Terri M. Manning, Ed.D.Central Piedmont Community

College

• A lot is going on in community colleges across the country – focusing on students success, retention, graduation, improving higher education opportunities

» Achieving the Dream (first Lumina – now 80 funders)

» The Rural Community College Initiative (Ford)» The Developmental Education Initiative (Gates)» Global Skills for College Success (Gates through the

League to LaGuardia to 16 institutions in 14 states)» We can learn from these initiatives and use their

data and techniques

Disbelief & DenialParalysis - Passive resistance

Anger and antagonismResistant & Reactive

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 4

DepressionCompliance - Passive reactive

Acceptance & adaptationChallenge & competitionCatalyst - Proactive

Stage 5

Stage 3Bargaining - no time/no moneySeek outside sources

All NCCCS Curriculum Students in 2008-09 (IPEDS Annual Enrollments)

males% male by

race females% females by

race Total% total by

raceNative American 1,479 1.2% 3,376 1.8% 4,855 1.5%

Asian/Pac. Islander 2,293 1.9% 3,081 1.6% 5,374 1.7%Black/Afr. Amer. 23,420 19.3% 51,143 26.5% 74,563 23.7%Hispanic/Latino 4,739 3.9% 6,835 3.5% 11,574 3.7%

White 82,584 68.0% 119,003 61.7% 201,587 64.2%Non Res. Alien 1,348 1.1% 1,831 0.9% 3,179 1.0%

Other/unknown 5,525 4.6% 7,495 3.9% 13,020 4.1%Total 121,388 38.6% 192,764 61.4% 314,152 100.0%

• In 2007-08 international student enrollment grew by 7% to a record of 623,805 in US higher education institutions.

• Over the past 5-10 years, CPCC has had student from 216 countries speaking as many as 899 languages.

• Annually we have 5,000 to 7,500 international students.

Source: America.govhttp://www.america.gov/st/educ-english/2008/November/200811171600491CJsamohT0.646908.html

• Whose fault is this?

• Can we do anything about it?

Of 2002 Achieving the Dream Cohort, % Needing Developmental Education

Source: Achieving the Dream Data Notes,1(6) July/Aug 2006.

Percent of 2002 AtD Cohort referred to developmental education that attempted and completed at least one developmental course during their first term, by race.

Source: Achieving the Dream Data Notes, 1(6) July/Aug 2006.

Source: Achieving the Dream Data Notes, 3(4), July/August 2008.

Percentage of AtD students referred to developmental education by completion status of developmental requirements during the 1st academic year.

Retention Rates 2nd Term 2nd Year

Referred to DE – did not complete any 57% 45%

Referred to DE – partially completed 85% 65%

Referred to DE – completed all 94% 80%

Not referred to DE = college ready 66% 54%

All students 70% 57%

Percentage of AtD students persisting by developmental status the end of the first year.

Source: Achieving the Dream Data Notes, 3(4), July/August 2008.

(Boomers) (Xers) (Millennials)

College populations are getting younger – under 25 is the fastest growing group across the country.

• Greatest impact on us right now.• Creating a multitude of issues

that colleges must address.

3.00%4.00%5.00%6.00%7.00%8.00%9.00%

10.00%11.00%12.00%

2000

-01

2001

-02

2002

-03

2003

-04

2004

-05

2005

-06

2006

-07

2007

-08

2008

-09

2009

-10

NC unemployment Rate

230,000

240,000

250,000

260,000

270,000

280,000

290,000

300,000

310,000

2000

-01

2001

-02

2002

-03

2003

-04

2004

-05

2005

-06

2006

-07

2007

-08

2008

-09

2009

-10

NCCCS Curriculum Headcount

Source: State ESC and NCCCS Websites

???

• Developmental Courses• Gatekeeper or gateway courses

– Typically high volume, high risk courses (most sections and most enrollment.)

– Courses where students often withdraw or do not pass.– They serve as the gatekeeper between developmental or pre-college

courses and courses in the “majors.”– Courses are fundamental to the college due to the size of the

enrollment - 35-40% of all enrollment.– The courses are fundamental to other courses at the college (often pre-

requisites.) – Improvements in these courses would be beneficial to the college

overall.

Who Are The Unemployed?Who Are The Unemployed?

