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Achieving the DreamAnnual Narrative & Financial Report: Due Monday, April 30, 2012

Name of Institution: Grand Rapids Community College Submission Date: April 27, 2012Achieving the Dream Funder (if applicable): Kresge and GRCCGrant Number (if applicable): N/AName and e-mail of contact person regarding this report: Cindy Martin

([email protected])

1. Briefly describe your greatest accomplishment in each principle since joining Achieving the Dream.a. Committed Leadership – Dr. Steven Ender, GRCC President, is highly

committed to the AtD initiative; indeed, his primary goal is to increase student success. GRCC’s Board of Trustees view student success as their core work as well, so the dedication from our senior leadership to AtD is strong. When the discussion came up at GRCC to continue for a second AtD cycle, Dr. Ender ensured the Core Team he was committed to this work, stating that the College would continue to deepen its work around student success by looking for gaps in student achievement, using data to drive decisions, and making improvements to close gaps and strengthen the institutional outcomes for student completion of degree, certificate, and transfer.

b. Use of Evidence – With the recent acquisition of a Blackboard Analytics data warehouse through Title III funding, the College has greatly increased its capacity to use data for making institutional improvement. Until now, Institutional Research and Planning (IRP) has not had the resources or staff necessary to meet all the institutional data needs; fortunately, with the data warehouse, counselors, administrators, and staff across the College will have access to real-time and longitudinal data on students. The data warehouse will also increase the College’s ability to disaggregate data to look deeper at problems and to identify where interventions are needed. And the warehouse will allow faculty and counselors to intervene with students while they’re in classes, increasing the likelihood students will be put back on track.

The Board of Trustees is deeply invested in the use of evidence to make decisions as well. Each month, the College presents data to the Board on the myriad student success initiatives at the college.

Early this Fall, IRP will host its second Data Summit, in which a broad representation of faculty and stakeholders will gather over a series of meetings to analyze and compare student outcomes since 2010, when the first Data Summit was run.

c. Broad Engagement – The Core Team will be adding faculty team leaders to its group to ensure broader faculty investment in the AtD work. In addition, the Data Summit (listed above) is intended to broaden faculty and stakeholder

Achieving the Dream Annual Report 2012 1

engagement. The Board’s interest also demonstrates a broad commitment to the work. The Core Team will present work and findings throughout the year at both Deans’ Council and Strategic Planning meetings. In addition, a comprehensive Communications Plan is being developed that will highlight achievements and findings on a monthly basis so that stakeholders from across the College will be aware of the work.

New faculty will be invited to participate in the second Data Summit this Fall as well. In addition, the current AtD projects will be integrated into the institutional Program Review process, ensuring that the work is broadly viewed and supported.

d. Systemic Institutional Improvement – As of this date, we do not have the data on the first Implementation Year so we cannot report on measurable growth or changes in student improvement. We do have improved processes in place, however, such as the integration of AtD into the Program Review Process, the African American student achievement gap issue, which will be integrated into the Title III program, and the strengthening of BOT commitment to student success through monthly monitoring reports.

2. What resources, internal and external, helped you make those accomplishments described above?

a. Committed Leadership - The Kresge Foundation underwrites the majority of our AtD funding. The College’s General Fund pays for administrative costs for AtD work, travel expenses, substitute pay for faculty leaders who miss class for AtD work, and AtD interventions, such as the Reading Apprenticeship training. Use of Evidence - IRP has donated the time of its lead data analyst to pull and manage all the data. His work with AtD has been extensive and competes with all the other institutional, state, and federal reporting he is responsible for.

Broad Engagement - The institution has covered the cost of faculty to spend time on the Core Team, lead interventions, attend data summits, write reports, attend the AtD conference, get subs to cover classes, and present to College groups.

In-kind contributions from administrators must also be factored in for hours spent meeting AtD requirements, data reporting, project reporting, travel, and presentations.

b. Systemic Institutional Improvement - The College has just completed its second year of AtD so it cannot report systemic institutional improvement through student outcomes (to date, our Winter semester final grades are not in), so the only improvements we can report are processes: improved Core Team structure, better reporting schedule, and better venues for discussion.

