Developmental Education at Berkshire Community College seeks to foster student success by providing a solid foundation for college learning. Developmental education courses and services are designed to help students achieve academic success by enhancing skills in the three basic academic areas: reading, writing and mathematics. These basic skills are needed for success in college-level coursework.
This blog is a place where news, information, interviews, happenings, events realted to developmental education at Berkshire Community College and in the larger world will be posted. Visit as often as you would like, make comments, and contact me with suggestions for future posts or links to relevant topics.
Attached is an article, “Remediation Worries and Successes” from Inside Higher Ed. about why there is such a high need for developmental education or what they call remedial education. Within the last forty decades the demand for developmental education hasn’t changed however the focus of attention has shifted from developmental English to developmental math.
What to do? This is the million dollar question One interesting suggestion outlined in the article discusses the need to get real about assessing how we are doing. It’s not enough to say 50% of students passed the class. We also need to know was the 50% pass rate those students who didn’t withdraw. What happens to those who do pass the class? Do they go on? Do they succeed? If they don’t stay in the class, when do they leave? Answers to these deeper questions will help guide us in to develop more informed interventions.
One possible strategy that the article mentions is using a modular approach to teaching math. This is a teaching method that Berkshire Community College has been using for many years. The modular, self-paced approach breaks various areas of math into segments. Students then enroll in one or more of these segments or modules and work at thier own pace, taking proficiency tests along the way. The success rates in these self-paced modules has traditionally been lower that in the conventional lecture classes. More recently we have seen the numbers turn around due in large part to the hiring of a Coordinator of Developmental Math, Chantal Rhind.
So, the jury is still out on what is the best approach take when teaching developmental math. Done well and with the right students, the self-paced math classes might be a very good option.
For full-text article see link below:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/10/09/acct
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Glenn Lynde, a student at Berkshire Community College.
Glenn is a soft spoken man who doesn’t easily talk about his accomplishments as a student, but has many. We started by Glenn telling me a bit about his background.
Glenn grew up in Easthampton, MA. He attended Northampton High School but dropped out in ninth grade and joined the military. He then worked as a roofer for 25 years. At some point, Glenn needed to change occupations. He recognized that getting a degree was essential in order to make changes in his life. Glenn also wanted a college degree to challenge himself, to prove that he could “do it”, and to help him feel good about himself.
He found his way to BCC in the fall of 2007 when he enrolled in Project Link, a program designed to prepare GED and ESL students to enter degree and certificate programs at BCC. Despite lack of confidence in his abilities to be a good student, Glenn quickly moved through Project Link and enrolled as a full-time student at the college in spring 2008. At that point, he joined TRIO, a support program for first-generation students.
Glenn credits Project Link and TRIO as having a profound influence on his ability to be successful. The support he has received from both of these programs as well as other faculty and staff at BCC, makes the college feel like “home” for Glenn. Being in college is really his life right now and he is making the most of it.
Like most students at BCC, Glenn started out in precollege math . Having been out of school for so long, he started out at the most basic level and quickly moved on into college level math. Glenn’s success in “developmental math” is remarkable. Many students who start where Glenn did, never finish and often times drop out of school altogether.
Despite his success, Glenn says that math has been one of his hardest subjects. At first he felt intimated by it, but overtime, found ways to overcome these feelings. When I asked Glenn how he did this, he was clear that there were certain steps he took that really helped him be successful. Most importantly, Glenn found two excellent math faculty who were both readily available and helped to explain content in a more understandable way and knew just how much information to give so as not to overwhelm him . Glenn also found that these teachers were extremely encouraging , always telling him that he could “do it” and to” keep trying”. Soon enough, he came to believe their words and saw for himself that with hard work , dedication, and persistence he could be successful in math as well in other courses.
Glenn will graduate next fall with a degree in environmental science and plans to transfer to a four-year school to study geology- no small achievement and with a 3.9 GPA the sky’s the limit!
When I asked Glenn what he would tell other students to help them both get through and thrive at BCC, he offered the following very wise advice:
v Ask for help. There are lots of places to get it
v Use all available resources-faculty, staff, other students, tutors
v Participate in study sessions to prepare for tests
v Study often and use repetition to learn.
v Find a way to really want to be here.
v Set clear goals
v Give yourself a chance. Don’t quit
v Use any support you have from outside of the college-family, friends, counselors, etc.
Doing well in college does take commitment and determination. These are not magical qualitiesl. Glen worked hard to cultivate and use them both in his life and at BCC. His story is a real testament to that. Good luck to you Glenn. There is no doubt that as you move on from BCC you will continue to shine.
Richard McCabe, in his book, Yes We Can, lists the following steps we should consider when designing and implementing an effective developmental program. It’s a useful guideline. In future posts, look for updates on what we are doing at BCC relative to these steps.