• Displaced workers are different than the more traditional community college students -• A greater need for student services• Need someone to talk to

• Need for financial aid goes up.• Number with zero family contribution (family

cannot help them at all) rose from 2,891 in 2008 to 4,681 in 2009 (increase of 62% at CPCC) (It was 600% at UNCC.)

• Different brain usage – must be “turned back on.”

For Every 100 Girls Who….

Number of Boys

Enroll in Kindergarten 116

Enroll in Ninth Grade 101

Enroll in Twelfth Grade 98

Are Suspended from K-12 250

Are Expelled from K-12 335

Diagnosed with Learning Disability

276

Enroll in the gifted and talented program

94

The Boys Project. http://www.boysproject.net/statistics.htmlThe Boys Project. http://www.boysproject.net/statistics.html

For Every 100 Girls Who….

Number of Boys

Graduate from High School 96

Enroll in College 77

Earn an Associates Degree 67

Earn a Bachelors Degree 73

Earn a Masters Degree 62

Earn a Doctorate 92

The Boys Project. http://www.boysproject.net/statistics.html

• In Fall 2009, Mitchell offered 574 sections of 251 courses – but 50% of the enrollment and FTE came from 25 courses (10% of your courses).

• What were they?

•ENG 111 – Expository Writing 509 seats•ENG111a - Lab 509 seats•PSY 150 - Psychology 391 seats•SOC 210 – Intro to Sociology 260 seats•ART 111 - Art Appreciation 256 seats•CIS 110 – Intro to Computers 248 seats•COM 120 – Interpersonal Com 231 seats•ENG 113 - Lit-based Research 218 seats•BUS 110 - Intro to Business 181 seats•SPA 111 – Elem Spanish 173 seats

Gen Ed and College Transfer

•HIS 121 – Western Civilization 151 seats•ECO 251 – Prin of Microeconomics 148 seats•BIO 111 – General Biology 126 seats•ACC 120 – Prin of Accounting 119 seats

Gen Ed and College Transfer

•ENG 095 – Reading & Comp Strat 313 seats•MAT 070 – Introductory Algebra 260 seats•MAT 060 – Essential Mathematics 247 seats•ENG 085 – Reading and Writing 177 seats•MAT 050 – Basic Math Skills 111 seats

Developmental Courses – Top Five

•COE 111 - Work Experience 79 seats•NUR 115 – Fundamentals of Nursing 62 seats•CJC 100 – Basic Law Enforcement 48 seats•NUR 125 – Maternal Child Nursing 45 seats•COS 112 – Salon I 31 seats•COS 114 – Salon II 19 seats

Career Courses – Top Six

General Education or College Transfer Courses Highest Enrolled - Fall 2009

Course A-C %A-C A-F %A-F AllENG-111 308 60.5% 380 74.7% 509

ENG-111A 307 60.3% 380 74.7% 509PSY-150 333 85.2% 354 90.5% 391ART-111 191 73.2% 219 83.9% 261SOC-210 200 76.9% 222 85.4% 260CIS-110 154 62.1% 191 77.0% 248

COM-120 176 76.5% 196 85.2% 230ENG-113 146 67.0% 164 75.2% 218BUS-110 130 71.8% 155 85.6% 181SPA-111 115 66.5% 132 76.3% 173HIS-121 85 56.3% 117 77.5% 151ECO-251 118 79.7% 127 85.8% 148BIO-111 88 69.8% 105 83.3% 126ACC-120 80 67.8% 91 77.1% 118

Five Developmental Courses in the Top 25 Highest Enrolled Courses - Fall 2009

Course A-C %A-C A-F %A-F All

ENG-095 216 69.0% 263 84.0% 313

MAT-070 186 71.8% 215 83.0% 259

MAT-060 187 75.7% 210 85.0% 247

ENG-085 146 82.5% 155 87.6% 177

MAT-050 85 76.6% 89 80.2% 111

Career Oriented Courses in the Top 25 Highest Enrolled Courses - Fall 2009

Course A-C %A-C A-F %A-F All

COE-111 51 64.6% 51 64.6% 79

NUR-115 52 83.9% 54 87.1% 62

NUR-125 43 95.6% 45 100.0% 45

CJC-100 29 90.6% 29 90.6% 32

COS-112 17 54.8% 18 58.1% 31

COS-114 15 78.9% 17 89.5% 19

• To improve success in these two areas (dev ed and gateway courses) we have to address two issues:– Strategies to increase retention – keep them to the end of the

term, to the next term, to the next year and to completion.– Strategies to improve “academic skills” – to make better

students of them. – Our primary goal should be for students to “master the

course content” not just to keep them around for one or two more terms before they flunk out.

