North Central State College
2010 DEI Annual Report Narrative
1.
Briefly describe any substantial changes or additions you made to your implementation
timeline.
Assessment and Placement Review Workgroup (Strategic Direction One): NC State refined the
charge of this workgroup and started implementation activities sooner than expected. The new
charge states the group shall:
1) Review current assessment and placement policy, procedure and practice at North Central
State College.
2) Define all standards that students must meet in order to enter college-level courses at NC
State College. Consider all expectations that exist in college level courses, written and
unwritten.
3) Define the instruments, tools, or processes will be used to assess each of these standards.
4) Define policy, procedure and practice at NC State College that will support placement of
students into appropriate learning experiences based on the defined standards. Be certain
to fully address policy, procedure and practice that impacts those students whose academic
abilities do not meet the defined standards.
5) Establish a formal evaluation plan to ensure that assessment and placement policy, practice
and procedure at NC State College effectively support better outcomes for students,
With coaching from consultant Bruce McComb, the team created a logic model and revised
evaluation template (see attached). It has set its overriding goal as a policy balance to ensure
that students with a reasonable chance of success in college-level courses are not placed in
developmental education, and that students unable to succeed without developmental
education are appropriately placed. It identified its key deliverable “output” as a committee
report that captures the elements of the new charge. In addition, the report will establish
policies and procedures for improved communication with partners in secondary and adult
education so that future students will better comprehend as early as possible college readiness
at NC State. This will dovetail with the work of the workgroup described next.
Secondary to Postsecondary Alignment: This group also started implementation activities
sooner than expected; though it revised its focus based on input from K-12 education partners.
The team chose to focus the first year solely on math alignment due to a significant number of
developmental placements in mathematics. Based on an extensive research project with the
initial partner districts, 60% of high school graduates matriculating to NC State within a year
placed into developmental math – with most being placed at least two levels down. The
community P-16 Council is actively involved in this workgroup, and the Council is leading the
effort to provide ACT EXPLORE and PLAN annually for every 8th and 10th grader in NC State’s
service region, and directing aggregate diagnostic data back to districts for curriculum planning.
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The Secondary to Postsecondary Alignment team held a summit on April 14th to engage
secondary mathematics teachers and college mathematics faculty in a review of local, state and
national mathematics performance data, to introduce Ohio’s new Common Core State
Standards, and to begin planning a mathematics retreat for August 2010. At the summer
retreat, secondary and postsecondary faculty will develop strategies specific to mathematics
curriculum alignment, implement these strategies during the 2010-11 academic year, and then
measure the impact of the strategies on improving student readiness for college mathematics.
The goal is to develop a set of model strategies that can be adopted and utilized by the other
secondary schools in our region.
Because the lead of the Secondary to Postsecondary Alignment workgroup also sits on the
Placement Assessment workgroup, there will be communication to ensure these two groups
collaborate on their efforts.
Enhanced Advising/Case Management: This group determined that a combination of two less
expensive software packages (RetentionZen and AdvisorTrac) would meet their case
management needs more efficiently and effectively than the software system originally being
considered (SARS).
2. Briefly describe any interventions included in your original timeline which you have chosen
to discontinue. Please indicate why?
None to report
3. What obstacles (if any) have you faced in implementing your DEI interventions?
Assessment and Placement Review. One challenge for this strategy is NC State’s pending
conversion to semesters in fall 2012. The Assessment and Placement Review workgroup is
trying to progress at the same time faculty are trying to meet deadlines to rewrite their
curriculum. This presents intense challenges as faculty consider how to convert multiple levels
of quarter developmental work into a semester.
Managing an endeavor of this scope has presented challenges, particularly since it touches
multiple departments and divisions at the college. The initial group leader, an interim dean, left
the college in December 2009. The new English Department chair has taken leadership of the
group. Recognizing the importance and complexity of this task, project facilitation assistance is
being considered to “keep all the balls in the air.” The group has budgeted extensively for
consultants for this strategy, and is considering using this investment to assist with some of the
ongoing management of this strategy, especially as it works toward its deliverable committee
report.
Plato supported (self-paced and lab-based) courses. The initial DEI grant application compared
gatekeeper outcomes of students from 2006 and 2007 cohorts who had taken developmental
math in both the lecture and Plato self-paced format. The data showed the combined cohorts
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after two years had a 66% gatekeeper completion rate for lecture and a 58% completion rate
for Plato self-paced – though it should be noted the sample size was only 64 students. The
Math Department requested that the Institutional Research Department analyze success trends
for students taking developmental math in both formats in fall of 2009. While more Plato selfpaced students in the lowest developmental math succeeded according to AtD standards (58%
to 53%), results were tremendously lopsided in favor of lecture for the higher developmental
levels. Lecture students performed better at MTH 102 (67% to 44%) and MTH 103 (68% to
49%).