3. Briefly describe the greatest challenges impeding your progress on each principle.


a. Committed Leadership - We have committed leadership, but time and competition from multiple projects always competes. We are working to integrate our work around student success to avoid the overlapped or competing purposes.

b. Use of Evidence - So far, access to data has been very challenging; however with the acquisition of the data warehouse we anticipate this will improve.

c. Broad Engagement – When GRCC joined AtD, its Core Team made the decision to “go stealth,” believing the College would resist a new initiative, which would be viewed as simply “the flavor of the day.” Then Team didn’t return to the College after the opening AtD meeting with a big kick-off celebration or branding campaign. Because of intentional decision, the work hasn’t gained strong visibility with the broader college community. That early decision will change this year, however, as we begin an intensive communications campaign and broaden the membership of our Core Team.

d. Systemic Institutional Improvement - At this date, it is too early to tell. We will probably have a better sense later this summer once we have two years of data on the projects to analyze.

4. What institutional research challenges has the college faced this year? Mark all that apply.

4/Institutional Research and Planning (IRP)___ None___ Too few IR staff positions_X_ Too few IT staff positions___ Unfilled staff positions_X_ Inadequate IR staff training in needed skills_X_ Difficulty retrieving useful, timely data _X_ Other. Please describe: We are in the process of purchasing/installing a data warehouse. In anticipation of that change, we have spent considerable time “cleaning” our data.

4/Math___ None___ Too few IR staff positions___ Too few IT staff positions___ Unfilled staff positions___ Inadequate IR staff training in needed skills_X_ Difficulty retrieving useful, timely data _X_ Other. Please describe: Time needed to do detailed item analysis, on top of all other duties, entering the data, means we didn’t decide on the most efficient methods. We are working on a more efficient way to gather the data that will allow us to see the types of mistakes made for particular math concepts, not just the fact it


is correct or incorrect. We are also working on appropriate sampling methods as we move forward.

5. Please describe any increases in institutional research capacity at your institution this year. Include staff increases as well as new hardware or software acquisitions. 5/IRPDue to an IR staff resignation last spring, we were able to hire a new Research Analyst with an enhanced skill set. With the addition of this person we were able to expand our capacity to extract data from our Peoplesoft system in ways/formats that are useful to the end user. In addition, thanks to Title 3 funding we were able to purchase a Data Warehouse, corresponding servers, and hire a Data Warehouse Architect.

6. These questions pertain to your institution’s data environmenta. What type of student information system is used to process your student data?

PeopleSoft; Blackboard Analyticsb. What software package(s) is/are used for data analysis?

Excel

7. Please explain the progress you have made toward narrowing targeted achievement gaps.At this date, we do not have the data from our first year of interventions, thus it is too early to make conclusions.

8. In what ways have you engaged the external community in your AtD efforts this year? Mark all that apply.__X_ Collaborative activities with K-12 schools to improve student preparation for

college___ Data sharing with local high schools__X Collaborative activities with four-year institutions to improve student success__X_ Collaborative activities with community organizations__X_ Collaborative activities with employers.___ Other. Please provide the type of the activity: 8/MathThe Math Department has been working on improving student success in the developmental math classroom for several years. This AtD project is part of the larger program review and revision that is part of the department’s usual program review. It is also tied to the Title III, and College Action Project 5.3.1.

9. Briefly describe how you have aligned your AtD work with your institution’s goals for improving student outcomes, other major initiatives designed to improve student success, accreditation and the institution’s core activities, processes, and policies this year.


AtD is aligned to The Board of Trustee End of “Student Success”; the BOT Indicators of Student Success; the GRCC Strategic Plan; Title III; and Program Review.9/English

Specifically, the goal (outcome) of the English Department is to improve student success in our composition courses – gateway courses. This means increased student achievement in EN100, success in EN102, success in writing intensive 200 level courses (e.g. BI, SO, PY) and transfer and/or degree completion.

The EN 100 Pilot is designed to increase the student achievement rate insomuch that degree-seeking students attain access to college-level coursework, which correlates positively with the degree completion rate and, in the end, will help students “secure employment in all sectors of the economy.”

College Action Projects With Which This Pilot Aligns:2.1.1 Implement the College Success Program for developmental students (Title III) (Cindy Martin)

Distance Learning and Instructional Technologies (DLIT) Department Action Projects with Which This Pilot Aligns:

The Distance Learning and Instructional Technologies Department has 3 targeted Department Action Projects (DAPs) and a College sponsored Distance Learning College Action Project (DL CAP). The DL CAP is also an AQIP project. Action Project #2 - Enhancing Classroom and Instructional Technologies Researching, identifying, evaluating, and piloting emerging instructional technologies that enhance teaching and learning. This project will involve acquiring new technologies (GRCC Digital Initiative) that can be used for pilots and the faculty using the new technology will be supported by the DLIT department but also will be involved in evaluating the use of the technology in teaching. The Instructional Designer/Technologist will assist in leading this work. Action Project #3 - Extending the Bb Learn Platform This project is linked to GRCC End #1: Access – GRCC minimizes the barriers of time, place, cost, and educational preparation levels so that all members of the community have an opportunity to participate in college programs

