undoing developmental courses helped increase our …...• ma090 basic mathematics, ma095 basic...

Undoing Developmental Courses Helped Increase Our Student Success at Palau Community College

ACCJC Partners in Excellence Conference 2019

Derbei Meyar, Associate Professor

Cecil E. Meteolechol, Chairperson English Department

Ligaya T. Sara, Institutional Researcher

San Francisco, California

Palau Community College is located in Koror, Palau. Palau is made up of approximately 250 small islands; it is situated between the Philippines and Japan; and forms the western chain of the Caroline Islands in Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean.

Koror, the capital where the College is located is about 500 miles east of Manila, Philippines; 800 miles southwest of Guam; and 10,000 miles west of Washington, D.C. Therefore, Palau CC is the most distant and remote member of the U.S. family of colleges and universities.

Palau is a sovereign nation with a compact of free association with the United States.

It is an island country with 22,206 population, Palau Census Bureau (2019)

Palau Community College is the only higher education institution in the nation and is the farthest ACCJC member institution.

There are five high schools in the country (one public and four private).

School Year 2018-2019 student population:

Palau High School (public) – 512

Mindszenty High School – 132

Emmaus Bethania High School – 77

Palau Mission Academy – 121

Belau Modekngei School – 21

Accreditation Status

Since 1977, the College has been accredited for 42 years by ACCJC-WASC.

Palau CC is mandated under RPPL 4-2 (Palau higher education act of 1993) to be an accredited institution by ACCJC-WASC.

About 93 – 95 percentage of students depend on Federal Financial Aid (Pell Grant, SEOG and Federal Work Study)

Open Discussion and Decision-making to Dismantle Developmental Courses

Collaborative effort between Palau CC and Palau Ministry of Education

College readiness

Development of new courses

Alignment of high school courses with college courses

Academic policy development/implementation

Both institutions’ continuous effort to ensure student success

Developmental Courses

An open-door institution • Not all admitted students meet the proficiency

level required for college level courses

Developmental courses offered prior to 2010 • EN070 Conversational English I , EN071

Conversational English II , EN090 Basic Reading Skills I, EN091 Developmental English I, EN092 Basic Reading Skills II, EN093 Developmental English II, EN095 Developmental English III

• Ma090 Basic Mathematics, MA095 Basic Algebra • SC090 Introduction to Science • OA095 Keyboarding

Developmental Courses

Developmental courses offered prior to fall semester 2016

• EN089 Developmental Reading and Writing • EN090 Developmental Reading Skills • EN091 Developmental English I • EN092 Basic Reading Skills II • EN095 Basic Grammar & Writing Skills • MA095 Basic Algebra

Why Undo Developmental Courses?

Costly for Palau CC students • Repeating developmental courses • Exhaustion of students’ federal/local education

financial funding • Furthers graduation date • Stress discourages students

Costly for the institution • More faculty needed • Overloaded faculty • Cost of books • Risk increasing student withdrawals/stopping

out of college

Undoing Developmental Courses

Discontinued offering developmental courses in fall semester 2016

• Cohorts enrolled in 100-level courses (e.g. EN112 Freshman Composition and EN109 Advanced Reading Skills)

• Increased number of students in tutoring centers

• Adjusting course pre-requisites and program required courses

Undoing Developmental Courses

Creating new courses based on students’ needs

• EN100 Reading and Writing Skills (completed/implemented spring 2017)

• MA103 Basic Mathematics (completed/implemented spring 2017)

Development of EN100 and MA103 provided an opportunity for the 21-degree programs to evaluate and make necessary changes appropriate to support their program requirements as well as improve student learning.

Undoing Developmental Courses

A collaboration between Palau CC and a Palau public high school

• Spring 2018: alignment of public high school’s and Palau CC’s English, Math, and other core areas

• Palau CC’s Academic policy on awarding of high school math credits

Academic Policy

The Results With and Without Developmental

Courses

ns - There was no significant difference when statistically analyzed by group at 95% level of Confidence.

Retention Rate

EN100 Successful Completion Rate

EN100 Successful Completion Rate

Palau CC Institutional-set Standard for Student Achivement (ISSA) 4

At least 60% of registered students will complete enrolled courses (course completion) in any given semester

Graduation Rate (2-Year)

Graduation Rate (150% Normal Time to Completion)

The Overall Results

Improvement in student success • One-on-one tutoring services for more insight on

lesson concept • Help with total education cost

Lesser books to purchase Lesser courses to pay for

• Smooth transitioning from high school to Palau CC • Increases persistent rate, retention rate, and

graduation rate • Meeting 150% normal time requirement

Kom kmal mesulang (thank you)! www.palau.edu

Derbei Meyar derbeim@palau.edu meyar5@gmail.com Cecil E. Meteolechol cecilmeteolechol@palau.edu emngelm@gmail.com Ligaya T. Sara ligayas@palau.edu