Student Success Conference October 3, 2012 A. Kuehner, Ohlone
College
Slide 2
Embracing and Leading Change Preparing Students for Success in
Transfer-level Composition: Faculty Beliefs and Student Experiences
A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 3
Data Institutional Data - Program review and assessment Student
Surveys - Classroom based research Student Interviews - Outside
classroom research Grades A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 4
Overview Ohlone College and English program Data and hypothesis
Reading Requirement Data collection and analysis Conclusions
Further Research A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
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Ohlone College Community SF Bay area (Fremont)-Silicon Valley
ethnic groups in community: Asian (35.3%) White (29.2%) Hispanics
(19.4%) residents age 25 or over: 26.5% BA; 16.7% grad./prof.
degrees employed residents: 49.8% management or professionals A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 6
Ohlone Students by Ethnicity A. Kuehner, Ohlone College Fall
2006CountPercentage African-American5385% American Indian/ Alaskan
Native 550% Asian4,10635% Filipino8467% Hispanic1,46812% Two or
more races1972% Pacific Islander1561% Unknown1,0859% White
non-Hispanic3,40829% TOTAL11,859100%
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Ohlone College Transfer Rates A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 8
Ohlone College Transfer Students Ohlone transfer students do as
well as or better than students who begin at a UC or CSU Ohlone CSU
transfer students earn a GPA that is higher than other transfer
students A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 9
English Sequence at Ohlone A. Kuehner, Ohlone College Dev.
1Dev. 2Transfer- Level ReadingEnglish 162 Dev. Reading (4 units)
English 163 College Reading (4 units) WritingEnglish 151A Fund. of
Comp. (4 units) English 151B Fund. of Comp. (4 units) Reading &
Writing English 101A Reading and Written Comp. (4 units)
Slide 10
How are students doing in English? CourseFall 2004 Success Rate
Spring 2005 Success Rate English 162 (Dev. Reading 1) 67%53%
English 163 (Dev. Reading 2) 79%66% English 151A (Dev. Writing 1)
51%46% English 151B (Dev. Writing 2) 63%57% A. Kuehner, Ohlone
College
Slide 11
How are students doing in English? CourseFall 2004 Success Rate
Spring 2005 Success Rate English 101A (Transfer-level Comp.) 55%57%
English 101B (2 nd semester Transfer Comp.) 71%68% English 101C (2
nd semester Transfer Comp.) 70%65% A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
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English Faculty: Hypothesis Possible explanations for poor or
falling success rates, especially for 101A, may be that students
are not retaining information and skills from course to course.
From 151B to 101A there particularly seems to be a gap in retention
of information and skills, and students seem to be arriving in 101A
unprepared for college-level reading and writing Program Review,
2006 A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 13
English Faculty: Solution Reading Requirement, Fall 2007 -
Placement test: clear reading or place into developmental reading -
163 prerequisite to English 101A Rationale - Common sensestudents
need college-level reading skills for a college transfer-level
class - Consistencydevelopmental writing required; developmental
reading required A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 14
Reading Requirement: Implementation Placement Testing Data:
Summer/Fall 2009 Total test records: 2530 A. Kuehner, Ohlone
College Writing CourseN of Students% of Students ESL/English
151A26910.63% English 151A65525.89% English 151B75629.88% English
101A85033.60%
Slide 15
Reading Requirement: Implementation Placement Testing Data:
Summer/Fall 2009 Total test records: 2741 A. Kuehner, Ohlone
College Reading CourseN of Students% of Students ESL/English
16228710.47% English 16260121.93% English 16367824.74% Reading
Clear117542.86%
Slide 16
Reading Requirement: Results Dev. Reading Enrollment Increased
A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
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Reading Requirement: Results Dev. Reading Enrollment Increased
A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 18
Reading Requirement: Results 101A Success Rates Improved A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 19
Reading Requirement: Results 101A Success Rates Improved A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 20
Reading Requirement: Results 101A Retention Rates Improved A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 21
