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Project 85 • Some of this information was first presented to the Department of English faculty in 2005, and subsequently at the WPA workshop in July 2006. Some information, and data from the Excel sheet, will appear in slightly different form in a forthcoming essay by Alice Horning, in WPA: Writing Program Administration. • For more information, please contact Greg Glau at gglau@asu.edu
Project 85 • In the fall of 2004, President Crow asked Arizona State University’s Department of English to implement “Project 85,” with the goals of: • increasing student success • increasing student retention • and, by coincidence, increasing ASU’s US News & World Report rankings into the 85th percentile of universities . . .
Project 85 • But note: • while part of the reason for “Project 85” was to raise our USN&WR rankings, the project also allowed us to hire 20+ full time Instructors, on one-year renewable contracts, with full benefits. Many of those teachers had been teaching for us as adjunct faculty, on semester-to-semester contracts.
Project 85 • In addition, Project 85 considerably reduced the “paper load” for our teachers: • our writing classes ask for four major papers, each with multiple drafts. For a teacher (before Project 85) with 26 students in each of her four classes, and if she read drafts as well as final papers, that was 26 students * 2 drafts* 4 papers = 208 papers per class, or 832 papers total, over a semester. After Project 85, the total would be 19 students * 2 drafts * 4 papers = 152 papers per class, or 608 papers. Project 85 reduced the teacher’s paper load by 224 papers over a semester.
So, we asked: • What kind of information should we “track” for Project 85? • How and where should we present such data?
Project 85, fall 2004 data(narrative) (1 semester of data) • Pass rate in ENG 101 and 102 was higher than it’s been for the previous five fall semesters • DWE (drop, withdraw, failure) rate for both ENG 101 and 102 was lower than it’d been the previous five academic years
Project 85, fall 2004 data(1 semester of data) • Student evaluation numbers were lower (better) for all ranks of faculty teaching 100-level classes than they’d been the last six previous fall semesters • “Continuation” rate – students taking ENG 101 in the fall and then registering for ENG 102 in a subsequent spring semester – was higher than it’d been the previous five academic years
Project 85, after spring 2005 (1 year of data) • For fall 2004, the pass rate for WAC 101 students was higher than it's been the last five academic years (WAC 101 is the first class in ASU’s basic writing Stretch Program) • The success rate for fall WAC 101 students who took ENG 101 in spring 2005 was higher than it's been the last five academic years
Project 85, after spring 2005 (1 year of data) • For the 2004-05 academic year as compared to the previous five academic years (1999-00 -- 2003-04): • pass rates for both ENG 101 and 102 are higher, and DWE (drop, withdraw, failure) rates are lower.
Project 85, after spring 2005 (1 year of data) • As with fall data, spring student evaluations for 100-level classes are better for Professors, Lecturers, Instructors, and Teaching Assistants than they've been for the previous six spring semesters.
