The State of Basic Skills Instruction
in California Community Colleges
Adopted April 2000
Basic
Skills Ad Hoc Committee, 1997-2000 Mark
Snowhite, Chair, Crafton Hills College
John
Allen, Saddleback College
Cheryl
Altman, Saddleback College
Lyn Becktold, Saddleback College
Edith Conn, Ventura College
Barbara Sawyer, Diablo Valley College
Abstract
The
Master Plan for Higher Education requires that
California community colleges provide access to
all of the State=s high school graduates and anyone
over the age of eighteen who can benefit from
instruction. An ever-increasing number of students
are arriving at our doors inadequately prepared
for college-level work. The colleges have responded
with a variety of approaches to meet the need
for basic skills instruction.
Basic
Skillscourses usually
refer to what Title 5 specifies as precollegiate
basic skills courses. These are courses
designed to address the reading, writing, and
computational skill deficiencies of students not
meeting the skills requisites for the Associate
Degree, transfer, and/or other college-level courses.
Terms such as remedial or
developmental are sometimes
used interchangeably and other times used to refer
to different levels of instruction.
The
1998 basic skills survey of the Academic Senate
for California Community Colleges' Basic Skills
Ad Hoc Committee found among the colleges much
variation in practices but many similar problems
developing strong basic skills instruction. Some
common challenges facing basic skills instructors
include classes that are too large, lack of adequate
funding, ineffective assessment tools, inadequate
research, lack of qualified reading instructors,
problems coordinating programs, and insufficient
faculty development opportunities. In spite of
these challenges, many colleges have developed
exemplary programs that stand as models. Based
on these successes, a number of recommendations
for good practice have been made for local senates
to consider as they recommend policy for student
success, planning and budgeting, curriculum, and
other academic and professional matters.
While
success in both mathematics and English basic
skills courses seem crucial to students' subsequent
success in college, the Academic Senate's survey
resulted in far more information on reading and
writing programs and far less on mathematics programs.
This paper is intended as an overview. Many findings
suggest avenues for further investigation, including
investigation and analysis of the state of basic
skills instruction, particularly in mathematics
programs.
Basic
Skills as A Community College Mission The
Master Plan for Higher Education adopted in 1960,
revised in 1972 and again in 1984 continues to
guide higher education in California. In spite
of the fact that it has been under siege for 15
years and in spite of the fact that funding has
been far from adequate to meet the increasing
demand for services, the philosophical tenets
laid out in the Plan have persisted and continue
to influence much of what we believe and what
we teach in community colleges today.
We
have not yet forsaken the promise in the plan
that "the citizens of the state" will
do "whatever is required" to offer access
to quality higher education to all high school
graduates and to anyone 18 years or older who
can benefit from instruction. In the community
colleges, this commitment means providing whatever
basic skills instruction is needed to address
students' needs and to prepare them for general
and vocational education.
In
spite of critics who recognize only the transfer
and vocational education functions of our institutions,
the community colleges, to maintain open access,
have remained committed in their mission to serve
students who need basic skills instruction.
The
need for this service is growing. According to
Len Lazarick, writing in the Community
College Journal (October/November 1997),
community colleges are doing the bulk of remedial
instruction through postsecondary education. As
the California State University System attempts
to move out of remedial instruction, community
colleges will be responsible for more basic skills
instruction with more pressure to deliver effectively.
In
fact, according to a survey conducted by the Academic
Senate in February 1998, overall 49 percent of
all entering students from 56 community colleges
that responded were directed to basic skills courses.
Eighteen of those colleges directed 50 percent
or more of their students to basic skills courses.
These
figures compare with national statistics from
the National Center for Educational Statistics
indicating that 41 percent of students at two-year
colleges, 25 percent at four-year public institutions,
and 13 percent at four-year private colleges need
basic skills instruction.
Basic
Skills Defined What
exactly is a basic skills course? What is a basic
skills student?
Definitions
for basic skills vary.
Of course, basic skills
can apply to any skill that seems relatively basic
to any discipline or area of study, or to any
set of related skills that are recognized as higher
order skills. But for the purposes of Academic
Senate statements in general and this paper in
particular, basic skills
needs to be defined as it relates to Title 5 Regulations
and related applications.
Precollegiate
Basic Skills The
most frequently applied definition of basic
skills courses appears in Title 5, '55502
(d), which specifies precollegiate
basic skills courses as AYcourses in reading,
writing, computation, and English as a second
Language which are designated by the Y[local]
district as nondegree credit coursesY@ So whether
a course is classified as precollegiate
basic skills depends on how the local district,
on the advice of the curriculum committee, classifies
it. For this reason there are some inconsistencies
regarding what level of coursework is designated
as basic skills. Also
included as precollegiate basic
skills are occupational courses designed
to provide students with foundation skills necessary
for college-level occupational course work (Title
5, '55002 (1) c& d).
Although
Title 5 includes reference to other nondegree
applicable courses that include basic skills (e.g.,
Title 5, '55002 (1) (B)), these sections do not
describe precollegiate
basic skills courses and are not the ones most
people identify with basic skillscourses on their local campuses.
Credit/Noncredit
Mode Basic
skills courses can be offered in either credit
(non-degree applicable) or noncredit modes. Courses
described above are offered in the credit mode.
