Key Barriers to Student Success

Antelope Valley College

Anne Rees and Mary Rose Toll

The Problems
There is Limited access to Basic Skills courses; not enough sections are offered to meet student needs. It takes much too long for students to complete all courses in the Basic Skills Sequence to reach college level competancy

The Facts
English offers 3 levels of classes below transfer level Reading offers 3 levels of classes below transfer level Mathematics offers 4 levels of classes below transfer level

RELATED FACTS
IF the student needs to take all of the Reading courses, it will take them a year and a half.* One and a half years for English* Two years for Mathematics*

*If the students are successful

Once students complete a course in the Basic skills sequence

They often cannot get a seat in the next level class.
They become discouraged. Their newly learned skills become rusty.

HELP HELP

THE PROBLEM

HELP

HELP!!! I cant get out!

Student Voices
I don wanna keep on doin this stuff.
Its gonna me forever to get outta these basic skills classes

I wanna get to the good classes.

Structural Barriers imposed on students

Key Barriers
Limited access to courses-- lack of institutional planning to provide enough sections of classes to meet students needs Limited Budget allocations Extensive time commitment

Barriers to Success what should we do?

How do we break down the barriers?

Or should we go around them????

We must be Agents for Change

Reasons for Change

We need to change the model to meet the needs of all students within the given budget We also need to move students through the sequence more quickly

A Model for Change

1. Models of recombination of courses. READ and ENGL combined.

2.Curriculum redesign for students to complete this course in one semester. 3. Adjust cut scores to accommodate change in course design

Preparing Faculty for Change

Reading faculty need to be crosstrained to teach English.

English faculty need to be crosstrained to teach Reading.

All faculty need to be trained in Reading Apprenticeship. Send some faculty to the Acceleration Institute. Stipends for trainers and training

English Tracking Data

Cohort Beginning in Fall 2008 to Fall 2011
ENGL 099 Students 297 ENGL 097
Students 265 Attempts Success 324 141

ENGL 101 Success 140 ENGL 099

Students 102 Attempts 129 Success 61

Attempts 405

Students 111

Attempts 160 ENGL 101

Success 80

Students Attempts 52 78

Success 39

ENGL 095
Students 150 Attempts Success 165 77

ENGL 097
Students 59 Attempts 75 Success 33

ENGL 099
Students Attempts 25 34 Success 17

ENGL 101
Students 14 Attempts 18 Success 8

Reading Tracking Data

Cohort Beginning in Fall 2008 to Fall 2011
READ 099 Students 135 READ 097
Students 117 Attempts Success 134 61

ENGL 101 Success 87 READ 099

Students 36 Attempts 40 Success 23

Attempts 138

Students 45

Attempts 65 READ 101

Success 33

Students Attempts 12 16

Success 11

READ 095
Students 45 Attempts Success 59 20

READ 097
Students 12 Attempts 12 Success 8

READ 099
Students Attempts 2 2 Success 1

Proposed Course Redesigns

Redesign Model A Old Model New Model

ENGL 099
4 Units / 4 LHE

READ 099
4 Units / 5 LHE

ENGL 098
5 Units / 5 LHE

ENGL 097
4 Units / 4 LHE

READ 097
4 Units / 5 LHE

ENGL 096
5 Units / 5 LHE

ENGL 095
3 Units / 3 LHE

READ 095
2 Units / 3.3 LHE

ENGL 094
2 Unit / 4.1 LHE
5 Hour Lecture-lab

Reduce Units from 21 to 12 Reduce LHE from 24.3 to 14.1

Redesign Model B Old Model

ENGL 099
4 Units / 4 LHE

New Model
ENGL 098
5 Units / 5 LHE

READ 099
4 Units / 5 LHE

ENGL 097
4 Units / 4 LHE

READ 097
4 Units / 5LHE

ENGL 095
3 Units / 3LHE

READ 095
2 Units / 3.3 LHE

ENGL 096
2 Unit / 4.1 LHE
2 Hours Lecture + 3 Hours Lab

Reduce Units from 21 units to 7 Units Reduce LHE from 24.3 to 9.1

Where do we begin?

Who Map
Reading and English Faculty

Dean of Language Arts

Director of Basic Skills

Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs and Student Services Assessment Coordinator
Dean of Institutional Research

Who Map (cont.)

Dean of Counseling and Matriculation and Enrollment Services Faculty Chair of Academic Policies and Procedures (Curriculum) Academic Senate Counselors

Categorical Directors (EOPS, OSD, CalWorks, etc.)

Student Success and Equity Committee

Next Steps
Meet with the English/Reading Department Chair Meet with the Language Arts Dean Present the concept to the Language Arts Division FYI to Academic Policies and Procedures to identify resistance Develop Curriculum Course approval process