Based on these results, and after discussions with the lab math instructors and a review of
student attendance records, the department has decided to transition from “self-paced” to
“lab-based” courses that utilize frequent student assessment and feedback through mastery
tests.
Secondary to Postsecondary Alignment: While the Common Core State Standards will likely
improve upon the current Ohio Academic Content Standards, there remains some ambiguity in
terms of implementation. There are no standards elaborated in the Common Core State
Standards for the fourth-year mathematics course. The workgroup intends to wrestle with
these ambiguities as a unified coalition of secondary/postsecondary partners, even before
Ohio’s Common Core State Standards are finalized this summer by the state.
Solutions Adult Transition Program. Some faculty and staff have expressed skepticism about
the effectiveness of using COMPASS as the post-test for this intervention. The Solutions
instructor is in agreement that improved COMPASS re-test scores have not consistently
indicated readiness for the next level course. To that end she is considering using coursespecific proficiency assessments where possible.
Another obstacle for Solutions has been internal resistance to granting approval for proficiency
credit for the “Strategies for Success” workshop series. The outcomes for this series were
modeled very closely on the college’s First Year Experience course, so it was disappointing
when there were a series of delays in granting credit. The issue has since been resolved and
proficiency credit has been awarded to 10 students who successfully completed the workshop
series in March. Another 8 students are currently enrolled in the series.
Fast Track Math. The biggest obstacle for this strategy has been low student participation. NC
State proposed serving 125 students annually, and through three quarters only 60 have retested on COMPASS though more have attended the workshop sessions and did not reCOMPASS. The math department is doing some outreach with community partners to increase
the numbers of students who participate in Fast Track math.
Case Management. Unfortunately, the implementation of the StudentZen retention
management system has been delayed given difficulties in integration with NC State’s Datatel
SIS system. From November 2009 through April 2010, the College’s IT Department and Student
Success Center have been working with StudentZen to connect it to the system. Given these
integration difficulties, the system will not become fully functional until fall 2010. In addition to
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delaying the “enhancements” envisioned in the original DEI plan, it has also temporarily
impacted the College’s ability to manage an effective early academic alert system. The prior
system was lost when NC State converted to a new SIS system in summer 2009. Internal college
departments continue to communicate with StudentZen representatives to ensure system
integration, while a committee of SSC staff and faculty volunteers continues to discuss the
protocols of Academic Alert under the new system.
Tutoring. The largest challenge with tutoring appears to be demand outstripping resources. Last
quarter, the number of student visits to the center increased by 50%. In the fall quarter the
center had approximately 800 visits, and in winter quarter it had about 1,200. It is also running
short on physical space to accommodate the numbers of students served at the site. Student
evaluations reflect a need for additional tutoring space as well as designated quiet study space.
Three other obstacles to our DEI work were more general in nature. First, due to the conversion
to a new SIS in 2009, the IT department was unable to write the new programming code in time
for the fall submission to JBL. The JBL submission was not completed until February 2010. This
has hindered the college’s ability to access new uploads to the E-Stats system and inform the
community about 08-09 outcomes beyond some very basic data. Implementation of the new
SIS has temporarily reduced stakeholder access to data. This, along with limited institutional
research capacity has presented obstacles for workgroups requesting data in order to make
informed decisions.
A second challenge deals with the difficulty of helping multi-disciplinary teams effectively move
from strategy concepts to implementation and evaluation. The college sees the benefits of
creating logic models to help the teams grasp the purpose, process and rational for the
intervention.
Finally, the state of Ohio’s planned move to performance funding using “Success Points”
creates a challenge for interventions such as Fast Track Math and Solutions ABLE partnership,
where developmental progressions are measured and awarded based on COMPASS re-test
scores. Although Ohio community colleges will receive Success Points for student progression
through developmental education, these points will be calculated based on transcript data.
COMPASS scores are not part of the student transcript record. Therefore developmental
education progressions based on COMPASS re-test may not be captured and counted for
Success Points. A variety of remedies are being considered to address this obstacle.
4. Briefly describe any substantial changes or additions you made to your evaluation plan.
The College was fortunate to become acquainted with Bruce McComb, an AtD data facilitator
who recently moved to within an hour’s drive of NC State. NC State engaged Mr. McComb to
train each team on developing its own logic model, revised evaluation plan, and data template
for the plan. Working with him during winter 2010, the college has largely completed these
tasks on three strategies (Math Boot Camp, Tutoring Center and Placement/Assessment
Review). The remaining strategies are undergoing the same training this spring.