Noncredit
basic skills classes include the following
skills areas: English as a Second Language (ESL),
elementary and secondary basic skills, literacy,
General Education Diploma (GED) preparation, and
occupational/vocational basic skills/ESL.
Developmental/Remedial
We
should also recognize yet another distinction
often applied to basic skills courses, the distinction
between developmental and
remedial. The California
State University Committee on Educational Policy
(Precollegiate Instruction
in the CSU, January 1995, p.23) recognizes
two types of precollegiate (i.e., basic skills)
coursework in English and mathematics. These are
based on whether the student has ever been "fully
exposed" to the work of the precollegiate
course under consideration. If the student has
been exposed to the content of the course, the
student is considered remedial. If the student
has never been exposed to the content of the same
course,then
that student is considered a developmental
student. This document does not provide an exact
definition of exposed,
nor does it indicate the usefulness of this distinction
to the student or teacher.
The
United States Department of Education has defined
remedial education courses as "reading, writing
and mathematics courses for college students lacking
those skills necessary to perform college-level
work at the level required by the institution."
This statement includes no distinction of whether
a student has ever been given the opportunity
to learn the material of such courses.
Norton
Grubb and Associates, in their 1999 book on community
college teaching, Honored But
Invisible, combine remedial
and developmental.
They define remedial developmental
education as Aa class or activity intended to
meet the needs of students who initially do not
have the skills, experience, or orientation necessary
to perform at a level that the institution or
instructor recognizes as "regular or college-level
instruction" (p.74).
Because
remedial has a negative connotation,
the term developmental
has been favored by faculty who teach such courses
and provide student services. For the purposes
of this paper, the writers have referred to these
courses as basic skills.
Survey
of Basic Skills Practices In
its 1998 survey (see Appendix), the Academic Senate
focused on precollegiate reading, writing and
mathematics skills to obtain a snapshot of basic
skills instruction as it exists in California
community colleges today, to outline common problems
that basic skills students and instructors face,
andBmost importantlyBto report exemplary practices.
The discussions below are based upon the results
of this survey.
The
Challenge of Teaching Basic Skills Courses Some
citizens and legislators believe that providing
funding for community college students who are
under-prepared for college is like paying twice,
the perception being "that the state may
be paying again for what it has already paid for
in high school" (Lazarick).
However,
Hunter Boylan, of the National Center for Developmental
Education, maintains that "passing [college]
developmental [i.e., basic skills] courses has
been positively correlated with success in college
as measured by cumulative GPA and retention"
(qtd. in Developmental Education
Task Force Report, Los Medanos College,
Spring 1998).
Grubb
and Associates, in a national study based on observations
of community college classes, found the best and
the worst teaching in this arena. Instruction
ranged from "the most inspired student- and
learning-centered approaches and the most deadly
drill-and-kill classes" (Grubb, p.
174). They cited the need for citizens and legislators
to recognize the difference between the popular
notion that institutions have "dumbed down"
courses to match lowered student and instructor
expectations and a carefully designed and rigorous
course of remediation. They conclude, "we
can see that developmental [i.e., basic skills]
education is one of the most difficult teaching
challenges and needs to be rescued from its second-hand
status."
Indeed
survey respondents concurred. They cited challenges
tied to common problems of large class size, lack
of adequate funding, uncertain assessment methods
including a lack of multiple measures,
a lack of quality reading instruction, a scarcity
of quality full-time instructors, a lack of solid
research, and insufficient faculty development
and program coordination.
Class
Size Survey
results reveal that funding and class sizes are
inexorably linked in many colleges. Because basic
skills students need a great deal of individual
attention, instructors believe it is important
that class sizes be manageable. In California's
enrollment driven funding situation, however,
classes for basic skills students often include
numbers far too high for such attention and thus
inhibit best teaching practices. In addition,
the inability to offer small classes and maintain
low teacher-student ratios limit opportunities
for support services such as tutoring and study
groups, which do not normally generate FTES numbers.
A
few colleges limit enrollments in basic skills
courses (12 percent of responding colleges maintain
basic skills writing class enrollments under 25
students), but 62 percent report class sizes between
25 and 30, and 24 percent allow for enrollments
to soar to more than 30.
"Finding
an unequivocal answer to the class size issue
is vitally important to the future of American
public education. Class size research shows an
important link between lowered student/teacher
ratios and higher achievement," reports Douglas
Mitchell, as long ago as 1966, in How
Changing Class Size Affects Classrooms and Students.
Community
college students should be assured that their
institutions have optimized their chances of success.
To do so requires that colleges provide classes
small enough for the individualized attention
that is necessary for students who need basic
skills instruction to learn. Large class sizes
tend to make educational institutions impersonal.
Whereas traditional students who are already independent
learners can make progress on their own in such
situations, less skilled students who require
higher levels of support are likely to drop out
of content-specific courses. When they drop out,
it appears that they have failed to learn or were
unable to make passing grades or to earn enough
units to remain matriculated. But the real reason
for their lack of persistence may be "the
way we have structured most educational institutions,
as places where only certain kinds of students
can learn well" (Grubb, p.343).
Funding An
overwhelming majority of survey respondents saw
insufficient funding as a barrier to offering
quality instruction to basic skills students.
