What we learned Recommendations & challenges

What we learnedRecommendations & challenges

As a college, we’re focused on student retention from Pre-College to College

Wanted to determine whether adding a College-level class with Developmental English would increase retention, provide greater access to English 101, and support equity

Participated in a national project on assessing integrative learning with The Washington Center - Led by Emily Lardner and Gilles Malnarich with leadership from Veronica Boix Mansilla (Project Zero)

Read “A New Era for Learning Communities” by Lardner and Malnarich (Change Magazine, 2008)

Attended two College Readiness Retreats in ’09 Planning for an Integrated Pre-College

English/College to bridge to our Coordinated Studies program: “Beginnings”

20+ years of Integrated Developmental English —10 Credit Course in Reading & Writing

A few courses combined in the late 90s or early 2000s

We have over 4,000 FTEs/6 sections of Pre-College English each quarter

AA Degree requires ENGL 101 & 102 + a Communications class

• create a learning community

• have the students gain confidence in their

reading, writing, and speaking skills

• add a college course to give them “motivation” for

doing well in the Developmental English course

• combine skills from the 3 classes to be seamless

and integrative and engage the students in active

learning

• Came with a Master’s Degree in Engineering from South Korea

• Compass Scores=95 in Writing; 77 in Reading

• Placed into ENGL 101 but took our 15-credit class

Immigrated four years ago from Eritrea and Ethiopia where he studied some English in his school

High School Graduate Immigrated to U.S. four years ago Compass Scores: 08/09 60 in Writing

and 55 in Reading; 12/09 35 in Writing and 75 in Reading

omplete when she started class.• Dropped out of school at grade 6. • Compass Scores: 43 in Writing and

81 in Reading• Composite score placed her in ENGL 097-

08; • Completed GED Writing during our course

and passed• Recommended to go backwards and take

ENGL 095-06 to learn writing skills that she missed

GED & courses in Florida and Military; Training in Military as an Electronic Technician

Compass Scores: 67 in Writing; 74 in Reading

A poet who loves self-expression; Didn’t want to do more distance courses

Working on his AA degree while completing a high school diploma; had taken several levels of ESL

From Vietnam and plans to pursue advanced college degrees

Compass Tested twice: Sept. 09 with a 25 in Writing & 55 in Reading; Dec. 09 with a 76 in Writing & 71 in Reading

Taking ENGL 099—5 credits-- after this course

Each table will focus on one student. We invite you to read two samples of their writing – a handwritten sample the first week and an excerpt from the final integrative essay.

Valuing the Work*: Read in silence noticing general qualities of the work that you value. Share these observations in your small group.

Raising questions*: Once everyone has had a chance in your small group to describe appreciated qualities, the group is to raise questions about what you read and see.

Putting it all together: Hearing from each group. What did we learn?

*Adapted from the Collaborative Assessment Protocol developed by Veronica Boix Mansilla (Project Zero, Harvard).

RyanRobel Gretchen

Reggie

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