10. In the summer of 2011, you received feedback from AtD on your 2011 annual report or implementation proposal. Please explain how you incorporated that feedback into your practices and programs this year?The following institutional changes have been made as a result of the 2011 AtD feedback:1. The Deans’ Council is no longer the Core Team; the Core Team’s membership

has been narrowed and now includes faculty.2. The institution now has a data warehouse, which will strengthen our ability to

collect and analyze data.3. The have added an AtD Core Team to address the African American student

achievement gap.


http://cms.grcc.edu/sites/default/files/docs/irp/cap/cap_2-1-1_martin_college_success_program.pdf

http://cms.grcc.edu/grccdigital

http://cms.grcc.edu/dlcap

http://cms.grcc.edu/dlcap

4. We are developing a strong internal and external communications plan for AtD 10/English

They recommended all students buy a computer. We chose not to do this. 10/Math

The feedback we were given indicated we were on the right track with our program review and assessment. It was suggested we gather some data from the instructors and students. We have access to written responses by students and surveys of teachers. It was indicated that we need not do item analysis on each topic, and that random samples would be acceptable, so in future, we will probably do more with random sampling, and/or specific questions on the content we have found to be most difficult from the current analysis.

We were already doing what was suggested, but it was confirmation that we are on the right track.


11a. Provide brief descriptions of your AtD interventions/strategies in the chart below. Add additional charts as needed, limit 10. Adjust column and row sizes as necessary.

Intervention Name(include active and

fully scaled interventions)

Start date

Type of intervention*

Content area Math/

English/ Reading/ N/A

Target student group(s)**

Estimate number of students

benefiting per semester/quarte

r


benefiting to date

Expected yearly goals/outcomes

related to the intervention

Progress on yearly goals/outcomes


1) EN100 Classroom/lab hybrid

Fall 2011

Equity; Faculty Professional Development; Gatekeeper Courses; Improved Use of Data; Supplemental Instruction; Tutoring

English All EN100 students, particularly age 18 – 24;,Pell Grant Recipients, Minority Males, Academically Underprepared, often First Generation

Number & Percentage of total enrollment4 sections in fall,4 sections in winter

88 students per semester

176 students

Increased student achievement in EN100; Success in EN102 equal to or better than EN101 students

I semester completed – data inconclusive

Intervention Description:

Intervention Name(include active and fully-

scaled interventions)

Start date

Type of intervention

*

Content area Math/ English/ Reading/ NA

Target student group(s

)**


benefiting per semester/quarter


benefiting to date



Progress on yearly goals/outcomes related to the intervention

2) Math Sequencing Fall 2010

Fall 2011

1. MA 096 and MA 097 Item analysis of common final

2. MA 098 coordination

Math All Number ___ & Percentage of total enrollment ___%

Improve teaching/learning of math objectives, improve student success

1. Item analysis completed, changes to final exam, and teaching strategies implemented Item analysis in process of being repeated to determine gains, if any. Cycle to be repeated.

2. Coordinator hired, common syllabus, assignments, and core final exam questions allowed data analysis of common final exam. Results shared with instructors, revisions to common final exam, process to be repeated


3. MA 0954. MA 107

Fall 2012. Comparison with pre-assessment for MA 107, textbook selected to improve sequence from MA 096/7 to MA 098.

3. MA 095 common finals in process of item analysis result to be shared with instructors during professional development.

4. MA 107 administered pre and post assessment of topics considered necessary for success. Result shared with department, and individual instructors were given their results privately compared to the entire course. The process will be continued, comparing Winter 2011 to Winter 2012.

Intervention Description:1. MA 096 and MA 097 are highly coordinated, with common syllabi, assignments, tests and exams. Data was gathered using an item analysis for each item

on the common final exam in Fall 2010. The items missed most were analyzed by a team of instructors. Based on analysis, it was decided whether the content should be included in the course, kept on the final exam, reworded, or removed from the final exam. After this, items that were determined to keep in the course were placed on a survey of all instructors teaching the course. They were asked to consider if it should be re-worded, kept the same or deleted. From the team and the survey, test questions were revised. Questions deemed important to keep were presented at a meeting where various teaching strategies were considered to address the areas of weakness. Notes from the meeting were shared with instructors not able to attend, with requests for their input. The following semester, and the following fall, the suggestions and the data were shared with all instructors to assist them in their planning to teach those concepts. Mid-semester and near the end of the semester, reminders about the topics of difficulty were sent to the instructors so they could review the topics with their students. Then, Fall 2011 the final exams were again collected and are in the process of item analysis to determine if the changes in the wording, and the teaching strategies have improved student outcomes on those topics.