Although
some colleges identify basic skills instruction
as a viable and intrinsic component of the system,
insufficient funding inhibits their efforts to
improve the performance of basic skills students.
The following remarks by survey respondents typify
the attitudes expressed: "Because of budget restraints,
our equipment is ancient and not reliable;" "Our
students become discouraged when they have to
wait 3-5 minutes for a computer to be ready to
use;" and "We need to be in the market place."
A
large number of colleges in our sample have managed
to supplement funding by securing Title III grants,
federally funded grants that offer assistance
to institutional programs working to increase
the retention and success of at-risk students.
Most of these at-risk students need to be in basic
skills courses. These grants have allowed colleges
to increase staffing, purchase equipment, and
design innovative curriculum. The downside of
reliance upon these grants, however, is that when
the grants expire, colleges that have been unable
to institutionalize changes developed with the
grants are back where they started, scraping for
dollars.
While
overcap funding for basic skills courses has helped
some colleges, these funds are insufficient, and
many collegesBespecially those in large urban
areas who are struggling to maintain enrollment
numbersBare not eligible to receive these funds.
Assessment Issues
with assessment abound. Respondents to the survey
expressed a variety of problems with assessment,
an element essential for appropriate placement
of students. Whereas almost all colleges reported
having an assessment test and using multiple measures,
81 percent of the colleges indicated that self-selection
was a primary avenue for students to enter basic
skills classes.
Some
indicated that assessment tests are removed from
the actual curriculum of the course and, therefore,
lack content validity. One college urged the involvement
of faculty in "direct implementation"
of assessment instruments, as faculty understand
the entry skills students need for specific classes.
Content review of courses and alignment of assessment
instruments with course expectations was seen
as crucial.
Some
survey respondents identified problems assessing
ESL students. Often ESL students, because of language
deficiencies, receive recommendations to enroll
in basic skills classes for which they are not
suited. All assessment should include multiple
measures and effective counseling/advisement,
required by matriculation regulations and regarded
as good practices. While virtually all respondents
reported that their colleges use multiple measures
to assess and place students, none elaborated
on what measures were used or on how they were
used. It is important to have clearly established
and validated criteria such as student surveys
that seek information on educational background,
attitudes toward reading, life experiences, and
the amount of time students expect to allocate
to their studies. Some survey respondents stressed
the critical need for teachers to explain to students
who are new to college the expectations of all
college courses, especially expectations of study
and practice time outside of class.
Clearly,
work needs to continue in the area of matriculation,
with regard to assessment and placement in basic
skills courses to assure student success and retention.
Quality
Full-time Instructors Respondents
indicated that 56.5 percent of their basic skills
instructors came from the part-time ranks and
43.5 percent from the full-time instructors. On
the noncredit side, the use of part-time faculty
for basic skills is even more overwhelming, with
fully 70 percent of noncredit basic skills taught
by part-time faculty. Developing a quality basic
skills strategy demands much time and a collective
effort among faculty. Part-time faculty, by necessity,
are on the move and often unable to attend planning
and coordination meetings necessary to program
development. (Even when part-time faculty members
have the time and dedication to help with these
efforts, they are generally not paid for this
outside-of-class time.) Furthermore, if part-time
faculty teach only basic skills courses, they
run the danger of being viewed as not scholarly
or academic enough to teach higher-level courses.
Some
respondents believe that recognizing basic skills
as a separate discipline would provide a higher
profile to basic skills programs and to those
who specialize in teaching basic skills courses.
But in 1991 the Academic Senate decided against
recommending the establishment of a separate basic
skills discipline, reasoning that there was value
to basic skills students being taught by discipline
experts who teach the full range of courses. This
is essential if faculty are to prepare students
to move into college-level curriculum successfully.
Testimony at five statewide hearings helped determine
that the creation of such a discipline might lead
to the "fragmentation of curriculum, isolation
of both faculty and students, and lowering of
standards for faculty" (Ad
Hoc Basic Skills Committee Final Report,
February 9, 1991). Essentially
there was fear that the establishment of a separate
basic skills discipline would lead to a two-tiered
system, where basic skills students would be regarded
as inferior.
The
1991 report indicated the concern that students
could become trapped in remedial programs. Proponents
of the view that basic skills instructors should
be discipline experts saw "basic skills courses
as serving the general curriculum by preparing
students for higher-level courses" (p. 33).
Successful
programs seem to flourish when they are developed
and taught by a cadre of full-time instructors
who support basic skills instruction, who work
together to conceive a program, and who teach
the full range of courses.
Quality
Reading Instruction Reading
is the most essential basic skill that students
need to succeed academically, yet finding instructors
qualified to teach reading is difficult. One college
reported that it frequently had to cancel classes
because it could not find reading instructors.
A
developmental reading program under the auspices
of or working closely with the English department
should provide students with a range of reading
courses applicable to the general education requirements
of the Associate Degree. In many colleges, developmental
reading courses are entry-level courses into the
composition program.
For
optimal instruction the faculty need classrooms
that allow for traditional lectures, demonstrations,
and interaction between the teacher and students.
