UNLEASHING STUDENT CAPACITY:
INCREASING COMPLETION AND EQUITY
THROUGH CHANGES TO PLACEMENT, CURRICULUM,
AND PEDAGOGY
COLLEGE OF THE REDWOODS CONVOCATION
AUGUST 20, 2015
Katie Hern
CAP Director
English Instructor
Chabot College
khern@chabotcollege.edu
http://cap.3csn.org
The Problem
In California, more than 75% of incoming
community college students are designated
“unprepared” in English, math, or both and
required to enroll in remedial courses.
Student Success Scorecard
How Do Community Colleges
Determine Whether a
Student Is College-Ready?
Placement Testing
“Colleges generally place students into
remedial classes based primarily on a single
score on a standardized test.”
Core Principles for Transforming Remedial Education:
A Joint Statement
The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas, Austin
Complete College America
The Education Commission of the States
Jobs for the Future
Are you college ready?
Sample Item: Accuplacer “Sentence Skills” Test
Writing a best seller had earned the author a sum of
money and had freed him from the necessity of selling his
pen for the political purposes of others.
Rewrite, beginning with The author was not obliged
The new sentence will include
A) consequently he earned
B) because he had earned
C) by earning
D) as a means of earning
Are you college ready?
Under-Placement into Remediation
Study of a “Large, Urban Community College System”
Scott-Clayton, CCRC, 2012
Statistical modeling predicts
• 61% of assessed incoming students could make a C or
better in college English if placed directly. (19% were
eligible by placement test cut-offs.)
• 50% of assessed incoming students could make a C or
better in college math if placed directly. (25% were eligible
by placement test cut-offs.)
Under-placement: An Invisible Problem
“When a student is placed into college-level course and
fails there (an over-placement error), the fact that there has
been a placement mistake is painfully obvious to all.” But
“when a student does well in a remedial course, it is
unlikely to be perceived as a problem.”
Judith Scott-Clayton, 2012
“Do High Stakes Placement Exams Predict Success?”
The Curious Incident of
Placement Testing at Butte College…
In 2011, Butte switched from one placement test to another.
While establishing cut scores, they were surprised to find
that more than twice as many students were now eligible to
enroll directly in college English.
Old test/cut scores:
23% of incoming students “college ready” in English
New test/cut scores:
48% of incoming students “college ready” in English
Completion of College English in One Year
College-Wide – first-time freshman cohort
• Tripled for African American students (8%  23%)
• Doubled for Hispanic students (13%  27%)
• Doubled for Asian students (17%  35%)
• 1.6 times higher for White students (23%  37%)
Old policy:
Whites’ completion nearly 3 times higher than African Americans’
New policy:
There’s still a gap, but whites’ completion now just 1.6 times higher
than African Americans’
Alternative Placement with Multiple Measures
Students qualify by test scores OR high school grades
Multiple Measures Assessment Project in California
Examined high school and community college transcript
data from across the state and found that 72% of students
could be placed into college English with an average grade
of C+ using the following criteria:
• Overall high school GPA of B- or higher (2.7)
OR
• C in AP English
OR
• Overall GPA of C+ or higher (2.3) AND 12th grade English grade Bor higher
No data sharing with feeder high schools? Use self-report.
Long Beach City College
Pioneered a new use of multiple measures for placement
into college-level English and math
Prior Approach:
• Relied primarily on standardized test scores
• 10% of students “college ready” in math
• 13% of students “college ready” in English
New Approach:
• Included test scores and high school transcript data, with
overall high school GPA weighted heavily
• 30% of students deemed “college ready” in math
• 59% of students deemed “college ready” in English
Long Beach City College
Completion of College English
Within Two Years
70%
64%
58%
60%
More restrictive access
(Fall '11: 13% of incoming
students eligible for college
English )
51%
50%
39%
40%
34%
Broader access (Fall '12:
59% of Promise Pathways
students eligible for college
English)
30%
24%
25%
20%
13%
10%
0%
African American
Asian
Hispanic
White
Long Beach City College
With multiple measures, access to transfer math tripled
Completion of Transfer-Level Math
within Two Years
40%
36%
35%
Restrictive Access (Fall
'11: 10% of incoming
students eligible for
transfer-level math)
30%
26%
25%
21%
21%
20%
18%
Broader Access (Fall '12:
30% of Promise Pathways
students eligible for
transfer-level math)
15%
12%
12%
10%
5%
4%
0%
African-American
Asian
Hispanic
White
A Pathways Approach in Math
Traditional math remediation:
All students must test out of -- or make it through -- the
remedial algebra sequence, regardless of its relevance to
their intended program of study
A pathways approach:
Colleges begin by asking which college-level math students
will take for their program of study and whether
algebra needed to be successful there.
