From Michelle Zollars:
From January 5-8, in warm and sunny Phoenix, Arizona, I, along with 25 other developmental educators from around the country and leaders from Knowledge for the Public Interest, the League for Innovation in the Community College, and LaGuardia Community College, met to begin a two-year project entitled Global Skills for College Completion. During my four days at the beautiful Arizona Biltmore Resort, my colleagues and I began to develop promising innovations in pedagogy that will increase the success rates for developmental students.
As I was waiting for a taxi at the Phoenix Airport, the porter asked why I was in Phoenix. I went on to explain that it was for a conference. He smiled and told me to make sure I sneak out of a couple of sessions and enjoy the beautiful Phoenix weather. I simply nodded yet thought to myself, "I sure hope so." The next four days of "Camp Innovation" were so rigorous and packed with activities, meetings, interviews, etc., that I simply had to live vicariously through my husband and daughter, who availed themselves of the horseback riding, hot air ballooning, and sunbathing.
Now that I am back home, the hard work begins. Each participant has an e-portfolio which will be used to document classroom activities, assessment, and reflection. My sincere desire is that through the sharing of these 26 faculty members, I will happen upon ideas and innovations from which all of us here at PHCC can benefit. For example, here is a link to a colleague's webpage that explains how he uses the video softward Jing to provide feedback to his students. If you are unfamiliar with Jing (another popular one is Camtasia), these are software programs that allow teachers to video their comments for students.
Here's the link: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rsunahar/
As I come across other ideas worth sharing, I'll pass them along.
From Bronte Miller:
Michelle and I had an amazing experience at Camp Innovation, the retreat that launched our participation in the Global Skills for College Completion project. Phoenix was warm and beautiful and our accommodations were spectacular, but the amenities weren’t the reason for our amazing experience.
The Global Skills for College Completion project has brought together some of the most inspiring, dedicated, and energetic educators we’ve ever met. We found kindred spirits there, folks who respect and value students, who consider developmental education to be a sacred trust, and who believe that with focused effort, this project will transform basic skills education.
At Camp Innovation, Michelle and I began learning about the project, its goals, the research, our roles, and how we would be supported. We came away from the retreat both excited and overwhelmed by the project’s scope. But mostly, we came away believing in the possibility that thousands more students will realize their full potential as a result of the work we do here.
As we begin to document our work and collect “shreds of evidence” of student success, we recognize more than ever how fortunate we are to work at PHCC, an institution that supports, encourages, and leads best practices in education.
Friday, January 29, 2010
America at a Precipice: Graduation Rates Must Increase
The alarm has been sounded. America, the world's super-power, is teetering at a precipice. Once boasting the world's highest proportion of college graduates, America is falling behind in educational attainment and skills, and thus losing economic advantage. Experts theorize: the country can continue its slide, perhaps becoming a second or even third tier power, or it can redefine itself to meet the changing global economy.
With that realization, the nation now looks with a renewed interest to community colleges for workforce development and for leveling the playing field in bringing American education back to global competitiveness. A myriad of new initiatives have emerged focusing on improving educational outcomes. Almost all aspire to increase graduation rates across the country. The question is, how?
It is well established that most community college students enter college under-prepared. Nationally, between 60 and 80 percent of community college students require developmental education to succeed in college-level classes. But fewer than 60 percent of those students complete these classes. Increasing the number of students who matriculate from developmental to college-level classes would logically increase the number of students who continue on to earn an associate degree.
Enter the Global Skills for College Completion project (GSCC), sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The League for Innovation in the Community College, Knowledge in the Public Interest, and LaGuardia Community College in New York. GSCC is not the first initiative to attempt to increase success rates of developmental students; Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count (AtD), a Lumina Foundation funded initiative, is now in its fifth year and has worked with over a hundred colleges across the nation, and the Developmental Education Initiative, a Gates Foundation and MDC, Inc. initiative formed last year, is working with 15 American community colleges. These are only two of many.
Like AtD, the Developmental Education Initiative and others, GSCC determines to increase the pass rate of community college students in developmental math and writing. In fact, it plans an increase of up to 80 percent. To accomplish this, GSCC has identified 26 of the highest performing basic skills faculty from the more than 1,200 community colleges across the country to come together to change the way developmental education is taught.
Throughout all this, one small community college in rural Virginia has been making its mark. Patrick Henry Community College (PHCC) in Martinsville, already recognized nationally in academic circles as one of the leaders in collaborative learning, has been selected as only one of 13 colleges in 16 states across the country to participate in the GSCC project.
Having served as a pilot college for the AtD initiative in 2004, PHCC went on to become a “leader college” in AtD and implemented a program of collaborative learning, training faculty who have since become "train the trainers" for numerous other community colleges across the country. Subsequently, the college was tapped for the DEI initiative mentioned above, and is building upon its successes with the AtD grant.
