Title III Framework
North Seattle Community College
Revised: March 3, 2008
-1-
Component 1: First Quarter Success Initiative

Institute required college success workshops for incoming first quarter students.
o Workshops to be taught by teams of faculty and student services professionals to
address a number of topics relevant for first-quarter students such as study skills,
introduction to campus resources, educational planning, information literacy, visits to
sample academic classes, etc.
o Workshops would be required of identified groups of students such as (1) first-time
degree-seeking students, (2) basic skills students, (3) developmental students
o Other students select portions of the workshops based on a self-assessment instrument
o Workshops to be offered through a variety of modalities
o Criteria and procedures for exempting students from this requirement would also be
developed.
Component 2: Curriculum Development

Implement Instructional Bridging activities within ABE/ESL courses and across the
transition from ABE/ESL to college-level courses
o Establish a credit-bearing Open-Entry Skills Lab for ABE/ESL students. Lab to support
expansion of the Work Discoveries class and other ‘bridging’ activities.
o Expand offerings of well supported career and educational pathways designed to advance
students through progressive stages of employment and/or education.

Integrate access to student support resources within the curriculum
o Create new models for links with HDC classes or modules from those courses. HDC sections
or modules could be customized to support specific disciplines (e.g. math/science or
humanities) and to offer a menu of options to support advancing students over multiple
quarters.
o Infuse experiences that support student success into the curriculum. Concentrate on core
academic courses and/or high risk courses taken by large numbers of students. Examples of
“infusion” might include an assignment to complete a career interest inventory, writing an
essay on job opportunities in a field of interest, earning course credit for completing an
academic plan with the assistance of an advisor, etc
Review instructional practice and curriculum in developmental-level and college-level
English and Math courses to support:
o Alignment of outcomes within and across levels
o Alignment of curriculum within and across levels

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Title III Framework
North Seattle Community College
Revised: March 3, 2008
-2-
Component 3: Instructional Support

Pilot the use of an academic early alert system.
o The system would proactively solicit information from faculty about first-quarter
students’ performance (attendance, grades, participation, etc) early in the quarter.
o Students whom faculty identify as needing assistance would then be connected with
specific interventions to be identified/developed as part of the grant activity)

Establish a cross-campus transitions committee to design instructional and student activities
that enhance connections across ABE/ESL and College-level programs (e.g. curriculum alignment,
outcome “norming”, student ambassador program to connect advancing college-level students
back with the pre-college/ESL/ABE population

Enhance tutoring services across programs
o Hire a director and support staff for the Math/Science Learning Center (comparable to
positions already in place for English tutoring)
o Increase funding to provide for additional tutoring hours and to offer higher hourly rates for
more experienced tutors
o Increase tutor training
o Through collaboration between faculty and tutoring personnel, develop tutoring “tools” or
modules to support specified class curriculum

Introduce the use of Supplemental Instruction (SI) in selected courses. SI provides a smallgroup environment led by a “TA” to review class work and reinforce learning. SI offers a more
structured approach to complement the self-directed tutoring services already available
Component 4: Professional Development

Provide faculty development to increase the number courses incorporating practices proven to
support student retention and progression. Professional development would be provided for such
practices as
o Supporting multiple learning styles
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o
o
o
o
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Incorporating active learning methodologies
Creating collaborative learning environments
Providing Service Learning (SL) and Undergraduate Research opportunities
Creating integrative learning assignments/experiences
Learning through seminar
Pedagogies supportive of students with learning disabilities
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