Gross Curricular Misalignment between algebra and statistics
Virginia Community College System
A new placement test and different math competencies set
for entry into college math for different academic paths
(intermediate algebra only required for STEM programs)
• Prior to the change, 19% qualified for college math.
After the change, 43% qualified
Three times as many students completed college math in
their first year.
Bottom Line
• Students are not as under-prepared as our
standardized tests have led us to believe.
• Many more students could be successful if
allowed to enroll directly in college-level courses.
• Broadening access to college-level courses is a
powerful lever for narrowing equity gaps.
Investigate Your Local Placement Policies
• What % of incoming students qualify for direct access to
college-level English and math? How does this vary by
race/ethnicity?
• Is your college in compliance with state guidelines on
disproportionate impact? (Access for students of color should
be no lower than 80% of white students’ access.)
• To what extent are multiple measures used in placement,
especially overall high school GPA? Do multiple measures
apply to only a narrow band of students near the cut score, or
an alternative way to access transfer-level courses?
• Is a student’s educational goal part of math placement? Are
algebra tests blocking access to courses that require little to no
algebra? (e.g, College Statistics)
What should we do with students
we think really are
under-prepared to be successful
In a college-level course?
Our Traditional Approach
Require students to take 1-4 semesters of
remedial courses
In up to four different subjects
Math
English
Reading
and/or ESL
Most courses do not earn degree/transfer credit
Unintended Consequence
• The more levels of remedial courses a student
must go through, the less likely that student is to
ever complete college English or Math.
Bailey, Thomas. (February 2009). Rethinking Developmental
Education. CCRC Brief. Community College Research Center.
Teachers College, Columbia University.
Disappearing Students: English
Students’ Starting Placement
English-Writing
% Completing
Transfer-Level
English in 3
Years
One Level Below
48%
Two Levels Below
34%
Three or more Levels Below
19%
Statewide data, Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, Fall 2009-Spring 2012
Disappearing Students: Math
Students’ Starting Placement
Mathematics
% Completing
Transfer-Level
Math in 3 Years
One Level Below
35%
Two Levels Below
15%
Three or more Levels Below
6%
Statewide data, Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, Fall 2009-Spring 2012
Placement as an Equity Issue
• Black and Latino community college students are much more likely to
be placed 3-4 levels below college math:
Black students:
Latino students:
White students:
Asian students:
61%
53%
34%
32%
• All students of color are much more likely to be placed 3-4 levels
below college English:
Black students:
Asian students:
Hispanic students:
White students:
25%
19%
18%
8%
Perry, M.; Bahr, P.R.; Rosin, M.; & Woodward, K.M. (2010). Course-taking
patterns, policies, and practices in developmental education in the
California Community Colleges. Mountain View, CA: EdSource.
Use the Basic Skills Cohort Tracker
to Examine Your Local Data
http://datamart.cccco.edu/Outcomes/BasicSkills_Cohort_Tracker.aspx
The Problem is Built into the Structure
Students placed 2 levels below college English/
Math face 6 “exit points” where they fall away:
• Do they enroll in the first course?
• If they enroll, do they pass the first course?
• If they pass, do they enroll in the next course?
• If they enroll, do they pass the second course?
• If they pass, do they enroll in the college-level course?
• If they enroll, do they pass the college-level course?
Students placed 3 levels down face 8 exit points.
Illustration: Chabot College
Students starting 2 levels below College
English:
• Do they enroll in the first course?
•
•
•
•
•
??%
If they enroll, do they pass the first course?
