Serving Today’s College Student in a High Risk Environment

1. Serving Today’s College Student in a High Risk Environment Terri M. Manning, Ed.D. Central Piedmont Community College Pierce College June 8, 2012

2. Do You Agree With These Statements? • Students today are less prepared than they used to be. • Students have different expectations than they used to. • Teaching in community colleges is harder today than it used to be.

3. At Your Tables, Take 10 Minutes (list 1) • And answer these questions? • What makes it so hard? • What can you control and what can’t you control? • If you were to give advice to “community college teacher preparation programs, what new courses would you recommend they add/require?

4. Take 10 minutes • You just spent the morning working on learning outcomes. • I always ask faculty “do you think students fail or drop your course because they cannot master the learning you require in the course?” The sizable majority say “NO, absolutely not. They could learn it if they wanted.” • So what’s the problem. What are the issues, what skills do they not have? What is it that keeps them from doing well in your courses? (list 2)

5. Biggest Issues Facing Higher Education • National accountability movement (distracting from student success) • Students getting poorer • The economy • Cuts to state budgets impacting productivity • Lack of appropriate “requirements” for students

6. Issues, Cont. • Changing demographics (gender, race, language) • Focus on “career education” not “education” • Opinion that everyone is college material • Aging out of faculty • Students getting younger • Bricks vs. clicks

7. 1. Accreditation and Accountability • Becoming a huge distraction to the student success agenda if it isn’t done right. • The point of it is – good institutions who are serious about students success regularly assess where their students are, how they are doing and if they are accomplishing the outcomes we set out for them. If they are not, we must do something to improve the teaching/learning process. • Problem – colleges try to find the “trick” that will appease their accrediting agencies and do a very “fluffy” job of assessment – and worse on using results to improve programs.

8. Accreditation and Accountability • So the psychology faculty says “okay, we’ll put one multiple choice question on our final and that will be our learning outcomes assessment.” • Good assessment changes the culture and practice. • You are lucky to have an entire morning to work on this. • Good job and good luck.

9. 2. Students getting poorer

10. Students by Family Income

11. How Much Can Their Family Pay Toward Their Education

12. 3. The Economy and Budget Cuts • No where is this more of an issue than in California • Causing grossly underprepared students to flock to community colleges – very needy • Causing boom in enrollment while states have less money and cut funding

13. Best Predictor of Headcount Growth for CPCCThe MSA and CSA Unemployment Rates

14. High Numbers of Unprepared Students • Nationally - of those who enter high school, only about 70% will graduate (70 of 100) • 81% of high school students expect to attend college. • But of those who graduate, only half are academically prepared for postsecondary education (35 of 100) • 80% of the fasted growing jobs require some secondary education • 1/3 of all freshmen take remedial courses (42% in CCs, 20% in 4-year) • Economic conditions are driving lesser prepared students back to college Alliance for Excellent Education, Issue Brief, August 2006

15. Cost of Remedial Education

16. 5. Changing Demographics • Changes in faculty • Changes in students • Changes in society

17. Large Numbers of Part-time Faculty • One study found that part-time faculty represented the following: • 57.5% of undergraduate courses at community colleges • 38.4% at public four-year schools that offer bachelor's and master's degrees • 41.8% at public doctorate-granting universities • Often underprepared faculty are teaching our most underprepared students (late registrations.) • USAToday 12/4/2008

18. Large Numbers of Part-time Students Southern Region Education Board, http://www.sreb.org/page/1132/index_of_tables.html

19. Complexity of Student’s Lives • Four of more of these characteristics make students more at-risk for academic failure (4% traditional university students and 24% of community college students). • financial independence (don’t live with parents) • work at least part-time • delayed entry into college after high school (older age at onset) • have dependents at home • are single parents • have no high school diploma (more GEDs) • come from lower income families of origin (poorer performing high schools) • Are first generation college students • Source Pope 2006; Coley 2000, NCES 1996

20. Diverse Populations

21. More International Students • In 2007-08 international student enrollment grew by 7% to a record of 623,805 in US higher education institutions. • Annually, my college has 5,000 to 7,500 international students – from as many as165 countries – speaking as many as 900 languages. Source: America.gov http://www.america.gov/st/educ-english/2008/November/200811171600491CJsamohT0.646908.html

22. Increased Diversity

23. Higher Education Enrollment as a Percentage of Total Enrollment by Race and Gender 1976-2006 in the US Source: Southern Regional Education Board

24. What Some Colleges Are Doing With Males, Particularly Minority Males • Determining the greatest social barriers impacting male students • Determining the greatest academic barriers impacting male students • Working on student skills, leadership skills and making connections with the college • Dedicating space and staff to work with male students • Creating special programs to address male needs • Taking a serious look at academic programs – do we offer programs that are of interest to males

25. 6. Focus on Career Education Rather than Education • We have a large number of illiterate individuals in the workforce • Businesses are going overseas because of lack of a skilled workforce

26. The world has flattened due to outsourcing, trade agreements and technology.

27. What is a “Flat World”? • One where technology and collaborative economies have created an entirely new playing field. • Increased competition and requirements for not only new skill sets but a much more self-reliant, creative and innovative mind set.

