The link below takes you to the National Center Postsecondary Research conference site. There are some good video presentations taken from their developmental ed. conference last September.
NCPR Developmental Education Conference 2010
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SENSE – News
Kay McClenney, director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement, and author of an article entitled: Helping Community-College Students Succeed: a Moral Imperative states:
The reality for community colleges is this: No matter how good our colleges are today — and they do contribute mightily to educational access, work-force development, and economic prosperity — they simply are not yet good enough. Our results, particularly when stated in terms of student achievement, are not adequate to serve the pressing needs of individual students, communities, states, and the nation.
The challenges that community colleges face are particularly evident in the area of developmental education. McClenney reviews what some community colleges are doing to address these challenges.
Read on
Community Colleges Must Focus on Quality of Learning, Report Says « CREATIVE STRATEGIES
What do we need to focus on:
Critical thinking skills
College success skills
Professional development. Read on…
Community Colleges Must Focus on Quality of Learning, Report Says « CREATIVE STRATEGIES.
90-Day Cycle: Exploration of Math Intensives as a Strategy to Move More Community College Students Out of Developmental Math Courses | Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Summer bridge programs or “boot camps” to help move out of developmental math
What is Developmental Advising?
Margaret King, a founder of National Academic Advising Association, defines developmental advising as both a process and an orientation. It reflects the idea of movement and progression. It goes beyond simply giving information or signing a form.
For the full article read: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/clearinghouse/advisingissues/dev_adv.htm
In essence all students are “developmental” in that they are constantly “developing” skills that help them achieve their academic, personal, and career goals. For most students, the first year is a time when even more attention is required to help students transition successfully.
Recognizing this, a group of faculty and staff at BCC created a center specifically designed to meet the needs of incoming students especially those who test into two or more developmental courses.
The overall mission of the center named “GetREAL” (GetResources in Education, Advising, and Learning) is to build a relationship between advisor and student that, as it develops, encourages student independence as they achieve educational, career, and personal goals through the use of a broad range of college resources.
The center opened this past September. Currently there are 12 advisors, some professional staff, some adjunct faculty who are advising roughly 60 students in everything from what classes to take to setting career goals. It is truly an approach the focuses on the whole student.
Look for updates as the year moves on.
Advising is more than just putting students in classes. Check out our new advising program at Berkshire Community College:GetREAL
Instructional Delivery in Developmental Mathematics: Impact on Retention
Computer based instruction may not be the best way for students to learn especially in developmental math classes.
Instructional Delivery in Developmental Mathematics: Impact on Retention.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Good article about math!
Connection
Beginning college for many students can be like landing in a foreign country. There are new rules, a new language (like registrar, financial aid, syllabus), and a new community of students some who have been in this strange land longer than others. Put yourself in that place for a minute. YIKES. What can be done to help students have a smoother and easier transition to the new world of college?
One very effective strategy that a college can implement Continue reading
News: What the Pledge Means – Inside Higher Ed
News: What the Pledge Means – Inside Higher Ed
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The buzz lately is about how we can improve college completion rates and the focus is on developmental education. When an average of 60% of students nationwide need to take and pass at least one developmental course, this makes sense. It also means that we have to look at what we have done to address the needs of developmental learners, assess their effectiveness, and plan accordingly.
Lack of funding, doing more with less, means that we need to look at ways to address student needs beyond offering them the traditional 15-week classes that consume time and money for both the student and the college. This article talks about the need to modify the way that we teach developmental courses:
“as most states fund courses for a 16-week or semester-long model, those remedial courses or methods that do not fit such a model do not receive money. Collins argued that this derails “accelerated delivery” methods such as short refresher courses that only last a few sessions and cover only the specifics areas in which students are deficient, a strategy which, he noted, has achieved success in research. Many studies have found that students who take a long time to reach college credit courses are likely never to do so, while the refresher approach lets new students start in right away on college-level work.”
BCC is right on board with the idea of short-term refresher courses that address specific student deficiencies. These “prep” courses , focusing on math skills, are taught in four three-hour sessions. Students work with the instructor using MyMathTest, a software program that allows them to focus on the “holes” they may have in certain areas of math. They then retake the accuplacer math placement test with the goal of raising their test scores.
So far, the results look very promising.Statistics from last summer’s workshops show:
- Of the 78 individuals who attended the MyMathTest workshops, 56, or 71.8%, retested (56/78).
- 37 of the 56 individuals who retested, or 66.1% of the group, advanced their math placements on Accuplacer by a total of 133 modules or credits (37/56).
- 20 individuals, or 54.1% of the group experiencing advanced scores, achieved at least a three-credit gain in placement allowing the option to skip at least one lecture class within the departmental math continuum, if applicable for the individual’s chosen program of study (20/37).
BCC will continue to offer the Math Prep Workshops this summer with the aim of helping students successfully get through, pass, and move into college level math in a faster, and less expensive way.
If you are interested in learning more about BCC’s summer prep classes, Please contact our developmental math coordinator at crind@berskshirecc.edu