66%
If they pass, do they enroll in the next course?
93%
If they enroll, do they pass the second course?
75%
If they pass, do they enroll in the college-level course?
If they enroll, do they pass the college-level course?
91%
78%
Fall 2006 Cohort. Students tracked from their first developmental English enrollment and
followed for all subsequent English enrollments for 3 years. Pass rates includes students
passing on first or repeated attempts within timeframe. Basic Skills Cohort Tracker, DataMart.
(0.66)(0.93)(0.75)(0.91)(0.78)= 33%
Thought Experiment:
What if more students passed the first course?
How many would complete the college-level course?
(0.66)(0.93)(0.75)(0.91)(0.78 ) = 33%
If 75% passed the first course…
37%
If 80% passed the first course…
40%
If 90% passed the first course…
45%
What if 90% passed and persisted at each point?
(0.90)(0.90)(0.90)(0.90)(0.90) = 59%
BOTTOM LINE
Improving our results within the existing multilevel system will never be enough. We must
restructure curricula to eliminate the exit points
where we lose students -- we must accelerate.
The California Acceleration Project
Supporting Community Colleges Statewide
• 61 colleges are working with CAP to offer accelerated
English and Statistics pathways that
– Reduce students’ time in remediation by at least a semester
– Align remediation with college-level requirements, including
offering a redesigned pathway for students taking Statistics
– Use high-challenge, high-support pedagogy
– Make no changes to rigorous, transfer-level course (only
remediation is changed)
CAP Evaluation by the RP Group
Examined the first 16 colleges offering accelerated
pathways with CAP, using statistical methods to
control for pre-existing differences in student
characteristics. Key findings:
•
Students’ odds of completing college English were 2.3
times greater in high-impact models of acceleration
than students in traditional remediation.
•
•
Students odds of completing a transferable math
course were 4.5 times greater in accelerated statistics
pathways than in traditional remediation.
Benefit to All Students
Significant completion gains among all student
subgroups studied, including:
• all ethnic groups
• low-income students
• students who had taken ESL courses
• students who had not graduated from high school
• students with low GPAs
• students with disabilities
• “The implication is that students from an array of skill
ranges can be prepared for success in transfer-level
English or statistics,” say Hayward and Willett. “No
specific placement level was associated with negative
outcomes, indicating that these accelerated pilots
adhered to a ‘do no harm’ principle.”
Eliminating Achievement Gaps in CAP Math Pathways
Completion of Transfer-Level Math within 1.5-2 years
(Descriptive data, no statistical controls)
50%
44%
45%
41%
39%
40%
35%
35%
Traditional Remediaion
30%
25%
23%
20%
18%
14%
15%
10%
10%
5%
0%
Asian
Black
Hispanic
White
CAP Accelerated
Statistics Pathway
Windows into CAP Classrooms
Acceleration is not just
teaching the same things faster
Window into an Accelerated Classroom
• Video footage from Myra Snell’s accelerated pre-Statistics
class, Fall 2009. Enrollment: students with any placement
score below college math.
• Students are working collaboratively on a problem from
the CAOS exam, used in Statistics courses at colleges
and universities nationally.
• Video created by Los Medanos student Jose Reynoso.
http://vimeo.com/9055488
Window into CAP Classrooms: Math
Away from …
Decontextualized algebra, mimicry of symbolic procedures
and template word problems
A passenger train leaves the train depot 2 hours after a
freight train left the same depot. The freight train is
traveling 20 mph slower than the passenger train. Find the
rate of each train, if the passenger train overtakes the
freight train in three hours.
Window into CAP Classrooms: Math
Toward …
Data analysis and decision-making in the face of
uncertainty
What factors correlate with low birth weights? Use graphs
and conditional percentages to investigate the relationship
between one of the factors in the data set and low birth
weight. Present your results in 500 words or less, include
relevant graphs and calculations.
Data set: Birth weights and 6 qualitative factors from a
Massachusetts study of 189 pregnant women.