– Retention and academic success are two different animals and require two different sets of strategies.

• Too many math faculty believe “all roads lead to calculus.” Students don’t need that much math. We need a statistics tract for non-STEM majors. Math is typically taught by people for whom math was easy.

• Students will finish their entire program and wait until the last semester to take math – then never complete.

• It is defeating to students who discover that they need two full semesters of remediation before

they can take college level classes.

• Students need to be able to take a few college level courses while taking developmental – figure out what those should be – maybe link them.

• Students don’t take the placement test seriously – not enough orientation to it – don’t work with the practice test – realize after-the-fact – “I should have tried harder.”

• Reading is a tough issue and probably the best predictor of overall success. You can teach the skill but never make up the deficit from a lifetime of not reading.

• English appears to be the easiest for student to successfully complete – but the area most program faculty complain the most about “they can’t write a coherent sentence.”

• Also the area that will “make or break” them in a career.

• Program faculty have a sense of responsibility for all their majors – getting them through the curriculum – a set of courses to obtain the credential.

• Gateway faculty come from mostly service areas (no majors, just multiple courses) and often see themselves as responsible for just their course.

• Students come to us today needing to learn process and application skills. They are being taught by content specialists in a day when all possible content is on the internet.

• Work ethic, including self-motivation and time management.• Physical skills, e.g., maintaining one's health and good appearance.• Verbal (oral) communication, including one-on-one and in a group• Written communication, including editing and proofing one's work.• Working directly with people, relationship building, and team work.• Influencing people, including effective salesmanship and leadership.• Gathering information through various media and keeping it

organized.• Using quantitative tools, e.g., statistics, graphs, or spreadsheets.• Asking and answering the right questions, evaluating information,

and applying knowledge.• Solving problems, including identifying problems, developing

possible solutions, and launching solutions.

The Futurist Update (Vol. 5, No. 2), an e-newsletter from the World Future Society, quotes Bill Coplin on the “ten things employers want [young people] to learn in college”

Students in the 21st Century will need to be proficient in:• Reading, writing, speaking and listening• Applying concepts and reasoning• Analyzing and using numerical data• Citizenship, diversity/pluralism • Local, community, global, environmental awareness • Analysis, synthesis, evaluation, decision-making, creative thinking• Collecting, analyzing and organizing information• Teamwork, relationship management, conflict resolution and workplace

skills• Learning to learn, understand and manage self, management of change,

personal responsibility, aesthetic responsiveness and wellness• Computer literacy, internet skills, information retrieval and information

management

(The League for Innovation’s 21st Century Learning Outcomes Project.)

• Most students never completed the gatekeeper courses, but in many cases that’s because these students never enrolled in them, having started and finished their educations in remediation.

• The rates of reaching college-level work were particularly low for those requiring multiple remedial courses to reach college work.

• Only 25% of remedial math student ever reached college level math.

• Students who needed remedial courses and completed them and then enrolled in the gatekeeper courses did as well in them as did students who didn’t need remediation.

• Less than 20 percent of those enrolled in the lowest level of developmental mathematics (pre-algebra) ever enrolled in the gatekeeper math courses.

• More likely to leave between courses not fail them.• Must track cohorts to see this.

Community College Research Center at Columbia, 2004

• Faculty were asked to identify the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, etc. they wanted students student to develop throughout the general education core – by course.

• They could easily answer they questions: “Why do we want them to take these courses? What do we want them to get out of it?”

• Then they were asked: • “How many of you think students do

poorly in these courses because they have a total inability to grasp the content?”

• How many raised their hand?• Then they were asked: “Why do they do

poorly? What are they lacking?

• Poor study skills (note-taking, test-taking, etc.)• No sense of belonging to the institution or the

class – lack of affect• Not understanding the purpose of the course• The disconnect between effort put in and the

outcome (unrealistic idea about time spent on the product)

• Poor course-specific self-assessment (of strengths and weaknesses, study needs)

• Lack of understanding of their overall educational strengths and weaknesses (due to social promotion)

• Procrastination – don’t commit early• Believing effort is the only criteria for success• Poor academic background (some as far back

as elementary school)• Attitude toward the requirements for the

course (too much effort needed – only want a C)

• Don’t see themselves as or value being a scholar (cultural attitude toward “smart”)

• Too much drama/complexity in their lives• Poor perception of the effort (e.g. 2 hours is a

lot of study time when really 10 hours are needed)

• Recognizing that they must work outside of class (used to getting class time for homework – don’t know 2-3 hours outside for every 1 inside)

• K-12 experiences (vast and varied)• Lack of childhood expectation of success, early

educational enrichment and prior academic success. Impacts their expectations of failure.