28. Flat World Indicators • Collaboration and competition for increasingly different kinds of work from diverse corners of the world • Connectivity into a single global network which has the possibility of ushering in an amazing era of • prosperity and innovation • World shaped by individuals instead of corporations • Era driven by non-western, non-white countries such as China and India • Shift from manual labor to skilled labor moving overseas

29. 7. Is Everyone Really College Material”

30. ACT Percent College Ready Class of 2009 Only 23% of all students were considered “college-ready” in all four subjects.

31. Equality = everyone is treated the same …as in all (men) are created equal….. Equality sets up the powerful expectation that everyone deserves the same opportunity to influence the course of their lives, and to benefit from the fruits of a good society. Equity = everyone has different needs and requirements and should be treated accordingly. It takes into account the idea of quality or ideal treatment – of being just, impartial, and fair. In order for students to have an equal opportunity and the potential to obtain equal benefits in life, they need additional help of assistance at the beginning or at some point along the way. The Difference in Equity and Equality

32. Equity vs. Equality • I am a parent of three children. I say to people “I love my children equally” and “I treat them all the same.” During elementary school, two of those children do very well in school. The third has great difficulty with math and reading. • To treat them with “equality,” I would spend the same amount of time and energy on homework with each child. • To treat them “equitably,” I would give the two children doing well in school the time and energy it takes for them to continue doing well. I would get a tutor for the third child, spend extra time with his teacher discussing ways to help him and spend many more hours helping him learn and complete his homework. I am trying to improve his skills so he has an equal chance of success as do my other two children.

33. Problem with Equity in Higher Education • It upsets people that we select out certain groups and give them “preferential treatment.” Is that what we are really doing? • One way we do this is with developmental education. Those faculty are trained to work with students who have developmental delays and learning difficulties in subject areas. • They understand that these students need extra help to have as “equal” a chance of success as other students. Without help, they will not succeed. • But what about minority male mentoring programs or women’s support centers? These programs simply state “we understand some of these students need extra help and we are going to try to give it to them so they have an equal chance of success”.

34. 7. Faculty Aging Out and Students Getting Younger (Millennials) (Boomers) (Xers)

35. Generations Living in America in 2009 • Veterans 1925-1942 • 37 million living • Baby Boomer 1943 – 1965 • 79 million living • Generation X – 1966-1981 • 61 million living • Millennials – 1982 – 2002 • 105 million living • Generation Z 2003-2022 • About 21 million so far

36. Numbers in the Workforce 24.2%

37. 8. Bricks vs. ClicksMoving to Online & Hybrid Courses • Success rate varies depending on subject but typically 10-20% fewer A-C grades compared to face-to-face classes • We haven’t really evaluated if they are effective for all students • We are not looking at the difference learning outcomes between the two teaching methods • We are not doing a good job of evaluating teaching in these courses

38. Moving to Online &Hybrid Courses • Still a new methodology • We are not orienting them and assessing reading and technology skills in many places – but we let them enroll if they choose • Many take online courses because they think it will be easier • We need to decide what is appropriate and not appropriate to offer online – just because we can doesn’t mean we should

39. Take 10 minutes….. • Now, after all that……. • If you had the power to determine what steps students went through, what they received, what “boot camp” we put them through when they were admitted to Pierce, what would you require to better “orient” them? (list 3)

40. Take 10 minutes • Still having that same power……. • What would you mandate for your faculty in regard to: • Faculty development • Classroom methodology • What they require of students • How they treat students (list 4)

41. Spellings Commission Recommendations • Recommended that America’s colleges and universities: • embrace a culture of continuous innovation and quality improvement • develop new pedagogies, curricula and technologies to improve learning, particularly in the areas of science and mathematics • develop a national strategy for lifelong learning designed to keep our citizens and our nation at the forefront of the knowledge revolution

42. “The knowledge revolution –refers to a global-scale paradigm shift ……. that is about a fundamental socioeconomic change from adding value by producing things which is, ultimately limited, to adding value by creating and using knowledge which can grow indefinitely. The nature of the final form of the revolution is not yet known, but it will be very different from the industrial society from which it emerged. “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Revolution

43. Many Saw It Coming…. • The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts but learning how to make facts live. • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1835-1941) • The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change. • Carl Rogers (1902-87)

44. Saw it coming…… • “The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done -- men who are creative, inventive and discoverers.” • Jean Piaget (1896-1980) • “We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing” • R. D. Laing (Scottish Psychologist, 1927-1989)

45. Teaching Has Changed • Students today are being taught by “content specialists” in a day when all possible content is on the internet. • “Sheer information is no longer a major piece of the value-added of higher education.” • Elizabeth Renker, The Origins of American Literature Studies: An Institutional History, 2007.

46. Top Ten Skills for the Future • 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”

47. Top Ten Skills….. • 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. 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”

48. What Some Colleges Are Doing • Better Orientation (mandatory - students don’t do optional) • A detailed orientation - never online • An orientation to placement testing • Explain types of questions. • 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? • Effective orientation to distance education

49. What Colleges are Doing 2.Support activities • Offer supplemental instruction, service learning opportunities, tutoring, and study groups. • 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. • Create learning communities or linked classes. • Implement an Early Alert System to ensure that struggling students get help not just a warning.

50. Colleges, cont. • Curriculum and pedagogy Focus on developmental and gatekeeper/gateway courses • Make instruction more related to real life experiences.  • Use techniques such as active/collaborative learning, mini learning communities in the class, and computer-assisted labs. • Focus on strengths rather than deficits