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These teams collectively are identifying inputs, outputs and activities and developing outcomes
for the short, medium and long-term. Based on these models, it is been much easier to come
up with formative evaluation questions (e.g., is the intervention being implemented as
intended?) as well as summative questions (e.g., are the intended outcomes being achieved
and for whom?).
It is important to note that NC State does not envision Mr. McComb as its external evaluator.
Rather, it has engaged Mr. McComb in an extremely important professional development role:
to develop in-house capability in the area of evaluation. In fact, the Vice President for Learning
Support and Retention has set a goal to expand logic modeling to other operational areas of the
college outside of DEI, such as for the college’s strategic planning team, and for teams working
on our AQIP action projects.
5. Briefly describe any activities included in your original evaluation plan which you have
chosen to discontinue. Please indicate why you choose to discontinue.
An evaluation team consisting of the IR Director and staff and the teams working on the
initiatives have worked with Mr. Mccomb to develop logic models. The evaluation teams are
revising the evaluation plans based on the logic models that have been developed (or will be
developed) for each DEI initiative. The evaluation questions in the revised plans are somewhat
more global and consolidate the questions in the original evaluation plan. This approach is
designed to make it easier to conduct the evaluation and assure that key evaluation issues are
addressed.
6. Briefly describe progress you are making toward scaling up your DEI interventions, i.e.,
significantly increasing the number and/or proportion of the intervention’s targeted
population participating in the intervention.
-How many students are being served by the key strategies you are implementing? What
percentage of students eligible for strategies do these numbers represent? Do these
percentages represent significant growth over the percentage served before the DEI
interventions were instituted? Have you set stretch goals for your institution’s DEI work over
the next two years? Are these goals focused on delivering the appropriate instruction and
support to as many developmental education students as possible?
Tutoring. NC State originally focused on serving at least 275 unique students per year through
this project, which has already been exceeded given the overwhelming demand for the service.
Fiscal Year
FY09
FY10 (Fall &
Winter Qtr only)
# Unique
Developmental
Students Served
119
309
Total Developmental
Students
% Served
1686
1107
7%
28%
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Fast Track Math – “Math Boot Camp”. Number of developmental students served in FY 2009:
23. Target for FY 2010: 125. Number served through three pre-quarter camps in FY 2010: 60.
Note that the invitation criteria was tightened this year, as only students placing into the two
highest developmental levels were included. There were 285 students referred to the program
based on their COMPASS scores in FY10, so 21% of those invited decided to participate in fast
track math camps. The college has set a stretch goal of serving 125 students per year through
this camp. An evaluation is planned to determine if improved marketing or scheduling could
improve attendance. There is early evidence to suggest that students who place into the
highest level developmental math course receive the most benefit from the boot camp
experience, so this is the group that will receive the most focus in outreach efforts.
Solutions. Number of developmental students served in FY 2009: 20. Target for FY 2010: 90.
Number served as of April 2010 is 86 and there is no doubt that the target of 90 will be
exceeded. The college has set a stretch goal of serving 130 unique students by 2011, given the
capacity limits of the Solutions instructor.
Secondary to Postsecondary Alignment. Original target prior to modification: 270 students in FY
2011 based on Career Tech students taking COMPASS in high school. This strategy has not been
implemented yet to the point where secondary students are being impacted. However, based
on the first group of schools taking part in this project (three K-12 districts and an 11-12th grade
joint vocational school district), revised curriculum should begin delivery in FY 2011. These
schools have a combined senior class population of 500 students, compared to a total senior
high population of approximately 2,500 in the NC State service region. The college has set a
stretch goal of reaching at least 10 school districts by the completion of the grant through
alignment activity, or half the districts in the college service region.
Courses Utilizing Plato Software.
# Students Served FY09
787
Target FY10
806
Actual FY10
912
The number served in FY 2010 represents 42% of total developmental math and reading
enrollments. The college has set a stretch goal of reaching 1,000 students per year through labbased coursework.
Case Management. NC State’s Directions Advising program already serves 100% of
developmental students. The intention of this strategy was to make the system more efficient
and effective largely through technology. Given the difficulties in implementing Student Zen,
the only new technology currently active through this strategy is Advisor Trac and Tutor Trac.
However, this has been widely implemented for tracking, appointment and reporting purposes
by the Student Success Center, Tutoring Center and PLATO (self-paced) lab.
