Algebra Student Success Initiative Application for Innovation and Opportunity Reserve Funds These seven items must be addressed in writing as part of the Innovation Fund application process, before any resources are allocated:

1. Project Summary • Describe the project, its goals, and explain how it is innovative. Provide relevant data

and/or research to support the implementation of the project. The Mathematics Department at Shoreline Community College is redesigning our algebra sequence, replacing our current Elementary and Intermediate Algebra courses with new Intermediate Algebra I and Intermediate Algebra II courses. We are taking advantage of the new Math in the DTA, passed in August 2013, which allows students to enter college-level math without taking all of the traditional algebra sequence. The usual elements of course design, such as selecting the core topics for each course and choosing a textbook, are nearly complete, and the first of the new courses are being offered now. The innovation in our plan is to ensure that the new courses are more than just a reordering of topics. We are also drawing on recent research and efforts locally and nationally to create a more engaging, positive mathematics experience in which students are more likely to succeed. We plan to incorporate rich tasks1 and learning support materials2 into our courses. This will require us to dedicate far more time on the creation of the courses than would normally be expected. The purpose of this application is to secure funding for department faculty to work intensively on finding and creating new materials to actualize our vision. Because our vision of this course is so new, it’s not easy to find the materials we need. Here is what we want to do:

Find or create rich tasks, and build a library of rich tasks that all of our teachers can use to enrich their classes. Implementation of rich tasks is increasingly popular among community colleges redesigning their developmental mathematics sequences. Part of this is because it fosters

1 Rich tasks are problems that are accessible to a wide range of learners and challenge them in multiple ways including developing a deeper understanding of new material and considering multiple approaches to finding solutions. 2 Learning support materials help students strengthen a variety of attributes for success, such as time management skills and strategies for addressing test anxiety.

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“productive persistence”, the increased ability and willingness to struggle with a problem rather than quickly giving up due to perceiving that it’s too hard. Productive Persistence is “a key driver” of the Quantway and Statway programs developed by the Carnegie Foundation. These programs have been piloted over the last few years and have drastically reduced the length of time students take to complete their pre-college level mathematics.3 4 Rich tasks are also a component of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) being implemented throughout K-12 in 46 states including Washington. Our plan is to draw on the work done by the Carnegie Foundation, the creators of CCSS materials, and others to build a set of resources tailored to our own student population. We are looking particularly at the Student Attributes that came out the Transition Math Project College Readiness Standards5. The implementation of the rich tasks in our classes is aimed at the attributes “Demonstrates intellectual engagement,” and “Perseveres when faced with time-consuming or complex tasks.”

We want to encourage our associate faculty to use these rich tasks in their classes, which should be easier if they can simply use something that has already been prepared. Having a library of tasks available also ensures that the problems being used are high-quality, having been vetted by a team of our Mathematics faculty.

Find or create learning support materials, and build a library of these that all

of our teachers can use to enrich their classes. Some of what we intend to provide are materials to help students reset any negative expectations they have of themselves regarding their math abilities. Research shows that psychological interventions can improve motivation and decrease achievement gaps6, including those resulting from stereotype threat in minority populations7. Other materials will help students reflect on things like their attendance or time management to allow them to recognize and address any shortcomings they may have in these areas. Incorporation of learning support materials in our classes is aimed at the Student Attribute “Takes responsibility for own learning.”

3 Obtained from http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/sites/default/files/pathways_to_improvement.pdf 4 See also http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/sites/default/files/CCP_Descriptive_Report_Year_1.pdf 5 Transition Math Project – College Readiness Standards, Student Attributes; http://transitionmathproject.org/index.php/projects/detail/college-readiness-math-standards/ 6 See, for example: http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/sites/default/files/PDK_Yeager_Walton_Cohen_2013.pdf 7 See, for example: http://www.reducingstereotypethreat.org/reduce.html

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We want to encourage our associate faculty to use these materials in their classes; this will be much easier if they can simply use something that has already been prepared. Having a library of learning support materials available also ensures that the resources are high-quality, having been vetted by a team of our Mathematics faculty.

Integrate appropriate rich tasks and learning support materials into our

modular algebra sequence, and the online and hybrid versions of the new courses. The tasks need to be different when most of the content is delivered by computer, or when the students are working independently.

Find or create rich tasks that align with Shoreline’s interdisciplinary One

Campus, One Theme project. This will help students see the connections between the mathematics they are learning and the topics they are discussing in some of their other courses.