2. In MA 098, a Coordinator was hired, and the coordinator and a team put together a common syllabus for instructors, and input was sought from all instructors to create a common final exam set of core questions. These were given to all students, and the final exams were collected. An item analysis was done, and the results used to address changes for the common core for the final exam for Winter 2012. The results of the item analysis were shared with the instructors, for feedback and input, and were also considered by the textbook committee as it is selecting the textbook for Fall 2012.

3. MA 095 is highly coordinated, with common syllabi, assignments, tests and exams. In MA 095, common Final exams were collected Fall 2011 and are in the process of item analysis. Results will be shared with instructors and teaching strategies shared. Teachers will meet to discuss the outcomes, determine which questions might need to be revised, and teaching strategies shared. The following Fall, the instructors will be reminded of the topics most at issue, with recommendations on teaching strategies and reviews. Final exams will be collected again Fall 2012. Surveys of teachers will be conducted. Student free writes will be collected.

4. In MA 107, there is no coordinator, however a team of full time faculty worked on some commonality, a suggested syllabus and common set of exercises, and a calendar that might be followed were shared with instructors starting Fall 2010.A pre-assessment with basic demographic data and 8 content questions was administered in Winter 2011, compared with an assessment from a previous pre-assessment originally given in MA 107 winter 2004. A pre- and post-assessment based on this were administered to all sections Fall 2011, and the results of the analysis shared with instructors teaching the course. No formal meetings were held, but conversations have been observed between adjunct faculty, sharing ideas on how to improve instruction of certain


content. The results of the pre-assessment were compared with item analysis of common final from MA 098, and a few revisions made to the pre-assessment.



Start date


Content area Math/

English/ Reading/ N/A





benefiting to date





3) Reading Apprenticeship

1)Faculty Training Reading faculty Kickoff training Follow up training

2) Orientation English Dept. GRCC learning day

3) In depth training RD department

4) two faculty approved and funded to receive “train the trainer” training

Aug ‘11Sept.‘11Nov ‘11

Oct. ‘11Jan ‘12

Oct. ‘11Nov. ‘11Jan ‘12Feb. ‘12Mar ‘12

June ‘11

Faculty professional development

MA, RD, EN, plus computers and psychology

EN and others

RD

Academically Underprepared

2,500 5,000 The success rates of students in classes with trained RA instructors will be 5% higher than the success rates of students with those same professors in semesters prior to RA implementation.

No data yet

Intervention Description: Train the Trainer and Professional Development in Reading Apprenticeship Faculty teaching developmental writing, EN 100, developmental mathematics below beginning Algebra and Biology 101 will be trained in RA, a program to make visible to students the usually invisible disciplinary thinking that people successful in a discipline use as they read. A trainer from West Ed, assisted by one trained GRCC reading instructor, will train the first 40 participants. Ongoing training for the 40 as well as training for additional instructors will be provided by our “trained to train” GRCC reading instructor through existing professional reading groups and other faculty training opportunities. Trained instructors will model for students the RA strategies that build textbook understanding into their disciplines, and they will help students develop skill using those same techniques when they read their textbooks. Adjuncts will undergo training as well.




Start date


Content area Math/

English/ Reading/

N/A





benefiting to date





4) The Dream Team (Official intervention name is not yet determined)

Fall 2012

Mentoring Program

Personal, Social, Educational and Professional Development.

African American Males

Number & Percentage of total enrollment2492

14.3%

(All African American students-WI12)(Waiting for A2 male data for IR)

The program has not been implemented as of yet for numerous reasons.

Mentored students will demonstrate higher grade point averages & semester to semester retention rates than comparable students who are not program participants.

Student grade point averages, semester to semester retention rates, degree and/or certificate and personal educational goal accomplishment will be measured.