16 STEPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAM
1. Avoid the negative connotation of remedial, choosing a more positive term like developmental or preparatory to describe a program for underprepared students.
2. Adopt a centralized approach, or at least carefully coordinate the various units involved in program delivery.
3. Adopt goals for the total program effort, even if there is not a single remedial unit.
4. Provide professional development for all faculty and staff who work with underprepared students.
5. Recognize that at-risk students need structure in courses and support services.
6. Recognize the importance of student orientation for new enrollees.
7. Incorporate counseling, study skills, and learning communities or cohort groups in the program.
8. Integrate the work of tutors and mentors with carefully selected faculty members.
9. Address the issues of assessment, placement, late registration, and simultaneous enrollment in college-level courses, including mandatory assessment and mandatory placement.
10. Establish consistency between exit standards for remedial courses and entry standards for college-level courses.
11. Provide supplemental learning opportunities, particularly for skill practice.
12. Find the appropriate use of technology and media to support student learning.
13. Consider a case management approach for the least prepared students.
14. Embrace a variety of approached and methods in program delivery.
15. Commit to program evaluation and the dissemination of results.
16. Expand and enhance pre-enrollment activity with the public schools.
(McCabe, 2003)
McCabe, R. H. (2003). YES WE CAN! Phoenix, AZ: League for Innovation in the Community College and American Association of Community Colleges.
Do you ever wonder how students who start out in developmental courses do in subsequent courses? Unfortunately, it’s not a pretty picture. Attached is a link from a study that was done tracking more than 24,000 students who entered a community college in Virginia in 2004 to determine their patterns in reaching and course completion in gatekeeper courses.
Overall, the study showed that most students never complete the gatekeeper courses in English and math, primarily due to their starting their education in developmental courses. Most of these students never actually finish the required math and/or English developmental class. However, those who do, do as well in gatekeeper classes as those students who did not need developmental classes.
What this suggests is that students who complete developmental classes appear ready to successfully complete gateway courses. The rest simply never make it to that level and drop out even before they enroll in the required developmental courses. Interestingly, some students who managed to bypass developmental courses do as well in the gatekeeper courses as those who actually took the developmental courses.
The findings of this study raise some interesting questions and suggest some possible solutions to help students more successfully complete gateway courses-especially those who start out in developmental courses.
For example, it seems to make sense that offering students supplemental tutoring would allow some students who might “test” into developmental courses an opportunity to take and pass the gateway course. This would also help students to move directly into college level courses without having to spend time and money completing developmental courses.
If this were to be attempted, it seems necessary to look at the placement test scores to see if there is a correlation between the score and the success in gateway classes. For example, students who score close to the cut off on placement tests could move right into college level English with additional academic support through tutoring.
If we can find ways to accelerate the movement from developmental course work into gateway courses, we would likely help students find their way into and beyond these classes.
Please check out the link below to read the full article as it appeared in Inside Higher Education.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/12/03/remedial
I continually go back to the work of Skip Downing and his approach to student success which he outlines in his book, On Course. Today I was reminded of one of the principles he talks about in his book: accepting personal responsibility. Here at the college, there has been conversation about students who are “not prepared” and/or “disruptive”. Often times the discussions lapse into a complaint session about the students with no real constructive outcome.
So much of what I hear is really about the issue of responsibility. We want our students to be better prepared, to be active learners in the classroom and when they aren’t, we start to blame. We become what Downing calls “victims”. Victims of how the high schools aren’t doing their job, how this new generation feels too entitled. I even got an email yesterday that said our students struggle academically because of poor diets. While this all may be true, it leaves us, as educators, feeling powerless. In some cases, the students are seen as having all the power, while faculty have none. How can we keep enjoying teaching when we feel that we really can’t do anything to change the tide.
What if we asked the question, “Given that my students may be unprepared or disruptive, what can I do about that?” I think this is where Downing’s work really has something to offer. How can we create a classroom that empowers both students and faculty to take responsibility for the learning that happens? How can we as teachers give some responsibility to the students for their own learning? Some of what this implies is that we aren’t nor should we be the experts dumping information into the empty containers that we call students.
How do we create a classroom in which everyone takes a role in the learning?
There is a On Course link on the blog that provides faculty with numerous tools to promote responsibility in students. Please check out the site and share with all of us what you find. I particularly like the use of classroom contracts
http://www.oncourseworkshop.com/Getting%20On%20Course008.htm.
I hope that you will share your thoughts about this post. Anyone?
Developmental Education at Berkshire Community College seeks to foster student success by providing a solid foundation for college learning. Developmental education courses and services are designed to help students by enhancing skills in the three basic academic areas: reading, writing and mathematics as well as through the development cognitive and affective skills. These skills will enable students to be successful in college level courses as well as in the transition to college life, in general.