Provide professional development for faculty, particularly reaching out to

associate faculty. We want to be sure that all our instructors know how to use the rich tasks and learning support materials to enhance the curriculum. The developmental courses are often taught by our associate faculty, so we must make a special effort to provide them with this professional development.

We want to be able to bring in an outside Professional Development trainer who has done research/training to conduct at least one workshop to show us how to use the materials. We also plan to have workshops, led by Shoreline faculty, in advance of each quarter for the next year. Starting in 2015-2016, we want to continue offering professional development and training for using these materials twice a year, continuing indefinitely. We’ll especially focus on professional development for our new faculty.

2. Project Rationale

• Why is this project important for the college? How will this project be successful? It is well known that completion of pre-college level mathematics courses has been a barrier for community college students nationally. Our new sequence of courses addresses part of the problem by shortening the path to college-level for students. The incorporation of rich tasks and learning support materials will contribute to their success within the courses. The rich tasks will engage the students, give students a deeper understanding of the mathematics they are learning, and give them experience persevering on challenging problems. Developing these attributes in our students will increase their abilities to succeed

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in the courses they are taking, increase their abilities to retain information for when they need it in future mathematics courses, make them more willing to enroll in future mathematics courses, and contribute to their success once they get there. The overall result is raising the number of students that complete the mathematics needed for their degree/career plans. The learning support materials will support students as they develop the habits that will help them succeed. Many of the students in our developmental courses are new to college and need guidance with time management, note-taking, using campus resources, and learning from their mistakes. Many of the students in our developmental courses have math anxiety, or have low opinions of their mathematical abilities. The learning support materials will teach students the habits that contribute to success, and will give them the tools they need to combat unhelpful attitudes. The overall result is decreasing the number of developmental courses students must take (and retake) before reaching college level.

3. Expected Return

• What is the expected return of this investment, financial or otherwise, to the college? The expected returns include:

Increased student success in pre-college mathematics courses through strengthening students comprehension, practices surrounding approaching mathematics, and self-esteem regarding their abilities. This will reduce the number of times students repeat these courses and increase the number of students who get to college-level math. This should also increase our Student Achievement Points. Increased success in college-level mathematics, due to stronger understanding

of the prerequisite material and improved practices regarding attempting math problems. This should increase our Student Achievement Points. We hope to see increased graduation rates, as fewer students will see

mathematics as a barrier in which they cannot succeed. In particular, we hope that we will see increased student success in pre-college

mathematics, in college-level mathematics, and increased graduation rates in students of color.

4. Budget • Attach a budget.

We request $20,000 to implement our plan. Please see attached. 5. Action Plan

• Attach a completed Strategic Action Plan http://intranet.shoreline.edu/strategic-planning-committee/strat-plan-documents.aspx Please see attached.

6. Core Themes and Strategic Planning Objectives • How does this project advance the college’s core themes and strategic plan objectives?

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The project will increase student retention and completion rates, thus increasing Student Achievement points. It will also empower faculty through professional development.

7. Campus Impacts • Detail the anticipated major impacts that this project could have on the current campus

resources and infrastructure as well as possible mitigations. Possible impact areas include, but are not limited to, labor, students, financial and other resources and existing community relationships. We do not anticipate any substantial campus impacts; the work will be done by Shoreline faculty, the retreats and workshops will be held on campus in available classroom space. The data we will need to evaluate our project are already being collected for other purposes.

Approval Process After completing items 1-7, please follow these steps:

1. Get the appropriate Supervisor’s (VP, Dean or Director) signature to indicate initial approval for this project. The signature can be affixed anywhere on your submission paperwork.

2. Submit the completed application to the chair(s) of the Strategic Planning Budget Committee (SPBC). The SPBC may ask for a presentation about the plan at a committee meeting. Members of SPBC will provide commentary on the project’s alignment with the Strategic Plan.

Then: 1. The SPBC will consider the proposal and make a recommendation to the President as to

alignment with the college’s Strategic Plan and Core Themes. You will be informed of the SPBC’s input.

2. The President will then review the proposal and SPBC recommendation. Unless the President identifies areas of concern that require revisions, (s)he will distribute the proposal to the President’s Cabinet for its review and input.

3. The Executive Leadership Team of the President’s Cabinet will synthesize input and formulate a final recommendation to the President.

4. The President will consider the proposal and recommendations, and then make a final decision. You will be informed of that decision within 1-2 days.