In addition, classrooms with movable desks necessary
for collaborative activities help create an environment
more conducive to learning. Classrooms should
also be equipped with a computer, overhead projector,
and video and audio capabilities. Classrooms might
need to be retrofitted with fiber optics and the
systems necessary to install computers, networking,
and telecommunications equipment. Networked systems
would enable the faculty and students to communicate
with students and professionals at other locations;
thus, access to the Internet and the World Wide
Web is imperative.
The
addition of full-time faculty who are prepared
to teach reading reflects an institution's increased
commitment to helping students develop college
level literacy skills. Institutions should also
support faculty attendance at workshops and conferences
that focus on the use of technology in the teaching
of reading, which is essential to enhancing teaching
and student learning.
Reading
programs gain visibility when faculty speak at
workshops, conferences, and meetings throughout
the county and state. Ideally institutional support
encourages all faculty, but especially basic skills
faculty, to participate in workshops conferences,
and meetings within their communities as they
strive to increase efforts at improving literacy.
Membership in professional organizations keeps
faculty abreast of pedagogy in their disciplines.
The following are some of the organizations representing
faculty whose disciplines are central to basic
skills instruction:
California
Association of Teachers of English to Speakers
of Other Languages (CATESOL)
California
Mathematics Council of Community Colleges(CMC3)
California
Reading Association (CRA)
College
Reading and Learning Association (CRLA)
English
Council of California Two-Year Colleges (ECCTYC)
International
Reading Association (IRA)
National
Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
Teachers
of English to Speakers of Other Languages
(TESOL).
Research With
the large numbers of students entering our institutions
without the skills needed for success, more attention
and research should be directed towards finding
ways to better serve these students. Unfortunately,
we often place them in "sink or swim" situations
because we lack research to guide our efforts
towards better pedagogy. The Academic Senate survey
indicated that we lose many students who are assessed
into basic skills courses and never enroll in
any college course. Perhaps they are disturbed
by their placement and decide they are unsuited
for college, but research data to confirm or contradict
this intuition is not available. Systemwide we
direct more than half of our entering students
to basic skills courses; however, only 29 percent
actually enroll in these courses (see Appendix).
Students sometimes indicate that they decide to
enroll in other courses and wait to take English
or mathematics for a later time, a strategy unlikely
to result in success in college-level classes
that require college-level reading and writing
skills.
To
further complicate matters, it has been estimated
that only about 50 percent of entering basic skills
students persist to the next level. According
to the Chancellor's Office Fact
Book, less than 25 percent of basic skills
students showed improvement in the three-year
period from 1995/96 to 1997/98 (p.46). Why so
few? We don't know. Most reporting colleges (76
percent) indicated that they had no means for
following up on students who drop out. Some colleges
(15 percent) reported having little research on
pass rates or retention rates. Twenty-nine percent
reported having no data on persistence rates.
However, MIS requirements for Partnership for
Excellence call for all
participating colleges to collect and report this
data. Clearly, we need more research to determine
why students are not succeeding in basic skills
courses if we seriously intend to increase success
rates.
Another
problem is that a number of colleges have no researchers
on their staffs. Many faculty indicated they were
trying to carry out research on their own in addition
to their teaching duties. Clearly, more research
linked to need would help with assessment necessary
to improving pedagogy.
The
difficulty in evaluating students' progress through
basic skills sequences may be attributed to factors
in addition to those identified above:
Lack
of follow-up on assessment and placement procedures,
Inattention
to support services,
Variations
in student demographics,
Variations
in levels and content of basic skills courses
throughout the system, and Lack of agreement
on the definition of student success.
What
data we have on the statewide level point to needed
improvements in how we support basic skills students.
The Chancellor's Office 1999 report The
Basic Skills Mission: Successful Outcomes Achieved
by Students with Basic Skills or ESL Experience
noted that on the average basic skills students
are twice as likely to receive financial aid compared
to all students and that students with disabilities
are twice as likely to enroll in basic skills
classes compared to all students. Such data, as
well as responses on the survey, point to a need
for increased attention to support services.
Levels
of Basic Skills Courses The
Academic Senate survey reveals a great variety
of levels of basic skills classes, with some colleges
offering only one or two courses below freshman
composition or elementary Algebra and others offering
six or seven levels below college level. Questions
often arise from students transferring from one
college to another as to exactly where they belong.
It is difficult for counselors and advisors to
determine equivalent course placement for students
who transfer from another college and are therefore
not required to participate in the receiving college=s
assessment. The Community College Articulation
Numbering (CCAN) project, supported by a grant
from the Board of Governors, promises to provide
a solution to this problem. It is designed to
develop a third numbering system to align nontransferable
courses among colleges just as the California
Articulation Numbering (CAN) System does for transferable
courses.
Faculty
Development Survey
respondents reported that many instructors lack
a passion for teaching the under-prepared student
and even when the passion is there, the instructors
feel isolated. One survey respondent wrote, "There
really is a need for a support group for those
who teach basic skills classes. There is a need
to network [about] what is working and what is
not as promising." Yet 35 percent of the
colleges responding reported no faculty development
activities for basic skills instructors, and respondents
from five colleges had no knowledge about whether
faculty development in basic skills instruction
even existed.
Program
Coordination Basic
skills students must master more than content
if they are to persist to higher-level classes.
