Academic Success

First-time/Full-time StudentsFall 2008, 2009 and 2010

Concurrently Enrolled in English and Select Courses

Background to the Study

• College History– Late 1970s

• Restrictions upon enrollment– Dependent upon type and number of developmental courses– Reading and writing developmental placement

» Restrictions to largely performing arts courses

– 1990s• Change in state funding criteria

– Open enrollment– Regardless of developmental placement

» Especially in Humanities and Social Sciences

The Study

• Appreciate the support provided by the Faculty Research Program to allow for the study

• Appreciate the support of Institutional Research for providing the data

• Appreciate the support of numerous colleagues with whom I have spoken

The Study

• Assess the success rates of students– Concurrently enrolled in English and– Select General Education Courses

• Judged as Reading Intensive through their outlines– Anthropology– History– Philosophy– Political Science– Psychology – Sociology

The Data

• Student anonymity assured• Faculty anonymity

– All course data comingled by discipline

The data sets

• Three cohorts– 2008, 2009 and 2010

• First-time fulltime– Represents some duplicate head counts

• Some students may be enrolled in more than one Gen Ed course

The data SetsOnly those students co-registered in select credit courses

– Fall 2008• N=904

– 15 students in English 050– 74 students in English 060– 815 students in English 111

– Fall 2009• N=940

– 14 students in English 050– 108 students in English 060– 26 students in English 070– 792 students in English 111

The Data Sets

– Fall 2010• N=

– 39 students in English 050– 236 students in English 060– 195 students in English 070– students in English 111

» Ambiguous

The data sets

• English 050– N is small for all years– Statistically unreliable

• English 070– N is small for 2009– Statistically unreliable

• Solid sample sizes– English 060– English 111

Accuplacer PlacementReading   Sentence Skills →    

Comprehension ↓ Write ↓ 0-57 58-82 83+

20-61

1-2ENGL 050 * ENGL 050 * ENGL 050 *

3-4ENGL 050 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 *

5ENGL 050 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 *

6+ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 *

62-82

1-2ENGL 050 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 *

3-4ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 *

5ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 111 w /ENGL 070 *

6+ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 Recommend ENGL 070 * ENGL 111

83+

1-2ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 *

3-4ENGL 060 * ENGL 060 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 *

5ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 Recommend ENGL 070 *

  6+ENGL 111 w/ ENGL 070 * ENGL 111 Recommend ENGL 070 * ENGL 111

Percentage of FT/FT StudentsDevelopmental Courses

• English 41% N=533• Math Computation 10.3% N=134• Elementary Algebra 52% N=676

Remedial EnglishCourse Enrollment Data

• Fall 2011– English 050

• 98 students– English 060

• 362 students– English 070

• 329 students

• Spring 2012– English 050

• 28 students– English 060

• 229 students– English 070

• 257 students

The Reference Points• Using English 111 and Success Rates in Gen Ed

courses as base reference points– Contrast student success rates

• Placed in English 050• Placed in English 060

• Grade determinants– Successful

• Grade of C or higher– Unsuccessful

• Any grade below or C including course withdrawal

English 111/Fall 2008Write down % success rate grade of C or better

Fall 2008-Grades earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 115 66 107 78 152 83 158 39 17

Total 815

N %• Successful 518 63.6%• Unsuccessful 297 36.4%

English 111/ Fall 2009

Fall 2009-Grades Earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 136 53 127 61 136 73 142 51 13

Total 792

N %• Successful 513 64.8%• Unsuccessful 279 35.2%

English 050 Fall 2008 Write down % success rate grade of C or better

Fall 2008—Grades earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 2 10 3 Total 15

N % Engl 111• Successful 2 13.3% 63.6%• Unsuccessful 13 86.7% 36.4%

The resultsEnglish 050 Fall 2009

Fall 2009-Grades Earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 2 2 1 10 1 Total 16

N % Engl 111• Successful 4 25.0% 64.8%• Unsuccessful 12 75.0% 35.2%

English 050 Fall 2010

Fall 2010—Grades earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 1 1 1 10 4 16 4 Total 37

N %• Successful 13 35%• Unsuccessful 24 65%

Observations/English 050• Despite the small N

– Very low success rate– Few grades above C+– Very high failure rate– Notable trend in Success Rate 25% to 35%

• Conclusion– Students concurrently enrolled in English 050 are not

likely to succeed• Consequences

– Demoralizing– Questionable use of College resources

English 060 Fall 2008 Write down % success rate grade of C or better

Fall 2008-Grades Earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 2 4 4 4 13 9 29 8 1 Total 74

N % Engl 111• Successful 27 36.5% 63.6%• Unsuccessful 47 63.5% 36.4%

English 060 Fall 2009Fall 2009 Grades Earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 7 6 10 15 17 15 31 6 1 Total 108

N % English 111

• Successful 55 50.9% 64.8%• Unsuccessful 53 49.1% 32.2%

English 060 Fall 2010Fall 2010-Grades Earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 14 5 25 11 34 29 68 24

