The Evolution of a CEP Writing Program:

Using Inquiry-Based Collaborative Communities to Insure College

Readiness in a CEP Program

Researcher’s Background

8 years teaching English at SMSU 7 ½ years mentoring high school CEP

teachers Professional awareness of disconnect in

high school and college standards Passion to improve student potential

SMSU’s Program Model

Provides a college or university faculty mentor who › Meets regularly with the teacher › Monitors assignments, assessments, and

instructional effectiveness › Ensures that the course meets the learning

outcomes and that students are held to college-level standards;

Provides each secondary instructor with opportunities to participate in appropriate campus-based faculty development activities. (MnSCU, System Procedures, Chapter 3, 2003)

Statement of the Problem

To determine the level of perceived college readiness between high school students in a dual enrollment English course using inquiry based instruction to implement the pre-determined syllabus and those who were not.

So, what is College Readiness?

When ACT conducted the annual National Curriculum Survey (2007), the term was defined as the following: › Approximately a 75% chance of earning a

grade of C or better, or approximately a 50% chance of earning a grade of B or better, in selected courses commonly taken by first-year college students (p. 1).

But….

In most states today, a student can 1. complete all the courses required for

high school graduation and college admissions,

2. pass all the required high school assessments

3. be admitted to a college or university – and still require remedial coursework to be ready for first-year college courses” (ACE, p. 8)

Has the Honor Roll Lost its Honor?

20% of entering students who had received A’s in their last high school English course enrolled in the college’s remedial writing course

45% of entering students who had received B’s in their last high school English course enrolled in the college’s remedial writing course

MSCTC data collected between January 2005 – January 2007 as reported in Carney and Crist

Research on Inquiry-Based Instruction

The amount of student learning that occurs in a classroom is directly proportional to the quality and quantity of student involvement in the educational program (Cooper and Prescott 1989).

Yet research studies indicate that teachers typically dominate classroom conversation, consuming nearly 70% of classroom time.

Inquiry-based instructional approaches reverse this trend, placing students at the helm of the learning process and teachers in the role of learning facilitator, coach, and modeler.

Key Components of Inquiry-Based Instruction

Activating Prior Knowledge

Defining Outcomes for which students will be held accountable

Providing Frameworks

Student teams brainstorm ideas fitting within broader inquiry or topic

Ask students questions to help refine their thinking

Empower students to coach and train one another

Provide a forum for student presentations

Incorporate ongoing, meaningful peer and teacher assessment

Reflect on what worked and what didn't, and try it again

Criteria for Inquiry-Based Essays

Is it personally relevant and socially significant?

Is the student truly interested in the question?

Is it researchable? Is it big enough and small enough?

Purpose of the Study

Local Level› Improve College

Readiness empirical data for SMSU

› Improve College Readiness in SMSU CEP English students

› Bring attention to the potential of SMSU’s CEP program to create alignments with local high schools

National Level› Add to the growing

body of research searching for alignment solutions

› See CEP as turn-key ready for individual cases of institutional College Readiness disconnect

Research Questions

Self-perception of college readiness before course

High school administrator and teacher perception of student college readiness before course

Self-perception of college readiness after the coursework

High school administrator and teacher perception of student college readiness after course

College instructor perception of student college readiness after course

Difference in perception between those participating in inquiry-based collaborative communities

Significance of the Study

Ever decreasing educational budgets with ever increasing pressure for students to perform

Rural population given equitable access to suburban rigorous curriculum

Young program nationally with little data collection standards

Potential to begin the transition to K-16 system Opportunity for SMSU to lead nationally High school students involved in CEP programs

go on to obtain more post secondary education credits

Summary of Literature Review

More data is needed, perhaps more structure Potentially the future of education, perhaps in

re-visioning where high school education ends and postsecondary education begins

CEP is naturally oriented to collaborations between college and high schools, professors and teachers, and finally students

CEP will be the beginning of P-16 in practice CEP can solve real college readiness

situations

Current Research Population and Sample

Population is all English dual enrollment program participants based out of SMSU in the Fall 2008 semester

Non-random Sample of 100 students who engaged in the creation of an inquiry-based instruction community

Instrumentation

High School Administrator – Pre-surveyHigh School Teacher – Pre and post-

surveyHigh School Student – Pre and post-

surveyCollege Instructor – Pre and post-survey

for each individual school

Instrumentation

Surveys› Adapted from NACEP accreditation samples› Reformatted into electronic application and

stored in a university data base› Dumped into Excel› Likert scale questions using 1 to 5 ratings› Post-surveys same as pre-surveys› Compared changes between the two

Sample Student Survey

http://www.southwestmsu.edu/Academics/Programs/English/form229.cfm

Instrumentation

Sample and population teachers and instructors participated in workshop

24 participated in workshop discussion about college readiness using survey

12 of sample will participate in post-survey focus groups

13 of population will participate in post-survey focus groups

Instrumentation

Steps› Complete an online pre-survey› Ensure administrator and students do so› Attend the prep workshop› Create and present an online lesson› Participate in online inquiry-based instruction

communities› Assist small groups of students in creation of

presentation using inquiry based methods› Ask professors to complete a post-survey› Ensure administrator and students complete post-

survey

Data Collection Procedures

Invitation letter emailed August 16 explaining steps Pre-survey was complete within the first weeks of

semester High school teachers determined when online

community would post discussions but done before December 1

Student peer editing will be done before November 15

Student presentations posted before November 25 Online post-survey to be completed by all by

December 30 Focus group to be conducted December 15

Data Analysis

Returned data from online surveys stored in university data base

Analyzed using Excel and SPSS College perception scores of schools were

compared Researcher reported means and standard

deviations t tests were performed and compared D2L used for online communication and

discussions were stored Microsoft Word document used to record

answers and analyze focus group commentary Mixed method design assisted in ensuring

validity

Group Questions

How are your programs run? How much is college readiness a

concern for your CEP programs? What is the ability level of your CEP

program populations? How do your CEP programs collect and

analyze data so far? What is the primary goal of your CEP

program and what should it be?