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Assessment and Placement Review. This policy review strategy has not yet been implemented;
however it will impact every student at NC State. For example, given the Ohio Board of Regents
Placement Policy the college will lower its COMPASS cut scores for placement in gatekeeper
English. This is the only gatekeeper course at NC State that every credit student must take,
regardless of their major.
7. Please provide a brief description of professional development you have offered (or plan to
offer) related to DEI interventions. Please include details on both participants and providers.
Current professional development activity
• October – December 2009, Tutoring Coordinator completed five online courses
through the Association for the Tutoring Profession in order to be certified as a
Master Tutor Trainer.
• December 2009, professional development workshop was provided by the Tutor
Coordinator for professional and peer tutors. Number trained was 12.
• November 2009 – RetentionZen software training provided to advising, tutoring,
career services, disability services and financial aid staff by StudentZen, Inc. Number
trained was
• Nov 2009-Feb 2010 advising staff reading/discussing book Understanding and
Engaging the Under-Resourced College Student. Number involved was 11.
• Jan. 2010 - Advising staff completed NACADA webinar, "Ensuring Advisor Success:
Mastering the Art of Advising through the First Year of Advising and Beyond.”
Number involved was 11.
• January 2010 – AdvisorTrac and TutorTrac training provided to key tutoring and
advising staff through Redrock Software, Inc. Number trained was 4.
• January 29 – Math faculty member attended English and Math Course Redesign
event co-sponsored by Tri-C and Pearson Higher Ed.
• February 2010 – Assessment & Placement team, Fast Track Math team and Tutoring
team worked with facilitator to develop logic models and refine evaluation plans (17
involved).
• February 2010 – one hour tutor training, 13 participated.
• March 2010 - A team of 9 faculty and staff presented and/or participated in the
NADE (National Association for Developmental Education) conference in Columbus,
Ohio.
• March 16 – our Assessment Committee sponsored an online seminar entitled "A
Perfect Storm: Understanding and Managing Millennials.”
• March 28 – April 1 Tutor Coordinator attended Association for the Tutoring
Profession national conference.
• March 28-31 Mathematics chair and faculty member attended National Center for
Academic Transformation conference on developmental mathematics redesign (2
involved).
• March 2010 – three hour tutor training, 14 participated.
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April 16 – Secondary to Postsecondary Alignment team and Solutions team
developed logic models and began evaluation plan refinement process (9 involved).
April 23 College-wide in service day. Examples of DEI related items included are: DEI
update provided to college community(approx. 200 involved); Case Management
team (6 involved) focused on StudentZen implementation; an “Academic Coaching”
presentation from the recent NADE conference was shared (11 involved); the
Solutions Adult Transition team and Case Management team worked on developing
logic models and strengthening evaluation plans for their DEI work (15 involved) ;
the Tutoring Coordinator facilitated a 5 hour training for 10 tutors.
April 21 -24 Coordinator of Student Assessment attended AdvisorTrac training and
conference.
April 29 group of faculty and staff attended 6 hour “Bridges out of Poverty” training
in Mount Gilead, Ohio.
We have engaged Bruce McComb (an AtD Data Facilitator) to help us learn to
develop better logic models for use in planning, implementation, communication
and especially evaluation of key initiatives. Our intention is to have a well developed
internal capability, among faculty and staff, so all the college's programs and
initiatives, including those in our overall strategic plan, can be evaluated.
There is interested in professional development that will enable us to use Plato tools
and software to develop pathways for students to prepare for COMPASS or for a
developmental course proficiency exam.
8. Please provide a brief description of technical assistance you have procured (or planned
engagements) related to DEI interventions.
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Dr. Emily Lardner (DEI TA Provider pool) provided technical assistance in October 09
with our developmental education tutoring/coordination work. Dr. Lardner
provided a follow up report (attached) that was met with resistance from faculty but
also provided the impetus for faculty to work collaboratively to align departmental
goals and objectives. The college would like to to re-engage Dr. Lardner in 2010-11.
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Mr. Bruce McComb has been engaged by the Secondary to Postsecondary Alignment
workgroup to assist with strategy implementation. Mr. McComb has instructed both
developmental and college-level mathematics, he is an AtD data facilitator and is
also involved in the Houston area Preparing to Dream initiative at the high school
level. He is advising the workgroup on planning and engagement with the front-line
mathematics teaching staffs. Mr. McComb is also assisting the Institutional Research
Department and VPLSR on overall evaluation and annual reporting issues. Mr.
McComb will help the college increase its self-sufficiency in program design and
evaluation.