Before and After CAP Redesign: Irvine Valley College
Assignment in traditional course
two levels below college English
Assignment in single-semester course for
students placed two levels below
In her essay “Friends, Good Friends, and
Very Good Friends,” Judith Viorst
categorizes the various types of friends
she has … For this assignment you will
write 3 paragraphs. The first paragraph
will be a summary of Viorst’s essay. This
paragraph will serve as an introduction
and should end with a thesis statement in
which you mention the two types of
friends you plan to discuss in your
subsequent paragraphs. The next two
paragraphs should each describe one type
of friend and provide an example from
your experience. You must choose one of
Viorst’s categories and create one of your
own.
In this essay, you will argue whether Angie
Bachmann, whose story is described in
Chapter 9 “The Neurology of Free Will:
Are We Responsible for Our Habits?”
should be held accountable for her
gambling debts based on what you know
about addictions from “Rat Park: the
Radical Addiction Experiment” by Lauren
Slater and habits from the The Power of
Habit by Charles Duhigg.
Window into CAP Classrooms: English
Away from …
Traditional remediation front-loads sub-skills, on
the assumption that before students can do a
more complex task, they must have mastery of its
component parts:
• In reading: workbook exercises on recognizing main
ideas, building vocabulary
• In writing: grammar exercises before paragraph writing,
personal essays before text-based essays
Window into CAP Classrooms: English
Toward …
Accelerated pedagogy gives under-prepared
students experience with college-level reading,
reasoning, and writing, with more in-class support
than in a regular college course. Sub-skills in
reading and writing are addressed as needed in
the context of the more challenging work.
An Especially Powerful Form of Acceleration
Co-Requisite Models
Students classified as “below transfer level” are allowed to
enroll in a transfer-level course with extra concurrent
support, saving them at least a semester of stand-alone
remediation and reducing their chances of dropping out
(e.g., “1A-plus” models: students co-enroll in English 1A
and 2 additional units with the same instructor).
Co-Requisite Models
Instead of stand-alone remedial courses
ALP, Community College of Baltimore County
Completion of College English
90%
84%
80%
69%
70%
60%
50%
46%
40%
Developmental Students
Starting One-Level Below
College
Developmental students
enrolling in College
English with Support (ALP)
32%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Black Students
White Students
White students’ completion 1.4 times higher than Blacks’ in traditional
developmental path – gap shrinks to 1.2 in ALP
Co-Requisite Models
Instead of stand-alone remedial courses
Randomized, controlled experiment with 721 CUNY
students who placed into elementary algebra assigned to
one of three treatments:
• Elementary algebra: 38% passed
• Elementary algebra with SI support: 45% passed
• College Statistics with SI support: 56% passed
One subgroup passed statistics at a rate of 68%. This
group included students with placement test scores that
would have placed them into pre-algebra at Santa Rosa JC
(3 levels below college math).
Three High-Leverage Strategies
Changing Placement Policies:
Colleges broaden access to transfer-level courses, and make access
more equitable, by adjusting cut scores, using robust multiple
measures, and requiring algebra-based testing and remediation only for
access to courses that require substantial algebra.
Implementing Co-requisite Models:
Students classified as “below transfer level” are allowed to enroll in a
transfer-level course with extra concurrent support, saving them at least
a semester of stand-alone remediation and reducing their chances of
dropping out (e.g., “1A-plus” models: students co-enroll in English 1A
and 2 additional units with the same instructor).
Redesigning Remedial Courses:
Multi-level sequences in English and math are replaced with
accelerated courses that are well aligned with the transfer-level
requirements in students’ chosen pathway.
If I were Queen of College of the Redwoods,
I would…
1.
Immediately replace current placement policies with multiple
measures in English and math and a pathways approach to
math remediation.
2.
Develop new co-requisite curricular models for college-level
English and Statistics.
3.
Expand offerings of current pre-Statistics and accelerated
developmental English courses & support faculty through
local training/mentoring programs.
4.
Provide Reading Apprenticeship training to faculty across the
disciplines (introductory workshops through 3CSN, online
course).
5.
Use BSI, SSSP, equity, and new AB770 funds to support
these efforts (e.g., reassigned time for faculty leads, hourly
pay for part-time faculty).