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Algebra Student Success Initiative Abbreviated Strategic Action Plan

Step 1 Initiative (select from SP):

Initiative # 1 Increase Enrollment, Retention, and Completion

Initiative #3 Develop Physical / Technical Infrastructure and Human Resources

Step 2 Identify Core Theme

CT1 Educational Attainment/Student Success Objective 1 Maintain or improve the Completion/Transfer rates of all students Objective 2 Students display high rates of success in their programs of study

CT2 Program Excellence Objective 1 Students perceive that the college prepared them adequately Objective 2 Students express satisfaction that the college delivered a quality education

CT5 College Stewardship Objective 2 The college manages its staff with a view to improving service/morale

Step 3 Goal (select from SP)

1.3 Increase enrollment, retention and completion

1.6 Manage college enrollment, retention, and completion to increase “Student Achievement Initiative” (SAI) points

3.1 Empower staff and faculty through employee training and professional development

Step 4 Write Strategic Objective(s) (specific measurable goal step towards meeting goal)

Note: Math 080/098 is the first course in the 2-quarter developmental algebra sequence. About 35% of our incoming students are placed into this first course. Prior to Winter 2014, Math 80 has been Elementary Algebra. Starting in Winter 2014, students with the same preparation will enter our new Intermediate Algebra I. Starting in Spring 2014, Intermediate Algebra I will have the number Math 098. We want to compare several measures of success for students entering Math 080/098 Winter 2014 or later (after redesign, incorporating materials) to students entering Math 080 Fall 2013 or earlier (old Math 080 and old Math 099).

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Increase by 2 percentage points the proportion of students who pass Math 080. Since 2009, pass rates in Math 080 have been around 57%. We would compare students entering Math 080/098 Winter 2014 or later (after redesign, incorporating materials) to students entering Math 080 Fall 2013 or earlier (old Math 080 and old Math 099). We would be able to start analyzing the data in Winter 2015.

Increase by 2 percentage points the proportions of students to reach college level mathematics within one or two years. Of the transfer-bound students who entered Shoreline in 2009, only about 44% were at college level within one year, and only 47% were at college level within two years. We would compare students entering Shoreline in 2014 (after redesign, incorporating materials) to students entering 2011 or earlier (old Math 080 and old Math 099). We would be able to start analyzing the data in Fall 2016, but it could take longer before we’d have enough information on the new sequence.

Increase by 2 percentage points the proportion of students who pass their first college-level course within two years. Of the transfer-bound students who entered Shoreline in 2009, only about 32% satisfied their quantitative reasoning requirement within one year, and only 38% had satisfied it within two years. We would compare students entering Shoreline in 2014 (after redesign, incorporating materials) to students entering 2011 or earlier (old Math 080 and old Math 099). We would be able to start analyzing the data in Fall 2016, but it could take longer before we’d have enough information on the new sequence. In particular, we would look at the students who took Math 080 and then either Math 146 or Math 107 (the new pathway).

Step 5 List Actions (specific activities that will lead to the completion of objective)

(See application for innovation funds for more details.)

By the end of September 2014, we want a library of at least 40 rich tasks that our mathematics faculty can incorporate into our new algebra sequence, 20 for each of the two courses. Each task will be accompanied by teacher notes. We had no shared rich tasks when we started this application; we now have about ten rich tasks, but we need more. The library will be housed in the Math Faculty Canvas classroom and on the S drive.

By the end of September 2014, we want a library of at least 10 learning support materials that our mathematics faculty can use to enrich their classes. Each item will be accompanied by teacher notes. We have some materials that came from our Math 087 Mathematics Success Strategies course, but they need to be re-examined and the collection needs to be expanded. The library will be housed in the Math Faculty Canvas classroom and on the S drive.

By the end of January 2015, we want rich tasks and learning support materials appropriately integrated into our online, hybrid, and redesigned modular algebra courses.

We want to have professional development workshops at the end of each quarter to the mathematics faculty so they will know how to use these rich tasks and learning support materials during the following quarter. The first workshop was Thursday December 10th; the author of the textbook we chose for the course came to talk with us about how he uses the activities in his book. We plan to have more

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workshops in March 2014, June 2014, September 2014, December 2014, March 2015, and June 2015, most led by Shoreline faculty. We want to bring in an outside trainer for at least one of these sessions, probably during September 2014. After that, we hope to continue having professional development workshops twice a year.

We want to evaluate the effectiveness of our project by looking at student success data after one year of the new courses (September 2015). We will look at the collected data and decide what, if any, revisions need to be made. We will look at data again after two years of the new courses (September 2016).