Reading Requirement: Results 101A Retention Rates Improved A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 22
Reading Requirement: Results Developmental Writing Success
Improved A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
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Reading Requirement: Results Developmental Writing Success
Improved A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 24
Reading Requirement: Results Concurrent Enrollment Improves
Success A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
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Reading Requirement: Results Concurrent Enrollment Improves
Success A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 26
Reading Requirement: Conclusions Reading requirement helps
students succeed at higher rates in English 101A. Reading
requirement helps students at the lowest level of developmental
writing succeed in their classes. Students in developmental writing
classes benefit from enrolling concurrently in a developmental
reading class at the same level. A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 27
More data Kuehners sections (May 2011) 162 to 101A Success
Rate: 60% 163 to 101A Success Rate: 82% A. Kuehner, Ohlone
College
Slide 28
More data Basic Skills Cohort Tracker (Spring 2011) 162 to 101A
Success Rate: 58.8% 163 to 101A Success Rate: 67.5% A. Kuehner,
Ohlone College
Slide 29
More data Fall 2008: Kuehner grades in 162 A. Kuehner, Ohlone
College
Slide 30
Student Surveys ESL students in English 101A (N=28) Question:
Did you find the reading in 101A difficult? Student Answers: No
(N=15) Yes (N=7) Ambiguous (N=4) A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 31
Student Surveys Question: Did you find the reading in 101A
difficult? Student Answers: - Reading in 101A is not that difficult
- I think the reading in 101A is easier than writing - English 101A
focus on writing more than reading - I found that the reading in
101A was difficult for me A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 32
Student Surveys Question: Did the reading classes you have
taken prepare you for the reading material in 101A? Student
Answers: Yes (N = 9) No (N = 4) Ambiguous (N = 6) A. Kuehner,
Ohlone College
Slide 33
Student Surveys Question: Did the reading classes you have
taken prepare you for the reading material in 101A? Student
Answers: - since I took 162 and 163 before and I am ok with reading
selection. - The class I have taken had improved my reading skill a
great deal, but I found that the reading material in 101A is much
harder than pervious classes. - Compare to the articles that I read
in the ENGL 163, the articles in ENGL 101A are longer and harder.
The ENGL 163 did not prepare me a lot for the reading material in
101A. A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 34
Student Interviews Why are some students successful in English
101A and what do they do to help themselves succeed? What
challenges do basic skills students encounter when they enter
English 101A and how do they successfully meet those challenges? A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 35
Student Interviews Interviewed four basic skills students
taking English 101A - not a random sample - interviews not
standardized - two native speakers; two non-native - two males, two
females - one learning disabled - one older A. Kuehner, Ohlone
College
Slide 36
Student Experiences Chen, second-language learner - struggling
in 101A - problems with constructing clear sentences - not enough
guidance on papers - We dont do anything in classjust discuss the
readings. - homework, but no feedback on writing before a paper is
due A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 37
Student Experiences Chens advice - get more feedback on writing
- do more writing, less discussing, in class - go step by step,
give examples, and break it down for students - handouts,
especially with examples of sentences and sample essays, guidance,
and feedback A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 38
Student Experiences Hanh, older second-language learner -
enjoyed reading and writing assignments in English 101A - teacher
has high expectations for class - teacher doesnt help students with
writing during class; mostly discuss the readings - able to apply
skills from 163 in 101A - husband helps her proofread her papers A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 39
Student Experiences Hanh: Lessons and advice - students benefit
from having support at home - students can apply strategies learned
in previous classes - Hanhs advice: students should receive more
writing instruction in class A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 40
Student Experiences Kristin, native-speaker, high school grad.