One basic skills writing instructor regularly
tells students that her job is to teach them to
be better writers, better readers, and better
students. A more global approach than is taken
in transfer level teaching may be most appropriate
for precollegiate students.
"Precollegiate
courses are too restrictive," said another
survey respondent, who suggested the development
of comprehensive approaches to providing basic
skills throughout the curriculum, integrating
reading, comprehension, study skills, personal
skills, cooperative skills, time management skills,
mathematics skills, understanding systems, and
communication skills.
Further,
a comprehensive approach could integrate issues
of multiculturalism and discipline focus, as well
as analytical skills, critical thinking, problem
solving skills, and time management skills.
The
development of these ideas and others require
institutional support for curriculum development
for basic skills, adequate assessment tools, discipline
expertise, sufficient support services, and creativity
to improve basic skills instruction.
Exemplary
Programs
In
spite of the multiplicity of problems pointed
out by survey respondents, a surprisingly large
number of exemplary practices were highlighted.
One respondent spoke for all when he wrote, "We
do a lot," referring to the many effective
approaches now employed. These include learning
communities; tutorial assistance, in many cases
involving peer tutoring; open entry-open exit
self-paced courses; computer-assisted instruction;
study group labs; multi-media and/or multi-sensory
environments; paired or linked courses; mini-
or short-term courses; portfolio grading; and
program coordination.
Learning
Communities
There
is no one arrangement for successful learning
communities. A variety of approaches are showing
encouraging results. Colleges such as Cerritos
College pair skills courses (e.g., Basic Writing)
with courses in the content area (e.g., Sociology).
Typically in this approach instructors team-teach
and coordinate efforts with counseling and other
support services. Other colleges (e.g., Fullerton
College's Transfer Achievement Program, or TAP)
use supplementary study groups for certain classes.
In these sessions instructors and instructional
aides help students with coursework. Students
must attend these sessions to remain in the class.
San
Jose City College's Gateway
Program exemplifies a comprehensive model of the
learning communities model. In this program students
are scheduled into a combination of basic skills
writing, mathematics, and counseling courses.
Supplemental activities, such as field trips and
speakers, maintain high student involvement and
motivation. Individualized counseling and other
support services are provided. This effort consistently
achieves a success rate of well over 80 percent.
Bridge
Programs Many
California community colleges offer bridge programs/classes
designed to assist recent high school graduates
in successful transition to college. The projects
usually include both counseling/advisement and
instructional services for participating students;
the projects focus on their educational planning
toward career goals, major selection, and transfer
plans, as well as building basic skills in reading,
writing, and mathematics, essential for college
success. The goal is to provide a bridge for the
students prior to their first college semester.
The
benefits of this program are to:
Improve
articulation with local high schools,
Increase
student enrollment,
Enhance
student retention rate,
Enhance
student academic achievement, and
Increase
the transfer rate.
Tutorial
Assistance Tutoring
describes a variety of activities used to promote
student learning and supplement instruction. Tutors
may be paraprofessionals, graduate students from
nearby four-year institutions, orBmore typicallyBcommunity
college students who have demonstrated mastery
of the material they are asked to tutor.
Tutors
work in different settings and under a variety
of conditions. Typically they serve as aides in
class, facilitate work groups and study groups
outside of class, and work one-on-one with students
in learning resource centers, labs, and even the
cafeteria.
The
survey indicates that tutors play an important
role in a number of basic skills programs that
respondents identified as exemplary. Although
it is impossible to draw conclusions from this
limited survey about the most successful use of
tutors, there seems to be a trend in English and
mathematics to incorporate tutoring as a course
requirement in basic skills classes. For example,
El Camino College=s writing center provides tutors
who work closely with instructors in the classrooms
for basic skills reading and writing students.
Diablo Valley College, Fresno City College, Riverside
City College, and Saddleback College require that
writing students participate in lab work with
tutors as part of their class hours. Fullerton
College, Diablo Valley College, and others require
basic skills mathematics students to spend one
hour in a mathematics lab staffed by tutors working
under mathematics instructors. Most colleges have
writing and mathematics labs or centers staffed
by tutors and instructors that are open to individual
or class use.
All
community colleges use tutors in one way or another,
but how effective have they proven to be? National
studies indicate that unless tutors have undergone
an extensive orientation program, the most that
we can expect is short-term gains, where tutors
help students complete assignments or a sequence
of assignments. In this way tutors can help students
pass a particular course, but not improve in their
overall abilities to learn or apply course material
in other courses and thus become more capable
learners. A study funded by the EXXON Corporation
and conducted by the National Center for Developmental
Education between 1988 and 1994 concluded that
there was
a correlation between tutoring and student success
only when comprehensive tutor training and evaluation
were central to the tutoring program.
For
those interested in developing effective tutoring
programs, two nationally recognized publications
are available: 1) a handbook for tutor training
published by the College Reading and Learning
Association (CRLA) and 2) the National Association
for Developmental Education's NADE
Guidelines for Self-Evaluation for several
key features of developmental programs, including
tutoring.
