High drop-out
rates are a problem for colleges across the country, and certainly an issue
that Lincoln is working to address. A
recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education describes the efforts of
Complete College America, a group supported in part by the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation that is working to improve retention and graduation rates. CCA
has identified a few basic strategies that, they claim, “can double the number
of remedial students passing college-level courses, triple the graduation rates
for students transferring with associate degrees to four-year colleges, and
quadruple completion of career certificate programs.”
One of their main
recommendations is placing students directly into college-level courses rather
than placing them in developmental courses for which they must pay but earn no
college credits. CCA argues that relying
on a single placement test is not sound educational policy. Besides, they say,
a more relevant predictor of ability than a student’s Accuplacer score might be
that student’s “grit,” the term coined by Penn professor Angela Duckworth for a
student’s ability to persevere toward a goal despite hardships.
Rather than forcing students to spend time in non-credit developmental courses, CCA recommends instead placing them in a credit-bearing course and providing co-requisite remediation alongside the regular course if needed. The Community College of Baltimore County has been one of the pioneers in this mainstreaming approach; see http://alp-deved.org/what-is-alp-exactly/ to read about their program for developmental English. Similar work is being done with accelerated math pathways (Statway and Quantway) being used throughout the Texas community college system.
Rather than forcing students to spend time in non-credit developmental courses, CCA recommends instead placing them in a credit-bearing course and providing co-requisite remediation alongside the regular course if needed. The Community College of Baltimore County has been one of the pioneers in this mainstreaming approach; see http://alp-deved.org/what-is-alp-exactly/ to read about their program for developmental English. Similar work is being done with accelerated math pathways (Statway and Quantway) being used throughout the Texas community college system.
One other
somewhat counter-intuitive recommendation from CCA is that colleges should
provide incentives for all students to take at least 15 credits per semester.
Additionally they recommend that students’ schedules and their path towards a
major be highly structured, as too much choice creates anxiety rather than
freedom.
What do you
think? What seems to ring true or false from your experience? Is there anything
we might adopt or adapt as we work to increase retention? If not these ideas, what?
Interesting! If the goal is to retain students who do not meet the university's admission standards and to get them to graduate on time, the recommendations of Complete College America are on target. I wonder, however, what they would do to academic standards in the long run.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that most students leave the (or, rather, this) university for non-academic reasons. Many students get side-tracked from formal education and make socializing and entertainment their priorities. The key to retention may be to make formal education education, rather than business, the number one priority of colleges and universities. Not that colleges and universities should not be run well economically or financially; but they should pay more than lip-service to education and not allow students to be easily side-tracked.
I think it would be easier to retain students at an educational institution when education becomes their goal: they know why they are there and focus on it. Students come for education and are so reinforced and socialized by a culture of academic excellence that they do not want to leave without obtaining it or the degree that symbolizes it. Retention and graduation, particularly on-time graduation, thus become internalized student values.
Safro Kwame
Kwame, you describe the goal of a university well: "Students come for education and are so reinforced and socialized by a culture of academic excellence that they do not want to leave without obtaining it or the degree that symbolizes it."
DeleteThe question then becomes, how do we create that sort of culture? And, perhaps even more importantly, how do we create it with students who might not come to college with those goals already internalized. To me, that is Lincoln's challenge. It's not hard to take good students and make them better. How do we take students who don't yet have all the academic skills and make them want to do the hard work involved in achieving academic excellence? How do we help them to see that education, not socializing, should become their goal?
I would argue that establishing that sort of mindset is one of the reasons to consider mainstreaming. Putting under-achieving students in with high achieving students, and then supplying the extra support that reasonably can enable them to succeed in that environment, might be one way to make excellence a common goal.
Complete College America recommends ,"placing students directly into college-level courses rather than developmental courses"; it cannot be for all students. There are definitely some students who can be placed out of developmental courses ,taking into consideration the placement tests and SATS.On the other hand there are students who must be taught in all 3 areas:reading,writing and mathematics before moving on to the college level.I would love to see The Lincoln U give a1 credit for developmental work.
ReplyDeleteLeonie, I agree. Telling students they have to take a course but then telling them they won't get credit for doing well in the course does give a double message.
DeleteThat's one of the problems the "mainstreaming" movement tries to address. Students are placed directly into credit-bearing courses but then are given the support both in and outside of class to help them achieve the goals of that class. Yes, that probably won't work for all students but studies at institutions that are using this model are showing that it can indeed work for many.
It seems that some students truly need developmental courses and/or regimented tutoring. It might be beneficial for us to institute "co-requisite remediation" classes as labs that complement the developmental courses and give students necessary tutoring, since many of them do not seek it on their own.
ReplyDeleteJamila, yes. Mandate the "remediation" (required lab, small group classroom tutoring, whatever) but make the extra work and time palatable by having the student in a class for which he or she is earning credit. Carrot and stick!
DeleteI think that students should be given credit for taking remedial courses, however I think to really increase retention rates we as professors have to take a more holistic approach. I think colleges and universities need to rethink their mission in relationship to what the world is encroaching upon from a global perspective that factors economics into the equation. I think this generation and my generation in particular is concerned with how a college education is going to financially benefit them now and in the future. I think colleges and universities need to start to offer courses that actually teach skills that pay the bills. No pun intended. However some of our college courses that we offer are no longer relevant when it comes to how does this pay my bills or create financial wealth for me and my family. I think once we start asking those direct questions as to how can we better serve our students in terms of preparing them not only in acquiring employment but for creating jobs as well, then we will have students who will flock to our colleges and universities. We should look at global trends for example the trend of the Maker's Revolution.
ReplyDelete