BASIC SKILLS RETREAT
River Mill
October 24, 2008
AGENDA
8:30-9:00
9:00-9:15
9:15-9:45
9:45-10:30
10:30-10:45
10:45-11:15
Check-in/Continental Breakfast
Overview of the Day
Icebreaker/Introductions
Institutional SLOs
Break
Brief BSI Overview and Delta’s
Student Success Initiative
11:15-12:00 Sharing of Basic Skills Mini Grants
12:00-1:00 Buffet Lunch
1:00-3:00
Inquiry Work Groups
3:00-3:30
Wrap-up
THANK YOU…
Micaela Smith - Retreat arrangements
Kathy Hart - Supervision and support
Raul Rodriguez - Sponsorship of retreat
ICEBREAKER/INTRODUCTIONS
Favorite movie
Favorite relaxation
activity
Pet peeve
Craziest thing
I’ve done
INSTITUTIONAL SLOs
Dr. Kathy Hart
15 MIN. BREAK …
Basic Skills Initiative
Organizational and Administrative Practices
Institutional choices concerning program structure,
organization, and management have been related
to the overall effectiveness of developmental
education programs
• Revision of Mission Statement to include Basic Skills
• Establishment of a Student Success Coordinator
• Highly Coordinated Basic Skills
• Revision of Math Assessment cut scores
Basic Skills Initiative
Program Components
According to the literature, a number of specific
programmatic components are characteristic of highly
effective developmental education programs
• Review and revise current orientation policy to mandate
orientation for all new students.
• Establish learning communities, which integrate basic
skills english, reading, math and orientation guidance courses
• Establish counseling outreach program to basic skills english
students. Classroom presentations were scheduled in basic skills
english courses, with follow up student counseling appointments.
• Establish an Academic Recovery Program for students who are in
at least one basic skills course and do not satisfactorily complete
their second semester of college.
 Establish a Learning Differences Awareness
Training program for basic skills instructors.
LD specialist will start with training GED
instructors about Learning Differences and
accommodations available to students.
 Establish a pilot counseling assessment that
examines student expectations and student
learning skills to be utilized in the orientation
of basic skills students.
Basic Skills Initiative
Staff Development
According to the literature, the importance of
comprehensive training and development opportunities
For faculty and staff who work with developmental
Students cannot be overestimated…
• Conferences:
Education Policy Institute
NASPA
NADE
Noel Levitz
Student Success
Bass Lake
BSI
TRPI
UMOJA
Guest Speaker:
Vincent Tinto
Basic Skills Initiative
Instructional Practices
Effective instructional practices are the key to achieving
desired students outcomes for developmental programs.
•
Program utilizing a selection of readings and creating writing
prompts for english lab writing assignments to improve critical reading
skills and writing skills in response to text based prompts.
•
Reading Diagnostic Center. Through an appropriate reading
assessment, identify specific areas of weakness and assign
students to work on specific corresponding learning modules.
•
Utilize My Writing Lab and My Computer Lab with accompanying texts
to provide self paced practice sets and more active learning.
2008 Approved Basic Skills Mini Grants
Mark Mekjavich, Debra
Louie, Jazmin Amen
English 70 Counseling Project
Mark Mekjavich, Stacey
Bagnasco, Dan Baker
Academic Alert
Mark Mekjavich, Dan
Baker
Summer Planning Academy
Nina O'Connell, Joe
Gonzales
Reading Writing Learning Center
Nina O'Connell, Joe
Gonzales
Reading Writing Learning Center Reading Diagnostic Center
Nina O'Connell , Joe
Gonzales
Reading Writing Learning Center
Eva Chavez
Professional Development Disability Training
Kindra Beale
Learning Community
Evelyn Chapman
3 R's of Academic Recovery
English 73A & 73B Writing
Writing Software
Manga
Manger
Itadakimas
Lets Eat!
Strengthening Pre-Collegiate Education in
Community Colleges (SPECC)
• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
• The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Participating Colleges:
Cerritos College
Chabot College
City College of San Francisco
College of the Desert
College of the Sequoias
Glendale Community College
Laney College
Los Medanos College
Merced College
Pasadena City College
West Hills College
Faculty Inquiry Groups (FIG)
…a conversation about learning undertaken in a
collaborative setting to identify and investigate questions
about student learning. Findings from the process come
back to the classroom in the form of new curricula, new
assessments, and new pedagogies, which in turn
becomes subject for further inquiry.
August 2008 The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Inquiry #1
Formulate a question or a set of questions, that when
examined, would help you to understand how to make
Delta’s students’ learning environment more effective.
What evidence would you explore/analyze in order to
help answer your question?
What are some possible answers?
1. Rearrange in mixed colored dot groups
2. Choose a recorder in each group
3. Report out in 45 Min.
Inquiry #2
What are some possible collaborative solutions to your
answer/s? Think out of the box.
Make sure to use all of the resources your group
members offer.
Design an interdisciplinary common course outline and
teaching strategies for a course that might contain your
solutions.
1. Choose a recorder in each group
2. Report out in 45 Min.
What Next?
• Faculty Inquiry Groups grant application
• Future Professional Development Activities
• Additional Basic Skills Mini Grants with a focus