1

Writing Across the Curriculum

At Kennedy-King CollegeResults from FY 2015

DRAFT - FOR DISCUSSION ONLY

Prepared by Robert Rollings, summer 2015

2DRAFT - FOR DISCUSSION ONLY

17 or less; 1%

18-26; 54%

27-40; 30%

41-60; 15% 61 or more; 1%

KKC FY15 WAC Contributors by Age

Full Time; 75%

Part Time; 25%

KKC FY15 WAC Contributors by Enrol lment Status

Female; 64%

Male; 35%

KKC FY15 WAC Contributors by Gender

As usual for KKC assessment projects over the last several years, the sample was reasonably demographically representative of the college’s student population as a whole. 309 students participated.

3DRAFT - FOR DISCUSSION ONLY

Advanced Manufac-turing; 1%

Business & Prof Services; 24%

Construction; 6%

Culinary & Hospitality; 5%

Education; 14%

Healthcare; 22%

IT; 4%

Other; 22%

Transportation; 2%

KKC FY15 WAC Contributors by Focus Area

12 or less; 21%

13-25; 28%

26-38; 17%

39-51; 14%

52 or more; 20%

KKC FY15 WAC Contributors by Credit Hours Completed

The WAC sample captured students in a wide array of academic and career programs at an even spread of completion in their programs.

The sample succeeds at representing Writing Across the Curriculum.

4DRAFT - FOR DISCUSSION ONLY

Composition (Average 3.1)

Organization (Average 2.9)

Style (Average 2.9)

Sentence Structure (Average 2.8)

Usage (Average 2.8)

Mechanics (Average 2.7)

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

10%

3%

2%

4%

3%

8%

12%

14%

16%

19%

24%

31%

35%

39%

44%

40%

33%

42%

43%

44%

37%

37%

40%

19%

KKC FY15 Writing Across the Curriculum Results

Limited Emerging Proficient Exemplary

The WAC Committee rated our student body as overwhelmingly proficient or exemplary in all six areas of writing under measurement.

Mechanics and usage are relatively weaker than organization and composition.

If we set Limited as 1 and Exemplary as 4,averages for each measure equaled between 2.7 to 3.1, with standard deviations between .86 and .96

5DRAFT - FOR DISCUSSION ONLY

Women scored slightly higher than men.Age, not shown here, showed no consistent differences.Surprisingly, part-time students scored above full-time!

Mechanics Usage Sentence Structure Style Organization Composition2.402.502.602.702.802.903.003.103.203.303.40

2.75 2.79 2.812.94 2.95

3.13

2.652.74

2.65

2.81 2.86

3.07

KKC FY15 WAC Average Scores by Gender

Female Male

Mechanics Usage Sentence Structure Style Organization Composition2.402.502.602.702.802.903.003.103.203.303.40

2.67 2.71 2.70

2.85 2.86

3.07

2.882.99 2.96

3.05 3.113.24

Chart Title

Full Time Part Time

6DRAFT - FOR DISCUSSION ONLY

We see an overall trend of average scores in most areas rising as students complete more credits at KKC.

This could be because their skills improve with college training, or because only the better writers last until later in the curriculum.

Either way, the differences are a fraction of a standard deviation, and only look significant here because the graph is zoomed infar enough to see them.

Mechanics Usage Sentence Structure Style Organization Composition2.40

2.50

2.60

2.70

2.80

2.90

3.00

3.10

3.20

3.30

3.40

2.69

2.81

2.60

2.902.86

3.02

2.712.74

2.79

2.92

2.84

3.07

2.792.75 2.74

2.87 2.87

3.19

2.56

2.71

2.80

3.00

3.20

3.28

2.90

2.97 2.952.90

3.05

3.18

KKC FY15 Average WAC Scores by Number of Credits Completed

12 or less 13-25 26-38 39-51 52 or more

7DRAFT - FOR DISCUSSION ONLY

Focus area is the only variable measured where differences approached a standard deviation.

Students appear to sort into different fields by writing skill.Should it concern us that Education students had poorer average writing scores than Culinary or Healthcare students?

Mechanics Usage Sentence Structure Style Organization Composition2.0

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3.0

3.2

3.4

2.6

2.8 2.8

3.0

3.0

3.2

2.62.5

2.3

2.5

2.3

2.5

2.9

3.0

2.8

3.03.1

3.3

2.6 2.62.5

2.7 2.7

2.8

3.1

3.0 2.9 3.0 3.0

3.1

3.0

2.8

3.1

2.7

2.8

3.03.1

2.9 2.9

2.7

2.9

3.1

KKC FY15 Average WAC Scores by Focus Area

Business & Prof Services Construction Culinary & Hospitality EducationHealthcare IT Other

8DRAFT - FOR DISCUSSION ONLY

Composition Organization Style Sentence Structure Usage Mechanics0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

3.26

2.92 2.99 2.9 2.98 2.892.92

2.5

2.832.54

2.78 2.7

3.16

2.763

2.862.73 2.76

0.24 0.26 0.170.32

-0.0499999999999998

0.0599999999999996

Average KKC FY15 Writing Across the Curriculum Scores by Placement and Progress through KKC’s English Program

Tested into and has taken English 101 Tested in 98 and not yet at a higher levelTested at 98 and has since taken 101 Difference between English 98 & 100

-0.05

Difference between English 98 & English 101

Testing currently at the English 98 level versus testing at English 98 and having since passed English 101 made no more than 1/3 of a standard deviation of difference in any WAC score.

What does this suggest about what students are or are not learning in the dev ed sequence?

9DRAFT - FOR DISCUSSION ONLY

• Progress through the Dev Ed sequence and through a Kennedy-King college career seem only slightly to increase measurable demonstration of writing skills.• Why is this?• What does this mean that students are getting out of English 98 & 100?• What should we do?

• Students generally show mastery or at least proficiency in the criteria measured by WAC.• How does it matter if students in your classrooms have writing skills?• Do these findings reflect your experience as an instructor?

• Students consistently score higher in composition than in mechanics.• How should we respond?

CONCLUSIONS & QUESTIONS

• Women score slightly higher than men• Part-time students score slightly higher than full-time students• Students appear to sort into different areas of study according to their writing skills