N % Engl 111• Successful 89 42.4% N/A• Unsuccessful 121 57.6% N/A

English 070 Fall 2010 Write down % success rate grade of C or better

Fall 2010—Grades earned in Gen Ed CoursesA B+ B C+ C D F W I 15 6 18 16 34 31 53 25

N % Engl 111• Successful 99 47.6% 63.6%• Unsuccessful 109 52.4% 36.4%

Observations/English 060

• Dramatically different results– 2007, 2008 and 2010 vs 2009

• Large increase in the success rate for 2009• Unclear about causes

– Better First year experience– New institutional support programs– Margin of error, etc

• Hope that is 1 or 2 above– Success rate still too low

Interesting Point of ComparisonEnglish Grade distribution

• English 111– Reference points for comparison– Different rubrics for developmental courses?

English 111 Academic Performance

Fall 2008A B+ B C+ C D F W I 122 102 181 84 79 24 116 55 18

Total 796 N %

• Successful 573 72.0%• Unsuccessful 223 28.0%

English 111 Academic Performance

Fall 2009A B+ B C+ C D F W I 136 53 127 61 136 73 142 51 13

Total 791

N %• Successful 568 72.7%• Unsuccessful 213 27.3%

Summary

Data from RVCC Fall 2003-05

Not all Academic Courses Alike

• Success Rates for English 1 students– Varies according to discipline

• Criminology 73% Successful• Psychology 59% Sucessful

• Success rates for lowest English proficiency– Varies according to the discipline

• Sociology 45%• Psychology 33%

Developmental English Academic Performance

Fall 2008• Successful 66 74.2% (36 “A”s and 30 “B”s)• Unsuccessful 23 25.8%

Fall 2009• Successful 121 74.2% (58 “A”s and 63

“B”s)• Unsuccessful 42 25.8%

Observations

• Students enrolled in Developmental Courses– Very high success rate

• Much higher than success rate in Gen Ed courses– Possible artificial grade inflation

• No C grade in 060• Grade assigned has bearing on next year placement• Need to track academic performance in Gen Ed courses

Conclusions

• Final grade in Developmental Course– Reflects status towards end of semester

• Final Grade in Gen Course– Reflects more summative grade averages

• Students enrolled in Gen Ed courses– By midterm have likely dug a deep hole

• Comments offered by students– “I don’t understand my grades in your course”

• Receiving high grades in my other classes, possibly English

Conclusions

• Departmental Perspective– Far too many unsuccessful students in our classes– Need the Spring grades for each cohort

• Those that took 050 and 060 in the preceding Fall semester

– Without taking a Gen Ed course listed above– Took a Gen Ed course in the preceding semester

Where do We Go From Here?

• Suggestions– Each department should have their grades analyzed– Online courses

• Many are nearly entirely dependent upon reading and writing– Follow students in second semester to determine better

the benefits of the developmental courses and institutional support

– Figure what the heck happened in 2009 for 060 students• Hopefully spot some institutional changes

– Analyze Fall 2010 cohort

Food for Thought

• The Accuplacer Score– Composite Measure of 3 different criteria

• Reading Comprehension• Writing• Sentence skills

– Is anyone of these a better predictor of student success?

Institutional Questions

• Given the enormity of our institutional commitment– Are our policies supportive of student success and

retention?– Are our policies making best use of our resources?

Institutional Questions

• What are our ethical obligations to students who arrive with English language deficits?

• Should we continue our open course environment in our Reading Intensive courses—that is no prerequisites?

• Should we institute prerequisites?• How do we inform students about the difficulty

of certain courses relative to their English proficiency? Do we inform them?

Institutional Questions

• Why is the College more restrictive when it comes to Math proficiency and Science courses?

• Why is the College more restrictive about English Literature courses and English proficiency?– In most cases, don’t college texts require the same if

not more reading proficiency? • What about online courses

– Nearly exclusively dependent upon reading• Little or no auditory reinforcement

Restricted Courses at Collin County Community College

Requires Completion of or English 1 Ready• BCIS-1305• BIOL-1406• BIOL-1407• CHEM-1411• COSC-1300• ECON-2301• ECON-2302• ENGL-2311• ENGL-2322• ENGL-2323• ENGL-2327• ENGL-2328• ENGL-2332• ENGL-2333• ENGL-2342

• ENGL -2343• GOVT-2301• GOVT-2302• HIST-1301• HIST-1302• PHIL-1301• PHIL-1304• PHIL-2303• PHIL-2306• PHIL-2307• PHIL-2321• PHIL-2371• PSYC-2301• SOCI-1301

Still more Food for Thought

• How do we provide students who enter with serious deficiencies a College-like environment that encourages them to continue?– Enrollment in select courses?

• What is the impact on the overall classroom by the presence of inadequately prepared students?

• There are many more questions but this is a starting point.

Data for 2007 Cohort

• Given the “mixed” results– Check the 2007 cohort for 060

N % Engl 111Successful 10 28.6% Data N/AUnsuccessful 25 71.4%

• Food for thought– A– B– C– D