ACCELERATE
PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS AT GAVILAN COLLEGE
PRESENTERS
• Scott Sandler, English 250P-260P: Accelerated
English (no prereq, one level below transfer)
• Karen Warren, English 250P-260P, English
Supplemental Instruction coordinator
• Elena Dachkova, Math 235: Integrated Algebra
(one level below transfer); Math 411: Integrated PreAlgebra; Math boot camps
• Marla Dresch, STEM accelerated math
WHY ACCELERATE?
TH E L E A K Y P IP E L IN E
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
The more levels of developmental
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.
NATIONWIDE DATA
256,672 FIRST-TIME DEGREE-SEEKING STUDENTS FROM 57 COLLEGES
PARTICIPATING IN ACHIEVING THE DREAM
Students’ initial enrollment in
developmental sequence
% of students who
Successfully complete collegelevel gatekeeper course in
subject
Reading
1 Level Below College
42%
2 Levels Below College
29%
3 Levels or More Below College
24%
Referral, Enrollment, and Completion in Developmental Education Sequences in Community Colleges
(CCRC
Working Paper No. 15). By: Thomas Bailey, Dong Wook Jeong & Sung-Woo Cho. December 2008. New York:
Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University. (Revised November 2009).
EXPONENTIAL ATTRITION:
ILLUSTRATION OF THE MULTIPLICATION PRINCIPLE
HOW MANY STUDENTS WILL PASS THE COLLEGE-LEVEL COURSE?
If this was the
student’s initial
placement…
And these were the rates at which they passed each class
and persisted to the next class in the sequence…
70%
80%
90%
1 level below
transfer
34%
51%
73%
2 levels below
17%
33%
59%
3 levels below
8%
21%
48%
Source: Exponential Attrition and the Promise of Acceleration In Developmental English and Math
By Katie Hern, English Instructor, Chabot College, with contributions from Myra Snell, Professor of Mathematics, Los
Medanos College, June 2010
A WORKING DEFINITION:
Accelerated developmental education
involves curricular restructuring
that reduces sequence length
and eliminates exit points.
Ideally, it also includes a
reconsideration of curricular content:
Is what we are teaching in developmental
courses what students truly need to succeed
in college English or math?
ENGLISH 250P-260P
NO PREREQUISITE, ONE LEVEL BELOW TRANSFER
SPRING 2012 : ENGLISH
ACCELERATED MODEL COMPARISON
Accelerated
NonAccelerated Accelerated
Success
66.7%
NonAccelerated
Retention
57.6%
88.1%
80.3%
Overall, the accelerated course students were
retained and succeeded at substantially higher levels.
These differences are surprising since this course
moved at faster pace and included students who
were eligible to take a 400 level course. These findings,
however, are preliminary since this was the first term
the accelerated model was offered.
Source: Accelerated English 11/12, Gavilan College Institutional Research
ACCELERATION IN MATH
INTEGRATED COURSES, BOOT CAMPS, STEM
ACCELERATION MODELS
FROM 3CSN’S CALIFORNIA ACCELERATION PROJECT
AVOIDANCE MODELS
Programs and policies that provide alternative
pathways and/or help students skip levels, such as
Bridge and/or review programs that enable students to
move into a higher level of coursework:
Chaffey College’s 3-week review course for arithmetic
students – see “Spotlight” feature at
http://3csn.org/developmental-sequences
Contextualized reading/writing/math/ESL embedded in
Career-Technical programs. See Career Ladders Project
http://www.careerladdersproject.org
COMPRESSION MODELS
Combining levels of a sequence into an intensive
format within the same semester, either keeping the
total # of units the same or reducing the # of units
(e.g.: Elem. & Intermed. Algebra):
Gavilan’s JumpStart classes: integrated reading and writing or
integrated algebra
Chaffey College’s Fast-Track to Success, compressed courses
in multiple disciplines
MAINSTREAMING MODELS
Placing developmental students into a transfer-level
course with some kind of additional support built in, such
as supplemental instruction, additional lab hours, or
student tutors embedded in class:
Most well-known example: The Accelerated Learning
Project at the Community College of Baltimore County
http://faculty.ccbcmd.edu/~padams/ALP/indexa.html
MODULAR REDESIGN
Replacing the traditional course sequence with
individualized learning modules; more fine-grained
diagnostic tests assess students’ incoming levels of
skill/understanding and instruction focuses on these
areas, often aided by computer software:
e.g.: self-paced instruction with ALEKs software
STRETCH-AND-SKIP MODELS
Teaching a lower course to the outcomes of higher
course, then providing an easy skip mechanism to
advance high-achieving students past level(s) of the
sequence, eg.
1-level below college English taught as college English, with
credit by examination providing course credit to students who
successfully stretched (Berkeley City College)
Developmental English courses 2-3 levels below transfer
taught like 1-level below, with successful students advanced
through pre-requisite challenge process
SEQUENCE REDESIGN
Restructuring curricula to engage developmental
students more complex reading, writing, and thinking
tasks sooner a prioritize the most essential skills and
knowledge needed college courses:
Eliminating levels in sequence and enabling
students with lower score to enroll in more
advanced courses
One-semester, open-access pre-statistics courses
One-semester, open-access reading and writing
courses
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
ACCELERATION TASK FORCE?
RESOURCES
• California Acceleration Project
http://3csn.org/developmental-sequences/
• 2012 Strengthening Student Success Conference,
see Rethinking the Developmental Sequence and
Creating Pathways for students
http://www.rpgroup.org/events/2012-studentsuccess-conference
• Chaffey College’s Fast-Track to Success, with
compressed courses in multiple disciplines
http://www.chaffey.edu/fasttrack/index.shtml