Goal Team 2 - 2010-11 Final Report Questions May 25, 2011

Goal Team 2 - 2010-11 – Final report questions – May 25, 2011

(Based on Goal Team Discussion of May 11, 2011 and feedback from the team between May 15 and May 25.)

1. To what extent has progress been made toward this goal? What evidence do we have of that progress?

The 2010-11 Goal Team finds that good progress is being made toward this goal.

Objective 2.1: Learning Outcomes

Develop, align, and review program learning outcomes to assure a cohesive curricular and co-curricular experience that enhances student learning.

· Curricular outcomes have been developed and alignment is completed for the AS program and for courses targeted in the Developmental Education Initiative. Work is underway in General Education, and we now have one General Education curriculum for both the AA and AS programs.

· Substantial work has been completed in defining co-curricular outcomes. Student development fund requests must now show alignment with the strategic plan and specific learning outcomes of the course and/or program.

Objective 2.2: College-level Writing

Increase the percentage of students writing at the college level.

· A rubric has been developed for college-level writing and has been used at the program level in assessment projects for Comp I for several years. It was not used in 2010-11 for program level assessment of college-level writing.

· We have seen progress, and now need a plan to advance beyond the work done to date.

Objective 2.3: Completion of Mathematics

Increase the percentage of students who complete the math sequence within two years.

Completion is defined as successfully completing the highest level math course required for the student’s declared major or as defined by the certificate program in which they are enrolled. (Note that developmental education is not a program.)

· Data show a long-term trend toward increases in the completion of courses in the prep sequence and the college credit courses. We are seeking a way to follow students through the college credit courses, which becomes quite complex because students’ programs of study for mathematics vary based on their educational goals.

· Substantial investments have been made in student support services for mathematics.

Objective 2.4: Completion of 15 College Credits

Increase the percentage of students mandated into developmental courses who complete within three years the first 15 college level hours of their programs of study. (Developmental courses are defined to include MAT1033C.)

· Plans to increase SL/LinC sections have been achieved.

· Financial aid has increased markedly.

· Withdrawal rates are down in College Prep courses.

· Completion of 15 credit hours by First Time in College degree seeking students is improving.

Objective 2.5: Close Achievement Gaps

Close achievement gaps among students from diverse backgrounds in completing six key courses, leading to increased persistence and program completion rates. (MAT 0012C, MAT0024C, MAT1033, ENC1101, POS 2041, MAC 1105)

· Data reveal that the trend has been upward on a course by course basis, but some fluctuation has occurred, and in some cases the gap is growing again.

· In some cases, Hispanic students now fare better as a cohort than do other students.

2. Do the current and planned activities in the Strategic Initiatives reports show promise of “moving the needle” on the goal by 2013?

Yes, the Goal Team finds that we are moving the needle on this goal, and that there is promise of achieving and/or making substantial progress toward the objectives by 2013.

The team noted that the college needs to establish a baseline for Objective 2.2 – College-level writing, if we are to measure progress.

The team also noted that the approaches appear to be the right ones for Objective 2.5 – Close Achievement Gaps, but this is not a straight pathway, and there is much to be learned about the fluctuations.

3. Are there significant challenges or opportunities related to goal 2 that should be noted?

Challenges include:

For 2.1 – Learning Outcomes

Challenges

- The work in some areas is at the course level, and has not progressed to the program level.

- The co-curricular work may not be fully to scale by 2013, but substantial progress has been made, and work continues.

- The college has had a vacancy in the Chief Learning Officer position for a number of months, and there is a need for clarity regarding leadership and vision for this work.

For 2.2 – College-level Writing

Challenges

- We lack the data for the baseline, so it is difficult to know if we have made progress. We will have data when the rubric is used and the results are recorded.

- “College-level” has not been defined at the beginning of Comp I, end of Comp II, nor as students complete Developmental Education.

- The sheer volume of work underway at the college leads to some work, such as this objective, not moving forward as quickly as we would like.

For 2.3 - Completion of the Mathematics

Challenges

- Obtaining the data for completion of college-level courses is a challenge.

- Enrollment growth and the related need for resources in support centers are challenges.

Opportunity

- Expansion of the Statway option for those who otherwise might not complete their mathematics courses provides an opportunity.

For 2.4 – Completion of 15 credit hours

Challenges

- Keeping pace with growth, so that appropriate support services are available.