Intervention Description: The Dream Team will operate as a mentoring program for African American male students enrolled at GRCC. This mentoring program will systematically address academic deficiencies, college adjustment, social skill development, life skill acquisition and professional development. This program will utilize a holistic approach to mentoring that will serve as a medium for building resilience, productive coping, motivation, focus, critical thinking skills and social responsibility into the student’s system of thinking, feeling and behaving. The development of such a system of thinking, feeling and behaving will effectively equip the targeted population with the internal resources necessary to transcend their various social, psychological and educational barriers. This program will integrate existing academic support services such as CLS 100, tutoring, counseling/advising, and other available student services to accomplish its goal of life skill development.

This intervention will pair program participants with both peer and staff/faculty mentors. In addition to mandatory participation in various workshops, presentations, tutoring sessions, community service opportunities, etc., this program will also utilize weekly meetings as a means for providing participants with a platform for engaging in culturally appropriate discussions related to their personal, social, psychological and educational experiences.

The Dream Team Age: College Age enrolled students Gender: Males Race: African American Financial aid status: Not a factor

GPA range: Open First-time students: Not a factor Student enrollment status: Open Academically underprepared students: Primarily


ESL/ESOL/ELL: No First Generation: Not a factor

Other: Please Describe


11b. How do these interventions address achievement gaps or equity concerns on your campus?11b / EnglishDepartment Findings: The English Department has learned through data analysis that overall achievement is low in EN100 (52%). However, African American males between the ages of 18 – 24, on a Pell Grant, often First Generation, are the least successful student population in our EN100 classes (African-American achievement: 35%). As a result, these students often do not have a computer at home nor do they easily access the internet, keeping them from developing strong technology life skills.

Based on the focus group information the English department collected, we found our African-American male students respond well to individualized instruction, group work, and tutoring. This student population uses relationships as a foundation for learning. Intervention: In this EN 100 pilot, teachers deliver content in a classroom/computer lab format to: increase student participation with the technology required for our discipline increase students’ skill with the computers for academic purposes; increase individualized feedback from a content-expert As a result students experience increased structure, time on task, and ability to receive feedback at multiple steps in the writing process. The tutors are particularly appropriate for this role, as they learned the content more recently, so they have a more immediate relationship to the learning process. They see trends and struggles that occur throughout the composition program and can utilize this knowledge while assisting students. Students are able to connect with the tutor – a mentor in their classroom who isn’t grading them. The tutor is a student as well and the wall of intimidation does not exist around the tutor as it does around the instructor. The tutor is a point of contact for the student, a liaison, and this coaching relationship continues after course completion and across campus. 11b/Math By aligning outcomes from each class to prepare students with requirements in the next course students will be more likely to succeed as they move through the sequence. By creating common assessments, areas of achievement gap can be analyzed, and instruction in content improved. These interventions are designed to improve success for all students in the Developmental Math sequence, up to and through the Gateway math course of MA 107. This affects all the subgroups.

11b/Reading Apprenticeship We noted that student success in a variety of courses (Biology, criminal justice, Computer Networking, and mathematics) correlates with Accuplacer reading scores. Those with A grades have the highest reading scores, those with E’s have the lowest reading scores, and the scores in between follow the same

pattern—students with higher reading scores have higher grades in classes. Training teachers in RA will bring reading strategies that promote success into GRCC classrooms. When teachers include reading strategies into their classes, students are expected to improve performance.11b/The Dream Team Nationally, one of the greatest travesties confronting our country is its continued reproduction of educationally underachieved and scholastically detached African American male students. At a state level, Michigan is worst in the nation when it comes to graduating black male students from high school. Michigan graduates 33 percent of black males compared with 74 percent of white males (Schott Foundation for Public Education &The Associated Press, 2008). Locally, African American males attending Grand Rapids Community Colleges have consistently obtained overall grade point averages and semester to semester retention rates that are lower than other student subgroups. The data below is from Fall 2009 but the statistical scenario has not improved. For many years, GRCC has had on-going discussions about how to address this issue, however to date, no program, policy, processes or procedures have been implemented to remedy GRCC’s current trend of producing academically underachieving African American males. The philosophies and procedures that govern the workings of this mentoring process are intended to be intense and longstanding. The word “process” is used intentionally in lieu of “project” because a project typically has a beginning and an end. This process, if successful, will hopefully be integrated into the fabric of how GRCC engages not just its African American male students but all of its students.