- lots of articles and readings, not sure how they all connected -
didnt always know what was being talked about in the articles -
in-class essays count more than out of class papers - lots of work
in 101A A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 41
Student Experiences Kristins advice - work in previous class
helped: summaries, cite, quote, rules about plagiarism - previous
classes should include more writing - should be rules for how long
papers should be - students should write down words they dont know
- students should also be required to read a book on their own and
do a class presentation - teachers should also not accept late
homework A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 42
Student Experiences Mark, learning disabled student - struggled
in 101A: first writing D- - readings are long and complicated; lots
of big words and doesnt always get main point - teacher lectures
nonstop - lots of handouts - confusing when teacher disagrees with
the book - does not like seeing model essays or peer editing A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 43
Student Experiences Mark: Lessons and advice - help from DSPS
tutors - help from former English prof. - visited English prof.
during office hours - persisted; studied 6-7 hours/day A. Kuehner,
Ohlone College
Slide 44
Student Experiences: Success Four students were successful -
passed English 101A in one semester - Hanh A, Mark & Kristin B
- Hanh, Mark, & Kristin successfully completed English 101B
next semester - Fall 2011, Chen transferred to UC Berkeley - Mark
has selected a major and completed his application to transfer to a
CSU. A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 45
Conclusions Focus on writing in transfer-level composition -
write sentences - look at model sentences, paragraphs, essays
Students benefit from support - family, tutors, instructors to help
with writing - friends & friendly teachers in class Persist
despite challenges - Stick with class, do all the work, get help
Benefit from direct, explicit instruction A. Kuehner, Ohlone
College
Slide 46
Data Summary Institutional data (success, retention rates)
Individual section data (success rates) Student surveys Student
interviews Student grades A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 47
Reading Requirement: Research Is developmental reading
effective? YES = Developmental reading course seems to improve
student success as measured by persistence (Pinkerton 2010) YES =
Taking and passing a developmental reading class helps student
success as measured by GPA (Cox, Friesner, & Khayum 2003) A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 48
Reading Requirement: Research Is developmental reading
effective? NO: Remedial reading class does not help students
succeed in transfer-level composition (Calcagno & Long 2008) A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 49
Reading Requirement: Research Is developmental reading
effective? NO & YES: Remedial reading lowers the probability of
obtaining a degree for four-year students but raises the
probability for community college students (Attewell, Lavin,
Domina, & Levey 2006) NOT CLEAR: Students who took a
developmental reading course did as well as students who did not in
the gatekeeper English course (Jenkins, Jaggars, & Roksa 2009)
A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 50
Further Research Number of students in 101A: prerequisite vs.
placed Success of students in 101A: prerequisite vs. placed Success
of developmental students in 101A before/after reading requirement
More student success interviews A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 51
Faculty Beliefs Faculty beliefs may change programs and courses
Reading requirement Faculty beliefs influence data collection and
analysis Reading requirement improves student success in
transfer-level class Developmental classes help students A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 52
Student Experiences Student experiences may not be fully
reflected in the data Students struggle in transfer-level
composition Student experiences may change the way faculty teach
and curriculum Students benefit from direct instruction Student
experiences may extend beyond the classroom Students benefit from
support Students benefit from persistence A. Kuehner, Ohlone
College
Slide 53
What questions do you have about your students? - Success of
students? - Progress of students? - Challenges of students? -
Learning of students? A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 54
What data would help you answer those questions? -
Institutional data http://datamart.cccco.edu
http://datamart.cccco.edu - Cohort tracking data
http://datamart.cccco.edu/Outcomes/Basi cSkills_Cohort_Tracker.aspx
http://datamart.cccco.edu/Outcomes/Basi cSkills_Cohort_Tracker.aspx
- Student surveys - Students interviews - Grades - Other... A.
Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 55
What are the advantages of using certain data? Institutional
Data: - Understand which groups of students succeed or fail - Track
changes to programs - Compare your classes to larger cohort
Interviews, surveys, or grades - Understand why students succeed or
fail - Understand students experiences - Understand your own
classes A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 56
What are the disadvantages of using certain data? Institutional
Data - May mask interesting effects - Difficult to assign
cause-effect Interviews or surveys - Subjective or biased - Time
consuming - Small sample size A. Kuehner, Ohlone College
Slide 57
Any Questions or Comments? [email protected] A. Kuehner,
Ohlone College