For 2.5 – Closing the gaps

Challenges

- Identifying the reasons for fluctuations experiences in the gaps is a challenge.

- We have increased our use of our selected strategies, and still experienced lost ground in some cases.

Opportunities

- We may learn more by analyzing the data based on gender differences.

- We held our own or gained ground on closing gaps while relative resources declined and enrollment grew, so we know there is much we can do if we continue to serve students with these strategies.

4. Have we learned anything that we are currently using or that we might use to improve the success of future efforts toward achieving goal 2?

2.1

- We have learned from Foundations of Excellence the value of involving people broadly as we analyze and address challenges.

- Major initiatives require clarity of language and process, and consistency in the use of terms.

- Learning outcomes reach beyond the subject matter being taught to include other skills that can be mastered.

- It is important to move from the process of creating and documenting learning outcomes to actually using them to enhance student learning.

2.2

- When we write goals and objectives, we need to identify and document a baseline for measurement purposes. If a baseline cannot be obtained, then we should alter the goal or objective statement.

- Don’t allow fear of the outcome to prevent the college from measuring baselines and changes.

2.4

- There are a lot of moving pieces to an objective as complex as this. There is no silver bullet and no one approach works. We need to understand the many pieces at play in enabling a student to complete 15 credits.

2.5

- Don’t be afraid of setting what may seem like a Big, Hairy Audacious Goal, such as closing achievement gaps.

- Be patient and give change time to take place.

- When we apply new approaches, the individual student’s experience improves, even if the numbers do not necessarily increase right away, and the change in the student experience has immediate value.

5. Does the team have any recommendations regarding the goal or the measures being used to gauge progress (as developed by the 09-10 team)?

The team does not recommend any changes to the goal or the measures being used to gauge progress, which are included at the end of this report for reference.

The team noted that for Objective 2.1, the measures are fine, but the college should focus on enhanced student learning as soon as that becomes possible, and not just on the process of creating learning outcomes and aligning curricula.

For Objectives 2.2 and 2.3, the team noted that we must be able to obtain the proposed baseline, or make changes.

For Objective 2.4, the team noted that when the economy changes, we may see some artificial changes because students come and go based on employment opportunities. We must remember to put these numbers in the broader context of students’ lives.

Goal 2 objectives and the short term measures set by the 2009-10 Goal Team:

Objective 2.1: Learning Outcomes

Develop, align, and review program learning outcomes to assure a cohesive curricular and co-curricular experience that enhances student learning.

Short term measures:

· A list of programs for which learning outcomes will be assessed will have been defined by 2013.

· A report will be completed detailing the first cycle of establishing and using learning outcomes (involving assessment, refinement and readiness for the next cycle) for the General Education and the Associate in Science programs

· A design of the improvement cycle will have been recorded and implementation will be underway for the Associate in Arts program.

Objective 2.2: College-level Writing

Increase the percentage of students writing at the college level.

Short term measures:

· A list of the appropriate writing levels for all students will have been established.

· Common assessments for written communication will have been implemented in General Education and Developmental Composition courses.

· A plan to offer appropriate support services will be made available and will have been implemented.

Objective 2.3: Completion of Mathematics

Increase the percentage of students who complete the math sequence within two years.

Short term measures:

· Compare student progress in completing the math sequence to that of students in the 2009 cohort being used in the Developmental Education Initiative. (Note that some students have greater challenges than others in moving rapidly. Some have challenges that make this difficult to do within two years.)

· A plan for appropriate student support services will be made available and will have been implemented.

Objective 2.4: Completion of 15 College Credits

Short term measures:

· Compare the 2008 current Supplemental Learning/Learning in Community (SL/LinC) sections and students to future numbers.

· Compare the 2008 percentage and number of students receiving financial aid, and dollar amount, to future numbers.

· Compare annual cohort measures of withdrawal rates.

Objective 2.5: Close Achievement Gaps

Short term measures:

· Data analysis will reveal issues that influence performance, including performance for students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, and those measures will become a part of our routine monitoring and reporting.

· An expanded definition of diversity will be developed and a richer set of cohort studies will be available for comparison.

· Introductory college-level courses with labs will be examined for pre-requisites and for reading skill levels required for success in the courses and a report issued on any changes recommended to embed reading skills into the courses and/or to adjust pre-requisites.