African-American Success in Fall 2009 Source: GRCC Institutional Research & Planning; Bruce Morrison; 11/10/2010

Gender As Bs Cs Ds E I NS W WP WF TotalFemale 1472 565 249 450 34 107 395 90 225 3587Male 1250 531 251 471 48 113 298 125 245 3332 Gender As Bs Cs Ds E I NS W WP WF TotalFemale 41% 16% 7% 13% 1% 3% 11% 3% 6% 100.0%Male 38% 16% 8% 14% 1% 3% 9% 4% 7% 100.0%

All Other Groups for ComparisonGender As Bs Cs Ds E I NS W WP WF TotalFemale 14767 3046 1041 1209 135 145 1560 172 521 22596Male 13852 3521 1255 1642 190 255 1679 244 891 23529 Gender As Bs Cs Ds E I NS W WP WF Female 65% 13% 5% 5% 1% 1% 7% 1% 2% 100.0%Male 59% 15% 5% 7% 1% 1% 7% 1% 4% 100.0%

11c. Briefly describe your evaluation plans for the interventions described above.11c/English Comparison of student success for individual faculty in the new delivery format

vs. the old delivery format. (Three faculty presently participating with a total of 5 sections; in fall increases to four faculty with 7 sections; winter 2013 increases to 7 faculty with 12-14 sections).

Comparison of student success for those students who participate in tutoring and those who don’t participate. How did tutorial support impact success? How many visits were required for measureable impact?

Direct student writing assessment: entering and exiting writing samples (both on the same topic), scored by faculty.

Gather qualitative evidence from students through surveys and feedback with this question: What did students feel they gained from taking EN100 in a lab/classroom format with regular tutoring outside of class?

11c/MathWe will look at the following data:1) Success in course2) Success in follow up course3) Success in college level courses4) Disaggregated data to isolate subgroups 5) Qualitative measures including Classroom Assessment Techniques ((CATs),

Written responses by students (Free writes) and Surveys of students and instructors

11c/Reading Apprenticeship Our original plan was to look at the performance of students in the classes of teachers in semesters prior to implementing RA and in semesters after implementing RA. We can still do that; however, we have run into some issues.1. We realized we had no measure of how much RA any instructor was including.

So some might use a strategy three or four times per semester while others might be using them every week. There was no way in our evaluation plan to account for intensity of intervention.

2. It is hard, with all the teaching strategies an instructor might use, to attribute cause and effect to RA when it may be just one of many strategies used in a semester.

As a result, we have changed our plan for implementation and our evaluation plan. After realizing at the end of the first semester of implementation the problems with our plan, we turned our focus to a more intense immersion in RA for full time and a small group of adjunct reading faculty rather than giving a more superficial introduction to a bigger group of faculty from a variety of disciplines. This way we will have a core of classes where students received intensive immersion in RA. Our original measure of comparing the success of students in RA instructors’ classes in semesters before RA and in semesters after RA will be more meaningful since they will have fully implemented RA. We will measure both percentages of students passing with and without RA as well as numbers of A’s, B’s, and C’s of students with and without RA. We plan to follow the students who

have had an intensive RA experience as they progress through their college careers to see if there is a difference in long term success between students with intense RA and those without. Then as we scale up, we will change our training plan for non RA faculty to focus on a limited number of interventions, rather than giving them an introduction to a broad spectrum of interventions. We will ask those who commit to training to document the number of times they used a particular intervention in a semester. We will then be able to examine the success of students in a particular discipline to determine if there is a correlation between quantity of exposure to RA strategies and performance in the class. 11c/The Dream TeamEvaluation methods for this program will be both qualitative and quantitative. Specifically, pre and post self- report surveys, comparative data for GPA’s and semester-to-semester retention monitoring will be utilized to measure the impact of this program. The pre and post survey will measure the student’s use of student success services and explore the student’s ability to effectively engage with the campus culture, student peers, staff and faculty. The evaluation plan will also consider: Grade Point Average Successful Course Completion Semester to Semester Persistence Completion of Development Education courses Completion of degree and/or certification Accomplishment of Personal Educational Goals

11d. Have you used evaluation data from these interventions to improve any of your student success interventions? If so, what specific improvements were made?11d/English Following the philosophy of action research, instructors observed limitations in the EN 100 pilot assessment methods. As a result, they designed a common entry and exit learning outcome assessment for the second semester and following semesters of the pilot. Instructors designed structured lab time assignments for all to use in order to facilitate student learning during lab time.11d/Math Yes, specifically, we addressed the most commonly missed problems on the final exam to determine where instructors should focus review. Instructors shared strategies they find successful, and where necessary, questions were revised to improve the wording, content assessed as important to the follow up courses.11d/Reading Apprenticeship As our last answer indicates, we did make changes to the way we will evaluate our intervention, not on the basis of data but on the basis of realizing weaknesses in our original evaluation plan. The new evaluation plan will also require a different approach to training. We will have to narrow the focus of the training and require a commitment to documenting the number of interventions used. 11d/The Dream Team

The program has not been implemented yet.

