Weaknesses/Challenges (AW/IMW/FW)
North Seattle Community College
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o Beliefs about ESL students that limit their ability to learn and progress (stats?) Maybe
a way of expressing this is to say there’s a lack of institutional integration between
the faculty and programs serving ESL/ABE students and the college-level systems
and it could be an institutional weakness?
o High numbers of part-time faculty with less connection to/involvement in the college
than is the case for full-time faculty (something about committee participation among
PT faculty?) IW
o High numbers of under-prepared and ESL students (stats) IW or AW?
o High percentage of non-traditional students—older, part-time, working, with “stop-in,
stop-out” patterns—whose lack of homogeneity challenges traditional servicedelivery models (stats on the number of students who enroll out of HS and/or go to
school FT) (IW or AC?)
o History and culture of “siloed” services that result in duplication of services and/or
piecemeal or disconnected services (student support services offered through
workforce education programs for special populations, international student
programs, advising services at the departmental level and through student services,
department level tutoring as well as centralized tutoring ) IW
o Lack of clearly defined educational and career pathwaysin many programs (stats on
this) (AW)
o State funding model for community/technical colleges that does not provide for the
addition support required by under-prepared and ESL students (only 25$ tuition
collected for xx % of our students…..) IW
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) AW
o The advising center is understaffed (stats for this….talk to advising) IW
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) AW?
o Scheduling hurdles – lack of integrated process that is driven by student needs IW
Goals/Objectives
This section is under construction as of Jan 18, 2008.