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The VPLSR is in discussion with the chair of the Assessment and Placement review
team on the most effective means to engage technical assistance for this very broad
policy endeavor. The VPLSPR has had initial conversations with a consultant to assist
in management of this strategy through the production of a deliverable committee
report which would include A. NC State’s definition of college readiness; B. Current
policies, procedures, practices and results; C. Recommended policies, procedures,
practices with rationale; D. Implementation and Communication; E. Evaluation of
Impact of the new policy.
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The College has engaged a contract writer to capture stories for publicizing DEI. This
individual is interviewing developmental students at the college and relating their
experiences in college publications, websites, etc. (Example attached.)
9. Briefly describe your greatest DEI accomplishment this year.
Our new Tutoring Resource Center and Tutor Coordinator have exceeded all expectations!
Student evaluations of tutoring services are extremely positive. The center is an energetic,
welcoming presence and is a hub of activity, filled with students each day. Our Tutor
Coordinator is very knowledgeable, has extensive teaching experience and is always exploring
new opportunities to facilitate student learning. We are extremely encouraged by the outputs
that have been generated and are anticipating positive outcomes for students as a result.
Outputs for the first two quarters of operation are impressive:
• Unique developmental students increased from 133 in fall (93 math, 35 writing, 5
reading) to 191 in winter (125 math, 56 writing, 10 reading).
• Developmental tutoring hours have increased from 389 in fall to 773 (592 math, 166
writing, 15 reading) for winter.
• Total tutoring hours delivered increased from 910 in fall quarter to 2368 for winter.
• Many students taking developmental courses are also receiving tutoring in college-level
courses. The college provides financial support to assist in bearing this cost.
• Tutoring center is now offering online 24/7 assistance in mathematics and writing
through a state consortium.
Additional evidence of accomplishment:
• Offering tutoring for test prep including NET/HOBET, COMPASS, test anxiety in general.
• Offering computer literacy and keyboarding help, and will take over workshops/tutoring
for helping students pass the computer literacy class. It was determined the current
credit class format was not effective and the center provided a better venue.
• The Tutoring Center and the Solutions program collaborate closely to ensure that as
students transition out of the adult transition program, there is a smooth hand-off in
terms of supportive services. The two programs constantly communicate on how to
most effectively resolve challenges. In late winter 2010, one of the Center’s math tutors
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was hired as a full time mathematics faculty member and has been designated as
developmental math course coordinator by math chair.
The Tutoring Center has strong support from faculty, staff and administration and
student evaluations have been extremely positive.
10. Briefly describe your greatest disappointment or setback with DEI this year.
We had high hopes for the StudentZen software and the positive impact it would have on our
students’ advising experience. Unfortunately there have been many glitches and delays in this
implementation. However, our implementation of the AdvisorTrac and TutorTrac software has
been extremely successful. The delays with StudentZen may prove to be a good thing, as it has
given staff time to become comfortable with AdvisorTrac and TutorTrac before having to learn
to use Zen.
11. Is there anything else you would like MDC to know about your work this year? Are there
tools or technical assistance the DEI partnership can provide to support the Developmental
Education Initiative on campus.
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Our work has created a heightened level of partnership (both internally and externally).
The seven DEI teams all meet regularly and then report back to our “Core Team” twice
each month. Our community partners at the secondary schools, ABLE and the regional
P-16 Council are very much engaged in this work and are contributing resources to
support it.
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Our DEI work is creating new pathways and connections, and students are responding
very positively. Students meeting with our MDRC site team visitors in mid-April spoke to
the importance of the support they have experienced as a result of this work.
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The piloted Strategies for Success workshop series, a proposed new component of
Solutions, got rave reviews from the first cohort. This series is designed with the first
generation student in mind and includes a focus on gaining the digital literacy skills
necessary to meet the often unwritten expectations that exist at the college. All ten
students in the first cohort were granted proficiency credit for the college’s First Year
Experience course and have since enrolled. A new cohort of eight students is now
enrolled in the class.
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The college is opening a new Urban “Dream” Center in downtown Mansfield with the
goal of serving underrepresented groups. We are excited about the opportunity to offer
the Strategies for Success workshop series there.
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We believe that the mathematics alignment work we are doing with our secondary
partners is groundbreaking, particularly the effort to integrate elements of the
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University System of Ohio Strategic Plan, the new State Core Standards from the Ohio
Department of Education and our P-16 Council’s region-wide EXPLORE and PLAN
project.
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The most pressing need we have for “tools or technical assistance the DEI partnership
might provide” to help support us in our work would be those that would enable us to
increase or more effectively use our institutional research capacity.
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