11e. What evaluation obstacles (if any) have you faced?11e/EnglishNone at this time.11e/Math It has been hard to get data where we can follow the student success in follow up courses. In general just getting data is hard. The new data warehouse should greatly improve this situation.11e/Reading Apprenticeship We as faculty have neither the time nor the expertise to do all of the data collection this requires. Part of the data we need is already being gathered, but we need help from IR to develop methods of gathering information from faculty and analyzing it. 11e/The Dream TeamThe program has not been implemented yet.

11f. If any of the interventions above have been scaled up, please describe how.11f/English We have increased the classroom/lab format from 4 sections in fall 2011 and winter 2012; this increases to 7 in fall 2012 and winter 2013. We have plans to increase to 12 sections the following year.

11f/Math We are in the second cycle of analysis and assessment for MA 096/7, and will be repeating this analysis in the other courses. This process will be continued in the developmental math sequence through MA 095, MA 098, and MA 107 and ultimately into the gateway college course.11f/Reading Apprenticeship We had originally planned to train 40 developmental faculty, two EN 100 faculty, and a handful of Biology faculty. We exceeded those projections. We trained 100% of faculty who teach developmental classes full time (15) ,and we oriented (shorter training) , 100% of EN 100, 101 and 102 full time instructors (24) , 20% of our developmental orientation to college adjuncts, 100% of reading adjuncts, four developmental mathematics adjuncts, and representatives from child development, biology, dental assisting, counseling, business, and more.11f/The Dream TeamThe program has not been implemented yet.

11g. If any interventions have been canceled, please briefly describe them and why they were cancelled.11g/EnglishNone have been canceled. 11g/MathNone were canceled.11g/Reading Apprenticeship

We did not hold a second follow up training for those who attended the original three day West Ed training. We held a first follow up, but we realized our approach was not targeted enough to particular interventions so it was very difficult to evaluate. We decided to focus instead on more intense training of reading adjuncts so that we could reasonably attribute change in student performance to RA. We moved to 2 and ½ hour monthly trainings of reading faculty; meanwhile, we revised our thinking around training of non reading instructors. 11g/The Dream TeamThe program has not been implemented yet.

11h. Briefly describe any substantial changes you propose to make to the interventions listed above. Note any interventions you have chosen to discontinue and describe why you chose to discontinue them.11h/English We canceled student tutors working in the computer lab with the students because of faculty contract concerns. Tutors now attend classroom time only, and meet with the students outside of class for one-on-one tutoring.

11h/Math We will not make substantial revisions to the interventions this year. We may consider different methodology in the future, choosing to do random samples, rather than entire population, focused on the areas that needed most improvement.11h/Reading Apprenticeship We plan to modify the training content for gateway level courses. These instructors are not going to donate three days to training in reading. Therefore, we must plan shorter, less “in depth” sessions for them. At the same time, we have to limit the RA interventions to which we orient them, so that we can evaluate more effectively.11h/The Dream TeamThe program has not been implemented yet.

11i. Briefly describe any new interventions you plan to implement. 11i/English

Beginning fall 2012, pilot EN100 sections will have a mandatory Integrated Tutoring Services section attached in the schedule. This means students will attend a Friday tutoring session run by the tutor who has been attending the classroom component of the EN100 class. Students will sign up for this when they register for the class. This ITS model follows the national Supplemental Instruction model, and has been used here at GRCC in our developmental composition class, EN097. Indicate how EN100 fits into our overall Program Review research – all about data based decision making. Way this is part of Program Review research – beautiful report. 11i/Math

We will be doing a pilot using a computerized program (ALEKS) to assist learning. This will lead to a study of different teaching strategies, to see if more students are able to move through the math sequence more easily.It will be based on a modified Emporium Model, a national lab-based course that is the largest developmental math reform project ever conducted. Designed and implemented through the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT), the Emporium Model uses computer mediated instruction in computer lab classroom settings to improve student success and lower costs for students and Colleges. Instruction is delivered by instructors and supported by tutors. Students are continuously monitored to determine mastery as they move through the program. The Math Department wishes to pilot this model because scholarship in developmental education indicates that accelerated programming for students with a high potential to progress quickly (those with high test scores; high affective indicators) have a greater likelihood of success and persistence to graduation if they can accelerate through developmental coursework. The program ALEKS lends itself very well to differentiated instruction based on the student’s needs, working in areas they need to work, and passing more quickly through content they already mastered.