Reading
Lab Programs
The
Reading Lab programs provide postsecondary students
with individualized instruction designed to assist
them in gaining and/or improving skills and bring
them up to college level. A wide range of lab
courses helps students work on specific skills
at their own pace. There are two types of such
courses: lab courses to complement the reading
skills taught in traditional reading classes,
and lab courses that are independent of formal
class structure designed to help students enrolled
in classes across the curriculum. These lab courses
do not have prerequisites and are, therefore,
accessible to all students. Additionally, the
lab classes are open-entry, open-exit, giving
students the opportunity to register and to complete
the class at anytime throughout the semester.
A
reading lab serves as a resource center and information
service responding to student, instructor, and
community queries regarding assessment, placement
recommendations, remediation resources, and other
services. Lab instructors work to address students'
reading problems. Programs on audiotape and videotape,
computer programs, workbooks, and one-on-one instruction
are among the tools available to help students
build skills in such labs.
Several
unique features are characteristic of lab learning
experience for students. Individualized contacts
allow students to work independently at their
own pace; students may attend lab according to
a flexible schedule to meet their individual needs.
Reading labs also offer assistance to all students,
from those with severe limitations to those who
want to supplement well-developed skills. The
Reading Lab courses are remedial/developmental
and are, therefore, nontransferable and do not
articulate with four-year universities.
Open
Entry-Open Exit Courses Many
colleges report open entry-open exit arrangements
individualized to serve students who need specialized
help on specific subjects. Grossmont's Mathematics
and Study Center has scheduled 73 hours of open
tutoring per week. All basic skills mathematics
instructors may schedule time in the center and
all students are invited to drop in. The center
uses computer-aided instruction, calculators,
manipulatives, and both traditional and reform
texts. To help students maintain and strengthen
mathematics skills, particularly over the summer,
the department has developed a review class via
computer tutorials that is flexible and individualized.
At Las Positas College, basic skills mathematics
classes are offered in either the mastery learning/
programmed mode or in traditional lecture format.
For writing students, Las Positas has revised
its English 100 program to include six rather
than five class hours, adding an additional lecture
hour. Initially the program was self-paced with
instructional assistant support and programmed
instruction. In revising the program, the college
will give greater emphasis to student-teacher
interaction.
While
it is important to adopt a coherent sequence of
courses and supporting activities such as those
above that lead to access to college-level curriculum,
sufficient attention also needs to be paid
to ensuring a programmatic set of offerings that
comprise sufficient units to enable basic skills
students to qualify for financial aid.
Program
Coordination Developmental
education (basic skills) needs to be seen as a
collegewide commitment, conclude faculty at Los
Medanos College (LMC), after researching developmental
education. In addition to reading, visiting other
colleges, and contacting experts, three faculty
members attended and were certified by the Kellogg
Institute for Developmental Educators, held by
the National Center for Developmental Education.
Subsequently, those faculty members developed
an integrated approach to basic skills instruction
that includes high levels of coordination rather
than a centralized model. The LMC faculty noted
that a successful approach is founded on the belief
that everyone in a college is involved in the
developmental growth of each student.
Utilizing
Ruth Keimig's research on learning improvement
as a conceptual framework, the LMC projectrecommended a four-level approach represnting
"progressively higher levels of institutional
commitment . . . which research documents as having
greater potential for improving learning and teaching":
Level
One: Separate basic skills courses,
Level
Two: Learning assistance for individual students,
including tutoring, supplemental instruction,
and the establishment of a reading-writing
center,
Level
Three: Course-related learning services, which
offer supplemental instruction for students
in Ahigh risk courses@ rather than targeting
"high risk students", and
Level
Four: Comprehensive learning systems, including
the possibility of five different types of
learning communities.
The
authors, citing Keimig, argue that an approach
that utilizes all of these increasing levels of
support throughout the college curriculum has
the highest potential for improved learning and
student achievement. They conclude that the "potential
for widespread improvement is directly in proportion
to how comprehensive and institutionalized"
the developmental program is.
This
model moves away from identifying students
as under-prepared, and suggests that it is the
institution which is
under-prepared to address the many individual
needs of the wide variety of students over the
course of their entire college career. Such a
comprehensive approach essentially leads to a
restructuring of the entire college to provide
greater integration of student services and instruction.
And, it posits the entire curriculum as in need
of linkage with developmental courses.
It
should be noted that at LMC the local academic
senate organized the task force to address the
needs of the increasing numbers of under-prepared
students at the college. The academic senate worked
with the administration to appoint the task force
chair, ensure adequate reassigned time for the
chair, and provide institutional support for the
work of the task force. The task force proposals
were subsequently adopted by the academic senate
and submitted as formal recommendations to the
administration. This effort exemplifies the leadership
role that local academic senates can play in addressing
basic skills issues on a systematic, collegewide
basis.
Recommendations Improving
the learning of basic skills students involves
a complex of factors. Certainly energetic, dedicated
faculty with full institutional support is crucial
to increasing student success. The list of recommendations
below is far from exhaustive; however, it includes
the thoughtful ideas expressed by the many respondents
to the Academic Senate's survey on basic skills
and provides direction to local academic senates
working to address this critical part of our mission.
Local
senates should lead their faculty and administration
to view basic skills instruction as central
to the community college mission.
