Acceleration Models:
Comparing 101 PLUS and ALP
Lisa Bernhagen
[email protected]
Wendy Swyt
[email protected]
Highline Community College
Our Own Pipeline Data
Initial placement
in developmental
English
Enrolled in English 101
(data shows enrolled)
English 91
67%
English 81
47%
English 71
32%
…the costs of remediation, for both society and student,
outweigh the benefits.
-- Thomas Bailey
Acceleration Models:
Ways to Shorten the Pipeline
 Mainstreaming
 Place students directly into college level with support
(Baltimore, HCC)
 By-pass dev ed courses
 bridge courses, high school transcript placement, placement
prep/retake (Seattle CC’s)
 Compression
 Offer content of two courses compressed into one quarter
 Curricular redesign
 Change sequence and structure (TCC, Chabot)
 Embedded learning
 Dev ed courses linked to college level “content”, I-BEST
Highline CC: What we are doing
 English 101 combined with extra support in 10-credit
course. (5 credits 101 + 5 credits 91)
 Though students get 10 credits and a grade in 101 and 91 at the
end, like ALP, it is a mainstreaming model, not a compression
model.
 Students work on English 101 assignments and readings
 Support time is used for just-in-time remediation: what do
students need to do the readings and assignments?
 Completion statistics for college level English
 Non-accelerated sequence: 56%
 Accelerated course: 79%
Accelerated Learning Project (ALP)
Community College of Baltimore County
 Students placing into the course below College English are
mainstreamed into a College English class.
 In each ALP section, there are 8 “dev ed” students with 12
“regular” English 101 students.
 Rather than taking English 101 as 3 credits (on a semester
system), the “dev ed” students enroll for 5 credits.
 The 8 students meet separately with the same instructor in
support course each week (2 credits).
 Completion statistics for college level English
 Non-accelerated sequence: 40%
 Accelerated course: 75%
Baltimore CC Traditional ENG 052 to ENG 101
ENG 052
semester 1
ENG 101
semester 2
A
L
P
The Accelerated Learning Project
ALP
ENG 101 ( 3 credit)
ENG 052 (2 credit)
semester 1
semester 1
A
L
P
The Accelerated Learning Project
HCC Traditional ENGL 91 and 101 sequence
ENGL 091
ENGL 101
quarter 1
quarter 2
P
ENGL 101 PLUS
ENGL 101
ENGL 91
quarter 1
quarter 1
P
Benefits side by side
HCC’s PLUS Course
ALP Model
 Cohort model
 Gets students through 101 –
 Cohort model
 Gets students through 101 –
evades traditional placement
pipeline
 Fits the 15 credit load:
instructor teaches 10 credit
Plus course and one other 5
credit
 Easier to schedule – not
taking up classroom for 8
students
 More time for
scaffolding/instruction
evades traditional placement
pipeline
 Uses zone of proximal
development --students in
with “regular English 101
placers”
 Less credits for support
course
 Small (study group size)
support course
What allowed us to do our model:
 AtD intervention: money for faculty development meetings, culture of
evidence, attention to pipeline problems (Bailey, etc.)
 Supportive administration: pilots are encouraged, institutional
researcher on board
 Faculty experienced in both pre-college and college level writing
Steps from pilot and beyond
 Set up first course “Acceleration 91/101”
 Linked courses, figured out to funnel students in
 Promoted to advisors and precollege instructors






Added more sections of 101 Plus
Began quarterly mini-retreats for plus instructors
Changed course name: “English 101 PLUS”
Adjusted prerequisites
Added English 91 PLUS
Adjusted scheduling structure to make waiting lists work




Changing “support course” numbers
Scaling up in terms of sections and faculty development
Looking at student demographics
Gathering data on PLUS students moving to gatekeeper courses
Our results so far…
 Instructors are challenged, excited, galvanized
 Students are passing English 101 at a higher rate than
“regular English 101 students” (79/100 versus 76/100)
 We are rethinking our entire sequence
Out of every 100 students …
90 retained
in 091
•(90% retention rate) LOSE
79 pass 091
(2.0+)
10%
•(88% pass rate)
67 enroll in
101 within 3
years
•(85% enrollment rate) LOSE
60 retained
in 101
15%
•(90% retention rate) LOSE
56 pass 101
(2.0+)
Office of Institutional Research, x3205
7/31/2012
10%
• (93% pass rate)
Accelerated Pedagogy: Eng 101 with support (10 credits;
one quarter).
92 retained in
101 with
support
•(92% retention rate)
83 pass the
support
(2.0+)
•(90% pass rate)
79 pass Engl
101 (2.0+)
Office of Institutional Research, x3205
7/31/2012
•(86% pass rate)
Pipeline
100 start in
English 91
No Pipeline
100 start in
Eng 101 with
support
41 percentage points increase
in the college course pass
rate (23 percentage).
56 pass Eng
101 (2.0+)
Modified 10/10/12 from the Office of
Institutional Research, created
7/31/2012
79 pass Eng
101 (2.0+)
How did students do in gatekeeper
courses after Eng 101?
23% MORE students
make it into
gatekeeper courses
from Eng 101 with
support than 91, 101;
5.3% MORE than
from Eng 101.
Eng 091, then 101
(n=2,815) (56%
complete)
Eng 101 (n = 10,293)
(76% complete)
Eng 101 with support
(n=340) (79%
complete)
COMM 101
ENGL 205
PSYC&100,
PSYCH100
SOC 110, SOC
101
Median
Median
Median
Median
2.9
2.7
2.1
3.5
3.1
3.0
2.5
3.4
2.5
3.1
2.1
3.2
Challenges we face:
 Our computer system (registration mechanisms,





waiting lists)
Faculty wedded to what they teach
Getting the right students into the PLUS courses
Numbering and names
Placement (COMPASS)
Historical political structures: a separate reading
department
I’m attracted to this whole acceleration thing, but
_________________________________.
OR
I have serious reservations about acceleration because
__________________________________.
Challenges…
•
•
•
•
•
•
Our computer system (registration
mechanisms, waiting lists)
Faculty wedded to what they teach
Numbering and names
Getting the right students into the PLUS
courses
Placement (COMPASS)
Historical political structures: a separate
reading department
Acceleration: Big ideas
 High challenge, high support.
 Meaningful and integrated with college content
 Outcomes measure college-readiness, not next-step
readiness.
 Acceleration doesn’t mean “faster”; it means deeper
and better.
Principles for Accelerated Pedagogy-Katie Hern, Chabot College
#1: Engages students in intellectually challenging experiences that
develop the most essential skills and ways of thinking required in
college.
#2: Attends to the affective issues that get in the way of students’
learning and success.
#3: Facilitates an ongoing metacognitive conversation with
students about what they are learning, why they are learning it,
where the process breaks down for them, and how they can
successfully approach it.
#4: Recognizes that mastery doesn’t happen all at once – celebrates
emerging strengths, maintains a constructive, non-shaming
orientation toward problems in student work, focuses on growth.
(“College-readiness” ≠ Mechanical perfection)
Accelerated Pedagogy Activity
 What do assignments in our accelerated English 101 Plus
look like?
 How are they different from what has been traditionally
done in pre-college writing courses?
In your small groups, look at the two assignments we’ve
passed out:
1.
How do these assignments differ?
2.
How does one more clearly reflect the pedagogy of
acceleration?