GSCC brings together faculty who will work to identify and integrate best practices that sharply improve student outcomes. Over a two-year period of research and action, a new pedagogy and curriculum will be created, and ultimately a national professional development and certification program will be developed which validates faculty's ability to be effective in basic skills classrooms. The goal, according to GSCC, is to change the face of American education.
Two faculty members from PHCC will participate in this breakthrough faculty-driven process. Bronte' Miller, Associate Professor of Developmental Mathematics, and Michelle Zollars, Associate Professor of Developmental English, will share innovations with the other 24 faculty in person and remotely using technology. Both are veteran developmental educators who were identified because of their successes in the classroom. The significance of the project has been lost on neither.
"Students who enter college underprepared require more than the acquisition of basic skills knowledge. They need to develop thinking and reasoning skills, they need to gain a sense of competence and confidence in their abilities, and they need the motivation and courage to take the next step. Good developmental education addresses all of these needs," Miller said. "Throughout my 18 year career, PHCC has made the success of our students its top priority. It's nice to see these efforts recognized on a national stage."
Zollars echoes the sentiment of pride in the college and humility about being tapped as a participant. "Am I surprised that I was chosen to be a part of this elite group? Absolutely. Am I surprised that Patrick Henry Community College is represented? Absolutely not! That may seem like a paradox. However, PHCC is one of the leaders in developmental education across the country, and LaGuardia Community College, who sponsors the project, along with the League for Innovation in the Community College and Knowledge in the Public Interest, are aware of PHCC's reputation in this field."
With that realization, the nation now looks with a renewed interest to community colleges for workforce development and for leveling the playing field in bringing American education back to global competitiveness. A myriad of new initiatives have emerged focusing on improving educational outcomes. Almost all aspire to increase graduation rates across the country. The question is, how?
It is well established that most community college students enter college under-prepared. Nationally, between 60 and 80 percent of community college students require developmental education to succeed in college-level classes. But fewer than 60 percent of those students complete these classes. Increasing the number of students who matriculate from developmental to college-level classes would logically increase the number of students who continue on to earn an associate degree.
Enter the Global Skills for College Completion project (GSCC), sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The League for Innovation in the Community College, Knowledge in the Public Interest, and LaGuardia Community College in New York. GSCC is not the first initiative to attempt to increase success rates of developmental students; Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count (AtD), a Lumina Foundation funded initiative, is now in its fifth year and has worked with over a hundred colleges across the nation, and the Developmental Education Initiative, a Gates Foundation and MDC, Inc. initiative formed last year, is working with 15 American community colleges. These are only two of many.
Like AtD, the Developmental Education Initiative and others, GSCC determines to increase the pass rate of community college students in developmental math and writing. In fact, it plans an increase of up to 80 percent. To accomplish this, GSCC has identified 26 of the highest performing basic skills faculty from the more than 1,200 community colleges across the country to come together to change the way developmental education is taught.
Throughout all this, one small community college in rural Virginia has been making its mark. Patrick Henry Community College (PHCC) in Martinsville, already recognized nationally in academic circles as one of the leaders in collaborative learning, has been selected as only one of 13 colleges in 16 states across the country to participate in the GSCC project.
Having served as a pilot college for the AtD initiative in 2004, PHCC went on to become a “leader college” in AtD and implemented a program of collaborative learning, training faculty who have since become "train the trainers" for numerous other community colleges across the country. Subsequently, the college was tapped for the DEI initiative mentioned above, and is building upon its successes with the AtD grant.
GSCC brings together faculty who will work to identify and integrate best practices that sharply improve student outcomes. Over a two-year period of research and action, a new pedagogy and curriculum will be created, and ultimately a national professional development and certification program will be developed which validates faculty's ability to be effective in basic skills classrooms. The goal, according to GSCC, is to change the face of American education.
Two faculty members from PHCC will participate in this breakthrough faculty-driven process. Bronte' Miller, Associate Professor of Developmental Mathematics, and Michelle Zollars, Associate Professor of Developmental English, will share innovations with the other 24 faculty in person and remotely using technology. Both are veteran developmental educators who were identified because of their successes in the classroom. The significance of the project has been lost on neither.
"Students who enter college underprepared require more than the acquisition of basic skills knowledge. They need to develop thinking and reasoning skills, they need to gain a sense of competence and confidence in their abilities, and they need the motivation and courage to take the next step. Good developmental education addresses all of these needs," Miller said. "Throughout my 18 year career, PHCC has made the success of our students its top priority. It's nice to see these efforts recognized on a national stage."
Zollars echoes the sentiment of pride in the college and humility about being tapped as a participant. "Am I surprised that I was chosen to be a part of this elite group? Absolutely. Am I surprised that Patrick Henry Community College is represented? Absolutely not! That may seem like a paradox. However, PHCC is one of the leaders in developmental education across the country, and LaGuardia Community College, who sponsors the project, along with the League for Innovation in the Community College and Knowledge in the Public Interest, are aware of PHCC's reputation in this field."
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