This may lead to creation of “shell” program for students in the MA 09 sequence: MA 095/096, 097, and 098. 11i/Reading Apprenticeship We are planning to increase even further the training given to reading instructors with a 16 hour training planned for August. This way we will have a group of classes in which RA has been the major approach to learning. We are also planning to use a common final assessment which measures skill with RA strategies in these classes. We will then be able to do item analysis to see the level to which students have gained skill in the strategy. 11i/The Dream Team The mentoring program detailed above is the intervention program that will be implemented to address the disparity of educational outcomes between African American males and other student subgroups at GRCC.

12a. Provide a graph or chart presenting evidence of improvement in student achievement over three or more years on one of the following AtD measures. (See Appendix A for an example response)N/A We joined AtD in 2010 and have just completed Year One of implementation. See Appendix A

If you are unable to document three years of improvement in outcomes on any of the measures above, please provide outcomes data to date on any of the five measures you have targeted for improvement. The data should be cohort-based and follow the bulleted guidelines mentioned above.

12b. Briefly describe the intervention(s) you have implemented to achieve the improvement in student outcomes documented in Question 12a above, including why you believe the intervention helped to improve the student outcomes. An African American Mentoring Program (The Dream Team) intervention has been added to our AtD interventions for 2012.

12c. Regarding the intervention described in 12b above: ● Was this intervention developed as part of your college’s Achieving the Dream

work? Yes● Complete the following chart, adding or deleting rows as necessary:

The project has just started.We do not have the following data at this time.

Students involved in [intervention]:Reporting

YearNumber of Students in

[intervention name]Students in intervention as

% of total enrollmentStudents in intervention as % of target population [describe target population]

# % %# % %# % %# % %

13a. Is there anything else you would like Achieving the Dream or your funder (if applicable) to know about your work this year?

The anticipated costs of the Dream Team (African American mentoring program) are very high, and the College will most likely not be able to fund all of it.

13b. Are there tools or technical assistance that Achieving the Dream can provide to support Achieving the Dream on your campus.Not at this time.

Annual Financial Report

These requirements will be sent separately based on the requirements of your institution’s cohort and/or funder. Achieving the Dream will send these requirements via email to your institution’s core team leader and financial contact.

Appendix A

Course Completion/Success--Developmental Courses—by Enrollment (includes MA 098 and PY 097)Success is defined as grades of A to C (no C-) Developmental Courses

White non-

Hispanic

Black Non-

Hispanic

Hispanic

Asian / Pacific Islande

r

Native America

n

Non resident Alien

No respons

e or other Total

Race/Ethnicity Number Course Enrollments2,363 1,751 506 86 51 - 371 5,12

8

Number Successful Course Enrollments

1,363 572 273 54 25 - 181 2,648

Percent Successful Course Enrollments

58% 33% 54% 63% 49% - 49% 48%

Less

than 20 20-2425 or older Total

Age Number Course Enrollments 2,527 1,156 1,445 5,128


1,296 512 660 2,468


51% 44% 46% 48%

Female Male Total Gender Number Course Enrollments 2,697 2,431 5,128


1,450 1,018 2,468


54%% 42% 48%

Yes No Total Pell Number Course Enrollments 3,561 1,567 5,128


1,613 855 2,468


45% 55% 48%

Course Completion/Success--Developmental Courses—by New Student Enrollment (includes MA 098 and PY 097)Success is defined as grades of A to C (no C-)

White non-

Hispanic

Black Non-

Hispanic Hispanic

Asian / Pacific Islande

r

Native America

n

Non resident Alien

No respons

e or other Total

Race/Ethnicity Number Course Enrollments1,463 1,111 292 53 27 - 285 3,23

1


847 361 158 36 11 - 138 1,551


58% 32% 54% 68% 41% - 48% 48%

Less than

20 20-2425 or older Total

Age Number Course Enrollments 1,932 578 721 3,231


999 244 308 1,551


52% 42% 43% 48%

Female Male Total Gender Number Course Enrollments 1,547 1,684 3,231


829 722 1,551


54% 43% 48%

Yes No Total Pell Number Course Enrollments 2,278 953 3,231


1,032 519 1,551


45% 54% 48%

Prepared by B. Morrison

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