Persistence in High School & College: Tools to Help Increase Persistence and Degree

Attainment

Educational Research Section

Princeton University

April 30, 2010

Profile of LaGuardia 17,000 degree-seeking students 35,000 non-degree-seeking students 60% female; 40% male 57% full-time; 43% part-time 52% aged 17-22; 27% aged 23-29 56% foreign born; 44% US born 160 countries; 124 languages 315 full-time faculty, most with terminal degrees

Community Colleges in America

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Per Capita Student Spending

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

2 year 4 year

Underserved Students Community College Students are by definition

underserved

QED—We have a responsibility to educate all our students and we believe the best way to do that is to provide a high quality education that gives each of our students an opportunity to demonstrate how good they are

First Year Academy Learning Communities Liberal Arts Clusters Non-ESL Basic Skills clusters and pairs ESL Clusters and Pairs More than 1,000 students in LCs in Fall 09

Liberal Arts Clusters Required for Liberal Arts majors (full-time

students) Theme-based All include 2 English courses: Freshman

Composition and Research Paper Two courses from other discipline areas

(Social Science and Humanities) 1 credit “Integrating Seminar”

Aggregate Passing Rates For English 101 in Lib Arts Clusters vs. Stand-Alone

79.2

69

62

64

66

68

70

72

74

76

78

80

Liberal Arts Cluster All Other Students

Liberal Arts Cluster n=1,514

All Other Students n=16,383

Non-ESL Basic Skills Clusters and Pairs Sample Themes

The CyberPlanet

Bright Lights, Big City

Truth, Reality and You

Voicing America: The Many Views of

Freedom

Imagining America

Beyond Dr. Phil

First Year Academy Non-ESL Learning Communities: Pass Rates

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

90%

95%

100%

Comparison (Stand-Alone Sections) 72.0%

Academy Learning Communities 77.1%

Comparison/Academy

First Year Academy Non-ESL Learning Communities: Comparison of pass rates in discipline-area courses

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Non-Academy LC 70.0% 73.00%

Academy LC 76.7% 80.00%

American History SSH102 (Spring 06) Critical Thinking HUP102 (SPring06)

First Year Academy Non-ESL Learning Communities: Four year comparison of pass rates in English 099 (Fa04>Sp08)

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Non-Academy (ENG099) 63.6%

Academy (ENG099) 69.5%

Non-academy / Academy

FY Academy ESL Learning Communities Comparative Grades (GPA)

2.74

2.432.25

2.62

2.36

2.15

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

2.20

2.40

2.60

2.80

3.00

College-LevelCourses

Basic SkillsCourses

ESL Courses

ESL Learning Community Regular

Students obtain

significantly higher

grades in all course

types when courses

are taken in the

learning community

format.

93%

84%

69%66%

82%89%

0.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

100.00%

College-LevelCourses

Basic SkillsCourses

ESL Courses

Learning Community Regular

FY Academy ESL Learning Communities Comparative Pass Rates in Courses

Pass rates in the learning community sections of all course types were significantly higher than pass rates in regular sections of the same courses.

ePortfolio 10,000+ students with ePortfolios Not merely an electronic resume or a

version of Blackboard Allows students to express and explore Allows faculty a fuller view of what students

can do Allows the institution to get a better handle

on assessment of student work

High End Learning Phi Theta Kappa More than 400 active members 2009—NY Region Most Distinguished Chapter

Award 2010—NY Region Most Distinguished Chapter

president; Leadership Hallmark Award; Scholarship Hallmark Award; Pinnacle and Five-Star Chapter Awards; Top 100 National Chapter; All NY 1st and 2nd Academic Team Members

Transfer Moved from a straightforward

administrative model to a more pro-active academic model

Exploring Transfer—Vassar Intercollegiate Partnership--Barnard Engineering articulation with Swarthmore City College as a “fallback” for our

students

ResultsJudge us not by how our students

come in, but rather where they wind up!