Local
senates should study the basic skills programs
in their colleges and support basic skills
instructors and program leaders by:
recognizing
basic skills students' particular needs
for programs that include a personalized
approach and supporting smaller class
sizes;
urging
administration to provide adequate ongoing
funding for basic skills programs;
working
with counseling faculty and matriculation
officers to ensure that all assessment
of incoming students includes consideration
of valid multiple measures and effective
counseling and advising;
reviewing
course content to assure that it is aligned
with results of placement information;
supporting
the hiring of faculty who are not only
discipline experts but who are also committed
to basic skills learners;
acknowledging
the importance of quality reading instruction
to all areas of the curriculum and supporting
the allocation of optimum conditions for
reading instruction, including adequate
classroom space and equipment to provide
an environment conducive to learning;
advocating
for specific research geared toward identifying
methods to help basic skills students
to receive appropriate placement, and
to increase their retention and success
rates; and
providing
faculty development opportunities to inform
all faculty about needs and methods of
instruction best suited to basic skills
students.
Local
senates should lead the college to take a
more global approach to the instruction of
basic skills students so that faculty from
all areas participate in an "across-the-curriculum"
approach to basic skills learners. Successful
approaches involve student services faculty
as well as faculty from all disciplines, teaching
both general as well as vocational education.
As with successful transfer efforts, serving
basic skills students needs to be an institutional
commitment.
See
also Transfer as an Institutional
Commitment, Academic Senate for California
Community Colleges (Fall 1996).
Ruth
Keimig, Raising Academic Standards:
A Guide to Learning Improvement, (1983),
ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Research Report.
Los
Medanos College Academic Senate, Developmental
Education Task Force Report (Spring1998).
Works
Cited: Academic
Senate for California Community Colleges. Ad
Hoc Basic Skills Committee Final Report, 1991.
Academic
Senate for California Community Colleges. Toward
Increased Student Success:Transfer
as an Institutional Commitment, A Position
Paper, adopted Fall 1996.
California
State University Committee on Educational Policy.
"Precollegiate Instruction in the CSU," January
1995.
California
State Department of Education. "A Master Plan
for Higher Education in California," 1960-1975,
1984.
Chancellor's
Office of the California Community Colleges. "The
Basic Skills Mission: Successful Outcomes Achieved
by Students with Basic Skills or ESL Experience,"
1999.
Crowe,
Edward. Statewide Remedial
Education Policies: State Strategies that Support
Successful Student Transitions from Secondary
to Postsecondary Education." State Higher
Education Executive Officers, September 1998.
Grubb,
W. Norton. Honored But Invisible,
Routledge, 1999.
Keimig,
Ruth. "Raising Academic Standards:
A Guide to Learning Improvement," ASHE-ERIC
Higher Education Research Report, 1983.
Lazarick,
Len. "Back to the Basics: Remedial Education."
Community College Journal, October/November
1997.
Los
Medanos College. Academic Senate
Developmental Education Task Force Report,
1998.
Menegas,
Irene. California's Master
Plan for Higher Education; Promise or Pretense?
Diablo Valley College Faculty Lecture,
1995.
Mitchell,
Douglas. "How Changing Class Size Affects Classrooms
and Students,"1996.
Appendix
Basic
Skills Survey Results In
the Spring of 1998, the Academic Senate's Basic
Skills Ad Hoc Committee conducted a survey to
determine standards and practices in community
college basic skills instruction and also to give
colleges an opportunity to share their successes
in basic skills instruction with others. Basic
skills courses were identified as pre-collegiate
and excluded ESL courses. Sixty-eight colleges
responded. Below are the questions followed by
a summary of the results:
1.
Approximately what percent of your entering students
are directed to Basic Skills courses? Responses
varied considerably--from Cabrillo's 95.4% to
Citrus's 5%. Eighteen of the reporting colleges
direct 50% or more to basic skills courses; nineteen
directed less than 50%. Over all, 49% of all entering
students among the 56 colleges who answered this
question were directed to Basic Skills courses.
Twelve colleges could not answer this question.
2.
Approximately what percent of your entering students
enroll in Basic Skills courses? Again,
responses varied considerably. Foothill enrolls
60% of their entering students in basic skills;
both Mission and West Valley enroll only 6% of
their entering students. The average of all reporting
colleges was 29%. Twenty-two colleges could not
answer this question.
3. (a) For Basic Skills,
does your college have research on the following:
pass rates ("C" or better)? 68
responses: Yes: 59; No: 8; Don't know: 1.
(b)For
Basic Skills, does your college have on the following:
retention? (Number of students who complete courses
with any grade)? 68 responses: Yes: 59;
No: 7; Don't know: 2.
(c) For
basic Skills, does your college have research
on the following: persistence (number of students
who enroll in subsequent courses)? 68
responses: Yes: 45; No: 19; Don't know: 4.
4. Do
you award certificates in Basic Skills?
68 responses: Yes: 1; No: 65; Don't know:
2.
5. Does
your college provide staff development for Basic
Skills instruction? 68
responses: Yes: 39; No:24; Don't know: 5.
6.
Does your college provide a
means for following up on why students drop out
of Basic Skills classes? 68 responses:
Yes: 14; No: 52; Don't know: 2.
7.
Are students who enroll in Basic Skills courses
at your college provided with services such as
tutoring, counseling, study groups? 65
responses: Yes: 64; No: 1.
