CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES’ SUCCESS NETWORKCALIFORNIA ACCELERATION PROJECT

Tales From the Second Year: San Diego Mesa College

Wendy SmithPegah MotalebLeyden Daniels

Accelerated Learning ProjectBaltimoreJUNE 7, 2012

A GIFT

ACCELERATED READING, WRITING, REASONING:OUR VELVETEEN RABBIT

Fall 2010-Fall 2011: 2 of 3 colleges in the San Diego Community College District piloted English 265B

An open-access, one-semester, 4-unit course that integrates reading and writing (based on Chabot College model)

18 courses

UNOFFICIAL PHILOSOPHY*

Throughout the sequence of developmental and transfer-level English courses, students develop increasing mastery in college-level academic literacy, specifically the ability to:

Independently read & understand complex academic texts

Critically respond to the ideas and information in those texts

Write essays integrating ideas and information from those texts

FROM THE CHABOT ACCELERATION REPORT BY KATIE HERN, 2012

FALL 2012: IT’S A REAL RABBIT!

English 47 begins as an official course: Mesa will offer 4 courses

Some challenges:Skeptical colleagues

Need for data

No accelerated offerings in Spring 2012 (contradiction?!)

Administrators and the curriculum review process

One college not on board

“ONCE YOU ARE REAL, YOU CAN’T BECOME UNREAL.”

CURRENT SEQUENCE

COURSE RETENTION AND SUCCESS*

FALL-SPRING 2010/11 (MESA AND CITY COLLEGES)

Retention % Success %

Accelerated course 84% 69%

Traditional sequence 88% 66%

*Data collected by Susan Mun, Bri Hanson, and XI Zhang, SDCCD Campus-Based Researchers

ENROLLMENT IN AND COMPLETION OF 101FALL 2010 COHORT (MESA AND CITY COLLEGES)

Starting cohort

Completed Course

Enrolled in 101 the

next semester

Completed 101

101 Completion

Rate

Accelerated course

117 84 54 39 33% of starting cohort; 46% of

those who completed accelerated

course

Traditional pipeline

4,086 3,342 1,201 918 22% of starting cohort; 27% of

those who completed 42, 43, 48 or 49

FALL 2011 MESA COLLEGE ACCELERATED AND TRADITIONAL STUDENT READING LEVELS

2 levels below One level below

Accelerated 0.183673469387755 0.26530612244898

Traditional 0.116113744075829 0.392575039494471

5%

15%

25%

35%

45%

55%

65%

75%

85%

95%

Fall 2011 Cohort Reading Placement by Course Type

Accelerated Traditional

Levels Below Transfer Reading

FALL 2011 MESA COLLEGE ACCELERATED AND TRADITIONAL STUDENT WRITING SKILL LEVELS

2 levels below One level below

Accelerated 0.418367346938776 0.183673469387755

Traditional 0.227488151658768 0.548973143759874

5%

15%

25%

35%

45%

55%

65%

75%

85%

95%

Fall 2011 Cohort Writing Placement by Course Type

Accelerated Traditional

FALL 2011 MESA COLLEGE ACCELERATED COURSES: YOUNG, NEW, LOW-PLACEMENT

4 Sections 98 Students

57% Male 79% between ages 18 and 24 27% placed one level below transfer reading; 18%

placed two levels below transfer reading; 24% had no placement

18% placed one level below transfer writing; 42% placed two levels below transfer writing; 24% had no placement

62% had not earned any units prior to fall 2011 56% were enrolled full time (12+ units)

FALL 2011 ACCELERATED AND TRADITIONAL COURSE OUTCOMES: MESA

Success Rate Retention Rate

Accelerated 0.63 0.899328859060404

Traditional 0.685365301967881 0.860665007916761

5%

15%

25%

35%

45%

55%

65%

75%

85%

95%

Overall Course Success and Retention by Course Type

Accelerated Traditional

NOW….

Big call for research at all levels of administration and all 3 colleges (even the lone holdout)

Team participating in the California Acceleration Project’s Community of Practice (and not the usual suspects)

Ongoing dialogue Research continues: comprehensive report out in

Fall 2012

A new beginning….

SO WHY DO YOU THINK ACCELERATION WORKS?

Psychological and emotional Educational Psychologist Carol Dweck

“growth-mindset” vs. “fixed mindset” Assignments

THESIS STATEMENT SWAPS

Topic+subject(context)+argument Context- Social, cultural, political, psychological,

economical, religious, educational, and geographical Ex: As depicted in contemporary American fiction,

in times of war, mothers suffer the most. Write a thesis statement of your own, answering the

following question: What is the value of education and why?

DIRECTIONS

On one side of the page, write your thesis statement (answer to the question of the prompt.)

On the same side, instead of writing your name, draw a symbol so that you will recognize your paper

On the back of the page, make two columns and title them “Strengths” and “Gifts”

When you are finished, hand me your paper You have two minutes

SECOND SET OF DIRECTIONS

I will give you someone’s paper If you recognize your own paper, please say “That’s my paper” and

I will give you another Read the thesis statement Write at least one positive comment in the “Strengths” column

and explain why (use specific language from the thesis statement)

Write at least one advice for revision in the “Gifts” column and explain why (use specific language from the thesis statement)

Remember, your opinion is important, but your explanation is more important

Once you are finished writing in both columns, hold your paper in the air and I will come over and give you another

We will do this activity for three minutes

THIRD SET OF DIRECTIONS

Identify your paper as I hold it up Read the comments that your fellow classmates

have written What are your thoughts and opinions about these

comments? How do you feel about the comments you have

received? Are there any comments that you especially value?

Which ones are they? Place a star next to them. Are there comments that you disregard? Ask yourself

why you disregard this comment? Put a line through it. What do you want to do now? How do you want to

revise this thesis statement?

KATIE AND MYRA

Six categories in which instructors can work with affective issues 1) Establish and Maintain Positive Relationships

Not just between teacher and student, but between students and their peers

Create a learning cohort and a learning environment where students feel empowered to critique one another (of course constructive criticism.)

2) Give students ample class time to understand content and practice Each student should not leave if they do not understand the

assignment Make writing and developing questions a part of their daily

work (get them in the habit of asking questions and seeking help)- Most of the time, students do not know how to ask questions

3) Opportunities for metacognitive reflection Ask them what they think frequently?

What are your thoughts? Opinions? Comments?

4) Incentives and accountability for doing work Students keep track of their own progress (see progress

report handout) 5) Intrusively intervening when students show signs of

struggle or disengagement Email Conversation after or before class

6) Maintain a growth mindset approach in feedback and grading “You can easily turn this into an ‘A’ essay if you revise the

errors I have pointed out to you.”

THE END