C OLLEGE R EADINESS P ROJECT , W ASHINGTON
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A Working Definition
College readiness is the combination of skills, knowledge, and habits of mind necessary to fully participate
in college-level courses (courses at the 100 level and above) to completion.
Remedial education, developmental education, pre-college or college readiness work – all of these refer to
the coursework which an increasing number of our community and technical college students must
complete in order to transition into college-credit courses.
In 2007-08, fifty-three (53) percent of community and technical college students who graduated from high
school in 2007 took pre-college (also known as developmental or remedial) classes. These students –
totaling 12,432 – enrolled in pre-college math, English or reading. ( See Role of Pre-college Education for
Recent High School Graduates.)
Creating Community
Most faculty teaching pre-college courses do not have regular communication or interaction with other
college readiness faculty. There is no strong community to allow for system-wide communication and
collaboration. State for for Community and Technical College (SBCTC) Assessment, Teaching and
Learning staff are striving to cultivate a college readiness community of practice.
There also seems to be no consistent pattern across the community and technical college system as to
which faculty teach these students, how the students are assessed and placed, and what practices are
used to help students persist and succeed. Pre-college coursework may be taught by discipline-specific
instructors, or by adult basic education instructors. Therefore, it has been difficult to identify lead college
readiness/developmental education faculty or liaisons for each college.
Research Needed
A system-wide report on college readiness, including the demographics of the students in pre-college
courses, retention and success rates of transitions to college-level courses, and, identification of practices
that increase student achievement is needed. This report should provide information that will help determine
the focus of efforts to improve teaching and learning in the pre-college courses.
The SBCTC Assessment, Teaching and Learning staff support the college readiness community by:

Providing leadership at the state level
Serving as a resource to the college readiness community in the CTC system, including
reviewing and sharing literature and current research on pre-college issues
Collaborating with SBCTC Adult Basic Education staff on joint projects serving pre-college
faculty
Working with SBCTC researchers to create college readiness report and identify promising
practices that can be brought to scale in pre-college coursework (e.g. I-BEST , practices by
Achieving the Dream colleges)
Collaborating with the Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education

Cultivating a community of practice
Offering a college readiness track at the spring Assessment, Teaching and Learning
Conference
Coordinating with regional organizations for pre-college faculty
Collaborating with the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate
Education on joint projects addressing pre-college needs/issues , including co-facilitating
the College Readiness Retreats

Communicating about proven practices, research and initiatives related to increasing student
success in pre-college coursework. Communication occurs through:
ATL Digest, including college readiness news and resources
Retreats and conference
ATL blog that puts learning at the center
Email distribution group, including lead developmental education faculty or administrators
from each college, as well as previous attendees at College Readiness Retreats
Additional Resources

Going Beyond You and a Few Friends, Strategies for Engagine Colleagues in Collaborative Work
, Peg Balachowski, October 2012 College Readiness Workshop

Campus updates on student success & student learning in developmental education
2012 College Readiness Workshop

Accelerated Outcomes-Based Contextualized Applied Learning Model

College Readiness Project, Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board

Standards for Success

2009 ACT College Readiness Report, ACT

Texas College Readiness Standards, State of Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges
, October
, May 2012
, David Conley
, Carnegie Foundation
Resources From Transforming Pre-College Education Workshop - Nov. 15-16, 2010

National Perspective: Challenges Audio
, Michael Collins, Program Director, Jobs for the Future

National Perspective: Challenges Slides
, Michael Collins

Key Washington State Efforts Audio , Achieving the Dream, IBEST for Dev Ed, Re-thinking Precollege Math: Jeff Wagnitz, HCC; Kerrie Abb, YVCC; Sarah Fowler, BTC; Erik Scott, HCC

Washington State Challenges Slides

List of Resources (anotated)

Table Discussion Summaries

System-wide Vision Components

The Heart of Student Success: Teaching, Learning, and College Completion
Community College Student Engagement
, David Prince, SBCTC; Ann Paulson, EdCC
, Center for
Project Background
In 1994, the Instruction Commission of Washington State’s Community and Technical Colleges requested
that an effort be made to study the “readiness” of students moving from developmental reading, writing and
mathematics to college entry-level courses. The request led to a statewide effort to create developmental
education outcomes for the state’s two-year colleges funded by the State Board for Community and
Technical Colleges (SBCTC) Assessment, Teaching & Learning initiative. Interested faculty from all the
colleges were brought together to work on this project.
Purpose
The purpose of the College-Ready Project evolved into three key components:

To provide a consistent framework for evaluating “college-readiness,” e.g., what students should
know and be able to do when they exit developmental education courses and enroll in college entrylevel courses or enter the workforce.

To provide evidence to support the key role developmental education plays in preparing students for
success in college and the workplace.1

To address accountability questions raised by the legislature and public.
Information Gathering
Initially, community and technical college faculty gathered information from a variety of sources:

Program outcomes specific to their individual colleges.

The work of Washington State’s Commission on Student Learning to define K-12 benchmarks.

The efforts in other states to define what it means to be college ready.

Workplace skill standards considered necessary for one to be an effective worker.

The work of the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) to define minimum admission
standards for four-year institutions.

Developmental education educators with knowledge of theories of cognitive psychology and the
current research on how people learn.

Faculty who teach college entry-level courses for input on their expectations of what students need
to be able to know and do when entering their courses in order to be successful (see Survey,
Appendix A ).
Learning Outcomes
Using this information, the Project faculty developed Learning Outcomes – general expectations for exit –
for reading, writing, mathematics, student responsibility, and observing, listening, speaking. The outcomes
were agreed upon by faculty in all the two-year colleges and endorsed by the Community and Technical
College system’s Instruction Commission in May 19972. The learning outcomes are considered “a work in
progress” and are reviewed periodically to ensure their currency and validity. Revisions have already
occurred and the area of technology added since the initial efforts.
SBCTC data show that for both transfer and workforce students combined, students who complete a
1
developmental education course are more likely to stay in school and persist towards their transfer and
workforce preparation goals making developmental education a good investment. return to citation 1
In addition, individual colleges and/or faculty may have outcomes specific to their campus or course. return
2
to ciatation 2
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Page Manager: jeclark@sbctc.edu
Page Reviewed/Updated: January 13, 2014, 11:24 AM