• Perceive the course to be of no value/relevance• International issues (foreign born, cultural and

language barriers, etc.)• Irrational sense of entitlement

• No experience with the higher education environment (lack of understanding of how to be a student)

• Mediocre expectations – don’t strive for an A, just want a C

• Lack of faculty understanding about special accommodations (large percent had IEPs in K-12 and need special assistance)

•

• How do we take their current skills, attitudes and behaviors and move them toward the threshold of where we want them to be?

• How can you connect “college skills or good student skills” to the content of your course?

• What skills are most critical to being a “master student?”

• This will take collaboration among all the faculty and student services staff.

1. Better Orientation (mandatory - students don’t do optional)

• Within orientation is a detailed orientation and refresher courses on placement testing subjects.– The test will contain 45 questions (what type).– The better you do, the further you go into the test.– A score in math from 43 to 55 means you will have to take 3

developmental math classes and will keep you out of your major courses for 4 semesters.

– Now – would you like to practice?– Would you like to attend a refresher session on math?

2. Support activitiesa) Offer supplemental instruction, service learning

opportunities, tutoring, and study groups. b) Create a series of success workshops (offered through

the tutoring center, library or student success center) and require students attend a set number of them as part of their grade.

c) Create learning communities or linked classes. d) Implement an Early Alert System to ensure that

struggling students get help not just a warning.

3. Curriculum and pedagogya) Make instruction in gatekeeper courses more

related to real life experiences. b) Use techniques such as active/collaborative

learning, mini learning communities in the class, and computer-assisted labs.

c) Establish learning competencies and share them with students.

d) Allow retesting in courses with sequential content so students can master it. When students fail the first test in math – why do we let them go on?

d) Institute “class conferencing” in classes – instructors meet with students individually on a regular basis.

e) Used grading rubrics for all assignments and give students a copy beforehand (know what’s expected.)

4. Faculty developmenta) Offer professional development for faculty who teach

gatekeeper courses. b) Let the faculty with great success teach these

workshops.1) Focus on retention techniques, improving academic skills and

student engagement

5. Next Steps5. Faculty across disciplines work together to

increase the basic skills.1) How do the paralegal faculty teach students to

become better writers?2) How do the culinary faculty improve computational

skills?3) How do the Nursing faculty improve critical thinking

skills in students

• When students exit your course with deficiencies – they enter someone else’s course with them – we are passing the deficient student along for someone else to deal with.

• Developmental faculty teach students the basic skills based of the content of the course – such as writing in ENG 090 and ENG 111 faculty improve those skills then pass them along to the programs.

• Program faculty should say “thank you very much, we’ll take it from here” - then continuously and in every course, reinforce those skills.

• Developmental and gatekeeper faculty are the most critical and important. Why?– Greatest opportunity to improve skills and promote

success.– Greatest opportunity for engagement and

retention.– All program students get their foundation there.– Can help students make the decision … Do I belong

here, can I do it?

–Seeing these courses for the opportunity they represent.

–Program faculty and gatekeeper faculty should come together and make some decisions:• What student skills do we want them to have when they leave

the gatekeeper (pre-major) courses? Develop a reasonable list.• How can we teach/facilitate those skills while teaching the

content? When will they become habit?• In what course is it logical that we reinforce the skills.

• By the time students complete gen ed, we have inoculated them 10 times.

• A students who knows:• How to be a student• Where to find reputable material• How to develop a solution• How to organize their work• How to develop a success team• How to build consensus

– Can master any course or major

• Achieving the Dream• http://www.achievingthedream.org/

– Look at Community College Strategies– Look at Data and Research

• Click on Data Notes Newsletter

• Southern Regional Education Board• http://www.sreb.org/• Look at their Fact Book on Higher Education

• Terri Manning• (704) 330-6592• terri.manning@cpcc.edu• http://www.cpcc.edu/planning• Click on “studies and reports”