Increasing First-Year Student Engagement, Learning and Success In Community Colleges

1. Dr. Patricia Stanley Dr. Margaret “Peggy” King Thomas Brown Increasing First-Year Student Engagement, Learning and Success In Community Colleges

2. Fulfilling the Promise of the Community College Co-editors • Thomas Brown • Margaret C. King • Patricia Stanley Co-sponsored by • National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition • American Association of Community Colleges • http://sc.edu/fye/publications/monograph/monographs/ms056.html

3. Fulfilling the Promise of the Community College • Why this monograph now? • Overarching principles • Themes and organization • Fall 2011-Spring 2012 Innovative Educators webinar series • FYE Institute-November 6-8 http://www.sc.edu/fye/sscc/index.html

4. Community colleges have gone from being the stepchild to being the golden child… Dr. Frank Chong, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges Whether providing vocational training, a pathway to transfer, or continuing professional development, community colleges are about enhancing human capital, increasing access, and creating social equity in the 21st century. Jennifer Keup, Director National Resource Center

5. Community colleges are being challenged to play a key role in the nation’s efforts to double the number of college graduates in the next 10 years. The first-year, indeed the first few weeks of the beginning semester, is a pivotal point in students’ academic careers. Brown, King, & Stanley, 2011

6. Overview of the Monograph Guided by several overarching principles: The learning college movement: how do you know what students are learning and achieving Measures of students success should differ between two- and four-year colleges due to diversity of students The multiple missions of community colleges make them unique in the nation and world

7. Overview of the Monograph Describes the distinctive characteristics of first-year student experiences and challenges in community college based on research and effective practices.

8. Arranged in three parts Part 1: establishes the context for examining the first-year experience in community colleges. Part 2: examines broad strategies for increasing student success including professional development and effective transfer initiatives. Part 3: addresses specific interventions to support first-year students learning and engagement and persistence, including transition programs, academic advising, and learning communities

9. Chapter 1: The American Community College: From Access to Success Dr. George Boggs President Emeritus and Chief Executive Officer American Association of Community Colleges Former Superintendent/President Palomar College

10. The Evolution of Colleges of Opportunity Since the founding of Joliet College in 1901, community colleges have evolved to become the most egalitarian of all higher education institutions—democracy’s colleges. They have evolved to include workforce, community, and developmental education and lifelong learning

11. Distinctive Characteristics of Community Colleges Access, to Persistence, and Inclusion Community colleges provide access to higher education for those who plan to continue their education at the four-year level, as well as for those seeking career-technical education, and also for people who choose or are unable to attend a four year college

12. Distinctive Characteristics of Community Colleges • Community Responsiveness and Innovation • Responding to community needs is an integral part to the service mission. • Innovation in partnering with local business and industry to design training programs to meet workforce needs. • Encouraging entrepreneurship, hosting Small Business Development Centers or business incubators that nurture fledgling entrepreneurs.

13. Distinctive Characteristics of Community Colleges • Small class-size and a focus on teaching. • More on-to-one relationships between students and faculty. • A primary focus on teaching and learning rather than an emphasis on research and publishing. • Retain faculty with experience working in specific or highly specialized fields

14. The Learning College Model and the Success and Completion Agenda Achieving the Dream Gates Foundation Postsecondary Success Initiative The Obama Administration Higher Education Agenda Voluntary Framework of Accountability

15. Chapter 2: Understanding Entering Community College Students:Learning from Student Voices Dr. Kay McClenney, Director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement University of Texas Austin

16. Understanding data—whether quantitative or qualitative—about their students is only the first step for community colleges to strengthen entering student success.Ultimately, it takes a sustained commitment to engage in continuous inquiry to design first-year programs to enhance student success.

17. Engagement Matters • For community college students who are frequently juggling multiple challenges and obligations, engagement is critical. • It may even the playing field, heightening chances of success for students who bring an assortment of risk factors to college with them.

18. Purpose of the Chapter • Focus on the characteristics and earliest experience of community college students, as revealed through national data, student surveys, and focus groups • Community College Survey of student Engagement (CCSSE) • Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE)

19. Typically, the data initially raise more questions than they answer...beginning the important campus process of building a culture of evidence and inquiry.McClenney, 2011

20. Benchmarks of Effective Practice with Entering Students Early connections High expectations and aspirations Clear academic plan and pathway An effective track to college readiness Engaged learning Academic and social support network

21. Benchmarks of Effective Practice with Entering Students Early connections Asked why they persisted, students typically referred to a strong early connection to someone at the college…

22. Benchmarks of Effective Practice with Entering Students • An effective track to college readiness One of the major challenges is the significant proportion of students who enter under-prepared for college level work. Therefore it is key to • assess academic skills • Appropriate course placement • Effective instructional and support strategies

23. What needs to be done Build a culture of evidence Treat Each Entering Group of Students as a distinct Cohort Commit to the discipline of routine student cohort tracking Purposefully Design the Entering Student Experience Require and take experience where the students are Bring programs to scale