8. If
you are a multi-college district, is there any
articulation or matching of basic skills courses
within your district? 34 responses: Yes:
23; No: 10; Don't Know: 1. (the two other colleges
in this district reported "no.")
9. Are
students recommended for Basic Skills courses
by use of:
A.
An assessment test. 56 responses: Yes: 55; No:
1.
10. How
many courses/levels of Basic Skills courses do
you have? (Only levels were counted except where
only number of courses were provided.)
1
level
2
levels
3
levels
4
levels
5
levels
6
levels
A.
Writing
(39 rsps)
5
32
11
0
0
1
B.
Reading
(48 rsps)
6
25
11
5
1
C.
Reading/Writing (22 rsps)
6
9
3
3
1
D.
Math (58 rsps)
10
13
17
11
5
1
11.
What
is the number of full and part-time instructors
teaching Basic Skills classes? 59
responses B totals: Credit full-time: 662; Credit
part-time: 858; Noncredit
full-time: 94; Noncredit part-time: 222.
12.
What are the maximum enrollments
per section in your Basic Skills classes?
Under
25
25-30
30-49
over
49
A.
Writing(54
rsps):
7
34
11
2
B
. Reading(55
rsps):
4
33
15
3
C.
Reading/Writing
(25 rsps)
4
12
9
D.
Math
(50 rsps)
3
9
29
9
13.
Who is the best person to contact regarding your
Basic Skills classes? This
information is available upon request.
14.
See
appendix A for all comments from individual colleges.
Conclusions 1&2. System-wide,
we direct more than half of our students to Basic
Skills courses (This percentage is just about
the same as for the CSU system). However, only
29% actually enroll in these courses. Thus under
our present placement procedures, a large percentage
(21%) of those students who need Basic Skills
instruction in order to succeed are not provided
it. It is highly probable that most of these students
do not succeed when they enroll in courses for
which they are not prepared and thus depress our
persistence rates. Clearly, we need
5.A
number of colleges report having no research on
pass rates (8 or 9, or 15%), retention rates (7-9,
or 15%), and persistence rates (19-23, or 29%
). These numbers would certainly be higher if
all colleges had reported. Some colleges must
begin collecting data so that they can assess
their progress serving students who need Basic
Skills instruction.
6.Basic
Skills certificates are awarded by only one college,
San Francisco. Because colleges have been free
to make such awards but have chosen not to, there
may not be much interest in them.
7.Most
colleges provide some staff development in basic
skills instruction, but 24 (35%) of those responding
report no staff development for basic skills instruction,
and 5 did not know whether it exists at their
respective institutions. Considering how many
of our students need basic skills instruction,
we staff development in this area appears to be
inadequate.
8.Most
of the colleges responding (76%) do not have means
for following up on students who drop out of basic
skills courses. Thus we remain in the dark about
why students are not completing basic skills courses
and have little information to help direct us
in planning how to reverse high attrition rates.
9.
While most colleges provide some support for basic
skills students, we should encourage those colleges
that do not to develop better support services.
10.
Nearly 30% of those from multi-college districts
responding indicate that there is no articulation
(or matching) of courses between or among colleges
in their respective districts. Students who transfer
from one college to another in the same district
might experience confusion in selecting basic
skills courses. A project funded by a BOG grant
is currently working on an articulation system
for basic skills courses similar to the CANS.
11.
Almost all colleges use assessment testing and
multiple measures to recommend placement in basic
skills courses (Title 5 requires these means for
matriculation). Self-selection is used by 81%
of reporting college.
12.
The range of levels of courses is relatively broad
and perhaps a reflection of the diverse student
populations we serve. Colleges with only one level
of courses in writing, reading, and, math may
need to determine whether they are offering courses
suitable for all of their Basic Skills students.
13.
This question did not yield responses from which
useful conclusions could be drawn.
14.
In credit programs, 43.5% of Basic Skills instructors
are full-time instructors; 56.5% are part-time
instructors. On the non-credit side, only 30%
of Basic Skills instructors are full-time, and
70% are part-time. Clearly, the people who teach
Basic Skills in our non-credit programs are overwhelmingly
part-time. This disparity might reflect the level
of funding for non-credit. For both credit and
non-credit programs, there is a heavy reliance
on part-time instructors.
15. The responses for enrollment per class in
Basic Skills, again showed a range. It is clear
that few colleges maintain relatively small class
size in Basic Skills. For Basic Skills writing
courses, 12% of responding colleges have class
sizes of under 25 students, 62% have class sizes
of between 25 and 30, and 24% have class sizes
of over 30. Class sizes for Basic Skills reading
were slightly larger: 12% of responding colleges
have class sizes of under 25, 60% have class sizes
between 25 and 30, and 32% have class sizes over
30. For Reading/writing combination classes 16%
of reporting colleges have class sizes of below
25, 48% have class sizes between 25 and 30, and
36% have class sizes over 30. . For math, the
numbers are even more disappointing: 24% of colleges
have limits of 30 or under while 76% have limits
of over
Many
of those reporting over 30 use a lab or self-paced
approach. Since approaches vary so much, including
lecture, lab, tutoring, self-paced instruction,
etc., drawing conclusions from the above numbers
is difficult. However, it does appear that small
lecture classes are relatively rare.
