NEED Getting students in and through with success: Transforming Reedley College Basic Skills Reedley College (RC) is asking for 1.5 million dollars in to transform its basic skills program through systemic change to get students placed into higher-level courses, accelerate students through the basic skills sequence more quickly and provide students the support they need to succeed. Reedley College has selected evidence-based practices to focus on in this grant. Adopt placement tests or other student assessment indicators and related policies that may include multiple measures of student performance including grades in high school courses, especially overall grade point averages, results from the common assessment system and input from counselors. (Strategy #1) Develop two-and-three course sequences, as appropriate, for completion of college level English and/ or Mathematics courses for underprepared students by utilizing technology, where appropriate, to enhance the adoption of high impact practices specified in methods (1) to (5), inclusive. (Strategy #6) Provide proactive student support services that are integrated with the instruction. (Strategy #5) A group of faculty and administrators identified the three strategies as the best option to increase the number of students completing the basic skills sequence and to address the completion deficiencies seen in the RC Student Success Scorecard data by scaling up local best practices. CCCCO Scorecard RC Statewide Difference Remedial Math 34.3% 31.0% 3.3% Remedial English 36.6% 43.4% - 6.8% Remedial ESL 7.4% 28.4% -21% Completion (Prepared) 71.6% 69.7% 1.9% Completion (Unprepared) 36.4% 39.2% -2.8% Although RC does have slightly better scores than other colleges statewide in remedial math, the general need for RC to increase the number of students persisting through the basic skills sequence and complete degrees and certificates is obvious. The group agreed that placement should be the first step toward change. This includes multiple measures to make sure students are placed in the highest and most appropriate class. After determining appropriate placement, those students still placed below college Mathematics and English would be offered accelerated pathways and proactive supplemental support services. Reedley College (RC), an associate degree-granting institution of State Center Community College District (SCCCD), is located in the small rural community of
Reedley in Fresno County, California, 30 miles southeast of Fresno. Reedley College - City of Reedley in the of San Joaquin Valley, an area with the highest agricultural production rate in the United States. RC Main Campus Fall 2015 enrollment was 9,119 of which Hispanics comprised 69.5%. Reedley College also operates a rapidly growing college center in the city of Madera, located 30 miles north of Fresno and 60 miles north of the main campus of Reedley College. As the only higher educational opportunity in Madera County, RC’s Madera Community College Center (MCCC) enrollments climbed in Fall 2015 to 2,841 students with, 66% Hispanic. Reedley College Enrollment Profiles (2015) Demographic Number Student Race/Ethnicity** Students 9,119 Hispanic 69.5% FTES 4,171 20.2% Credit Sections 2,373 6.1% Student Counseling Ratio 587:1 African American 3.0% Demographic Percent Two or More Races 2.2% % of Faculty 59% Unknown Ethnicity 2.0% Female Students 59.9% Filipino 1.2% Male Students 40.1% Amer. Indian/Alaska Native 1.0% Student Age Pacific Islander 0.1% Under 20 years old 34.1% 20 to 24 years old 40.9% 25 to 39 years old 17.3% 40 or more old 7.7% *Data includes enrollment data for all Reedley Campuses, including Madera Community College Center. Source: State Center Community College Institutional Researcher Although the main campus of RC and the growing MCCC are divided by an hour’s driving distance, in vast central California that is close enough for the project team to work together, to jointly infuse new practices into programs to better serve basic skills students. Fresno and Madera Counties contain many communities with a large number of farm worker families who are predominantly high need and Spanish speaking. Middle and high schools in these small rural communities are often 90 percent Hispanic with over 70% qualifying as low-income. Rural communities suffer official poverty levels as high as 49.2% -a figure that more than triples the state poverty rate of 15.9%. Furthermore, 90% of the service area adult population has not completed a bachelor’s degree. PLACEMENT—Low placement of students in transfer level Mathematics and English. Time
Completion of Transfer-Level English Reedley College--Fall 2012-Spring 2015 Percent Completing English in 3 Years Transfer 69% One Level-Below Transfer 34% Two Levels Below Transfer 1% or More Levels Below Transfer 0% Overall 41% Reedley College Placement Data (Fall 2014) Title of Course Students Basic College Math – 3+ levels below college 33% Elementary Algebra – 2 levels below college 43% Intermediate Algebra – 1 level below college 21% College-Level 4% English Placement Levels—New Students Title of Course Students College English-2 levels below college 8% Writing Skills – 1 level below college 69% Composition & Reading - College Engish1A 23% of Course Students Basic Reading – 3 levels below college .007% Reading- 2 levels below college 11.2% Reading Skills – 1 level below college 59.7% Composition & Reading - College Engish1A 29% Currently students are placed primarily using Accuplacer data. According to the RP group, of students are severely The college has limited multiple measure placement and currently has a work group to address this need. In addition to the multiple measures discussion, RC is working with our sister college Fresno City College to pilot the statewide Common Assessment. One issue that complicates the implementation of multiple measures is the fact that RC works with 14 different feeder schools. The college has started a K-12 bridge faculty collaboration program where RC faculty are matched with K-12 Mathematics and English faculty; they work collaboratively on curriculum alignment to help prepare students for college classes. This process needs to be scaled up to have community wide impact. ACCELERATED BASIC SKILLS SEQUENCE —complicated basic skills sequence with too many exit points. With 96% of entering students placing below college level math and 77% placing below college level English RC, needs to simplify and accelerate the basic skills pathways. Currently there are four basic skills levels of mathematics and three levels below in English. This issue is aggravated by the fact that students who place into lower level courses are less likely to complete a transfer level mathematics or English course. The Basic Skills committee on campus has been focused on moving students through the __________________ 5http://rpgroup.org 35%