24. What needs to be done • Emerging evidence suggests that certain educational experience may contribute significantly to the likelihood of students success. Examples include: • College orientation programs • First-year seminars • Student success courses • Leaning communities

25. At some point it behooves community college educators to overcome their reluctance to make mandatory experiences shown to enhance student learning, persistence, and attainment.McClenney, 2011

26. Chapter 3: Enhancing First Year Success in the Community College: What Works in Student Retention Dr. Wesley Habley, Principal Associate Coordinator of American College Testing (ACT) Office of State Organizations

27. Review of community college retention to persistence to degree data from ACT’s Institutional Data questionnaire (1983 – 2009) • Results from ACT’s What Works in Student Retention Survey, Spring 2009 • Three sets of recommendations for increasing student success

28. Community College Retention Rates • Highest Rate – 53.7% (2008, 2009) • Lowest Rate – 51.3% (2004)

29. What Works in Student Retention • 40.7% of campuses have a retention coordinator • 32.1% had goals for retention • Institutional respondents more likely to place responsibility for attrition on student characteristics rather than institutional factors

30. Most Common Retention Interventions • Faculty use of technology in teaching • Tutoring • College sponsored social activities • Mandated placement • Required developmental coursework • Individual career counseling

31. Highest Rated Interventions or Practices • Reading Center/Lab • Comprehensive Learning Center/Lab • Tutoring • Mandated placement • Required developmental coursework • Increased number of academic advisors

32. Highest Rated Interventions (cont.) • Of the top eleven, seven focus on learning support and four on academic advising

33. Interventions used in Colleges with Higher Retention Rates • pre-enrollment financial aid advising • Comprehensive learning assistance center/lab • Diagnostic academic skills assessment • Programs for racial/ethnic minorities • Reading center/lab • Center that integrates academic advising with career/life planning

34. Interventions (cont.) • Required developmental coursework • Increased number of academic advisors • Integration of academic advising with first-year transition programs • Staff mentoring

35. Student success is not an accident – it is the result of intentional activities taken by the college

36. Chapter 4: Reframing At-Risk to High Potential: Supporting the Achievement and Success of Underprepared Students Dr. Mario Rivas, Professor of Psychology Merritt College Thomas Brown, Managing Principal Thomas Brown & Associates, LLC

37. Community colleges make winners out of ordinary people. Leslie Koltai, 1993 The majority of community college students are academically underprepared to achieve success. Schuetz & Bailey, 2008

38. The mission of the community college presupposes that in order for first year students to succeed, they must be engaged with educators who believe in the capacity of all students to develop and learn. Rivas and Brown, 2011

39. While faculty and staff may be committed to student success, most institutions have a fragmented approach to responding to student needs. Sperling, 2009They are more likely to blame student attrition on students (WWISR, 2004, 2010)

40. 1. This chapter defines under-preparedness and examines how being underprepared combines with institutional characteristics to influence first-year student learning, engagement and persistence.

41. 2. It offers a teaching and advising method that can increase student success in the first-year of college.3. Makes recommendations for strategies to enable community colleges to actualize their mission and goals and fulfill their promise.

42. Underprepared students are not ready for college-level work because of gaps in one or more of the following areas • General knowledge (e.g., history, lit, civics) • Skills areas (e.g., reading, writing, math) • Study skills and self management • Critical thinking and analysis • Technological competencies • Knowledge of behaviors leading to success • A vision supporting motivation & persistence • Willingness to take instructors advice Sally Rings, Pima Community College, 2000

43. Many kinds of under-preparedness including: • Adult/re-entry students • First generation/low-SES students • First-year students • International students • Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender students • Multicultural students • Multilingual/ESL students • Student-athletes • Students with disabilities • Veterans • Undecided/Exploratory students

44. Multiple issues… Adult/re-entry students AND ALSO… First generation/low-SES students First-year students International students Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender students Multicultural students Multilingual/ESL students Student-athletes Students with disabilities Veterans Undecided/Exploratory students

45. From a psychological perspective, under-preparedness may stem from low-self efficacy, or the sense that one has little control over thoughts, feeling, and actions conducive to success.Bandura, 1985

46. Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Barriers to Student Success • Attributions regarding ability • Ego vs. Task involvement • Reluctance to seek assistance

47. Offers the 0-100% Teaching and Advising Method to support students to share the responsibility for learning and to shift from a focus on grades to a focus on learning and mastery.

48. Recommends use of an intrusive, active outreach approach to engaging under-prepared students.

49. Chapter 5: Developing and Engaging Educators to Support First-Year Student Success Dr. Christine McPhail Past President, Cypress College Founding Professor Community College Leadership Program Morgan State University Thomas Brown, Managing Principal Thomas Brown & Associates, LLC

50. Community colleges must seek to systematically enhance and expand the ways they provide professional development in order to improve the first-year learning experience.McPhail & Brown, 2011