Step 6 Set target dates for completion of actions

• Development of the libraries should be complete by September 2014. • Incorporation of the materials into our computer-delivered courses will be complete by

January 2015. • Professional development workshops offered under the initial grant will be completed by

June 2015, but we hope to continue to offer these workshops indefinitely. • Analyzing data to evaluate the effectiveness of the initial project can start as soon as June

2015, but it will be January 2017 before we will have all the information we want.

Step 7 Identify contact person completing actions

Contact Shana Calaway

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Step 8 Estimate budget needed to complete stated action(s)

Estimated distribution of budget for the project Actions Money for Dates Contact person Budget

Developing library of rich tasks

Faculty hours Starting October 2013, completed by September 2014

Shana Calaway $8100

Developing library of learning support materials

Faculty hours Starting December 2013, completed by September 2014

Shana Calaway $2025

Incorporate materials into computer-delivered courses

Faculty hours Starting April 2014, completed by January 2015

Shana Calaway $2025

Participate in professional development workshops, analyzing data, making reports

Faculty hours Starting December 2013, continuing quarterly through June 2015 (and beyond, see below)

Shana Calaway $1350

Additional expenses associated with professional development

Fee for outside trainer, food

Starting March 2014, completed by June 2015

Shana Calaway $1320

Contingency, to cover additional and unanticipated expenses

Unknown Completed by June 2015

Shana Calaway $5180

Increase in annual Math Department Budget, starting at the conclusion of the project Actions Money for Dates Contact Person Budget Participate in professional development workshops, analyzing data, making reports

Faculty hours Twice yearly, starting September 2015 and continuing indefinitely

Shana Calaway $600

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Algebra Student Success Initiative Algebra Application for Innovation Funds – Budget The costs associated with this proposal are to pay current Shoreline faculty for their work in developing the materials and to pay Shoreline’s associate faculty for participating in the professional development. We estimate that this will take approximately 300 hours of faculty time. We would also like to have snacks for a few half-day on-campus “retreats” and some on-campus professional development sessions. The development work would be mostly done during the academic year 2013 -2014, but some will continue through Fall quarter 2014. We plan to hold professional development workshops each quarter, starting in December 2013 and continuing through the 2014 – 2015 academic year. After that, we want to continue offering workshops twice per year; see Ongoing Budget below. 300 Shoreline CC faculty hours, at an estimated average of $45 per hour ($39 per hour plus benefits) = $13,500. We expect about 60% of this time will be spent developing the library of rich tasks, 15% of the time developing the library of learning support materials, 15% of the time incorporating the materials into our computer-delivered offerings, and 10% of this time on other tasks related to the project (engaging in professional development workshops, collecting and analyzing data, and so on). Food for 3 retreats and 5 professional development workshops, at about $40 each = $320 Payment for outside trainer(s) for one professional development workshop, up to $1000 to cover honorarium and expenses. As suggested by President Campbell, we are also asking for additional funds as a contingency. We may find that we need more faculty hours, or we may need funds to gather or analyze additional data. Total for the project: $20,000 Ongoing Budget If this project is successful, as we believe it will be, we want to be able to continue offering the professional development workshops once a twice a year after the conclusion of this project. We hire new faculty nearly every quarter, so there will be an ongoing need for this professional development. We need to be able to pay associate faculty for their time. So we are also asking for $600 per year to be added to the Math Department budget to cover these workshops in future years.

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Estimated distribution of budget for the project (from abbreviated SAP): Actions Money for Dates Contact person Budget

Developing library of rich tasks

Faculty hours Starting October 2013, completed by June 2014

Shana Calaway $8100

Developing library of learning support materials

Faculty hours Starting December 2013, completed by June 2014

Shana Calaway $2025

Incorporate materials into computer-delivered courses

Faculty hours Academic year 2013-2014

Shana Calaway $2025

Participate in professional development workshops, analyzing data, making reports

Faculty hours Starting December 2013, continuing quarterly through June 2015 (and beyond, see below)

Shana Calaway $1350

Additional expenses associated with professional development

Fee for outside trainer, food

Starting March 2014, completed by June 2015

Shana Calaway $1320

Contingency, to cover additional and unanticipated expenses

Unknown Completed by June 2015

Shana Calaway $5180

Increase in annual Math Department Budget, starting at the conclusion of the project Actions Money for Dates Contact Person Budget Participate in professional development workshops, analyzing data, making reports

Faculty hours Twice yearly, starting September 2015 and continuing indefinitely

Shana Calaway $600

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