Engaging Faculty in Using Data to Increase Student

SuccessDr. Karen Stout, President

Leon Hill, Director of Institutional Research

David Whalen, Instructor of Biology

Barbara Lontz, Assistant Professor of Mathematics

Diane McDonald, Assistant Professor of English

2012 D.R.E.A.M. Annual Meeting

About the College

More than 33,000 annual unduplicated credit and non-credit students

14,900 fall 2011 credit students Two campuses Suburban Philadelphia location in County with

800,000 residents Highly competitive higher education marketplace

Engagement of the Data

Gateway Courses

ACC 111

BIO 121

BIO 131

CHE 121

ENG 010

ENG 011

ENG 101

HIS 205

MAT 010

MAT 011

MAT 011B

MAT 106

MAT 100

SCS 101

Examples of Our “Stage 1” Data Analysis: MAT 010

2003/FA 2004/FA 2005/FA 2006/FA 2007/FA 2008/FA 2009/FA 2010/FA0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

53.6%46.3% 47.3% 45.7% 44.8% 43.3%

47.4%50.5%

Total College Success: Math 010

Success

Examples of Our “Stage 1” Data Analysis: MAT 010

2003/FA 2004/FA 2005/FA 2006/FA 2007/FA 2008/FA 2009/FA 2010/FA0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

58.9%52.1% 49.4% 52.2%

47.8% 48.2%

56.4% 55.2%

45.7%

37.0%

44.7%

36.2%40.7%

36.5% 35.0%

43.4%

Math 10: Success by Gender

Female Success Male Success

Examples of Our “Stage 1” Data Analysis: MAT 010

2003/FA 2004/FA 2005/FA 2006/FA 2007/FA 2008/FA 2009/FA 2010/FA0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

43.0%37.7% 38.8%

25.6% 26.9%30.3%

38.6%36.8%

58.0%

52.1% 50.1%52.5% 53.5%

48.5%52.8%

59.0%

Math 10: Success by Race/Ethnicity

African American Success Latino Success Caucasian Success

Next Steps

Creation of strategies to address these issues in certain courses.

BIO 131 MAT 010 ENG 101

BIOLOGY 131:Human Anatomy & Physiology

The Problem

Low overall success rates (<55%) in Anatomy & Physiology I, a “gatekeeper” Biology course

Anatomy & Physiology I prerequisite:

High school biology within the past 5 years or successful completion of General Biology

General Biology students successfully complete Anatomy & Physiology at a FAR higher rate than high school biology students

Past Success Rates in A&P I

0102030405060708090

100

HS Biologyas prereq

General Biologyas prereq

Success Rates in A&P IDepending on Prerequisite

% S

ucce

ssfu

l

73%

38%

Relationship between Placement Exam Score and A&P I Success Rates for 2009-2010

Per

cent

Suc

cess

in A

&P

I

Biology Placement Exam Score

2009/FA

2010/SP

20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 90-1000

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

N=767 students

Implementation of Biology Placement Exam

A&P I prerequisite for new students:

Successful completion of General Biology or passing score on the Biology Placement Exam

Cutoff score:

• Students scoring >55% place into A&P I (BIO 131)

• Students scoring <55% place into General Biology I (BIO 121)

Online review materials are available to students preparing for the Biology Placement Exam

For more information: http://www.mc3.edu/admissions/gettingStarted/placement/bio.aspx

MATH 010: Fundamentals of Arithmetic

Developmental Math Crisis

Data received identified the arithmetic/prealgebra course as having the lowest success rate of any course at the College

Challenge was to increase success rates without changing or lowering learning outcomes

Potential solutions included Learning Communities & Supplemental Instruction

Course Redesign

The delivery format changed from a presentation of topics to an understanding of concepts

The teaching approach switched from a mastery of skills to a discovery approach

Concepts of Numbers for Arithmetic & Prealgebra was developed in fall 2008

Awarded a Hewlett Scaling Innovation grant in fall 2011

Concepts Data  Fall

2008Spring 2009

Fall 2009

Spring 2010

Fall 2010

Spring 2011

Fall2011

Concepts of Numbers

74% 63% 68% 60%* 58%** 57.4% 57.72%

  N = 19 N = 19 N = 19 N = 255 N = 380 N = 289 N = 704

Traditional Arithmetic

45% 34% 41% 40% 40% 37.8%  n/a

  N = 664 N = 429 N = 567 N = 236 N = 284 N = 150 N = 0

ENGLISH 101: Composition

Writeplacer 4

Scoring Rubric

Develops a viable point of view on the issue

May stray from audience and purpose

Demonstrates some critical thinking, though perhaps

inconsistently

May lack control of organization or focus

Contains some errors in sentence structure and

grammatical conventions

English 101

Learning Outcomes

Read Critically

Evaluate a writing task for purpose, audience, context, and

point of view

Address a topic using a rhetorical strategy appropriate to the writing

task

Develop coherent and persuasive essays that present carefully

developed and well-supported theses

Use formal, standard usage, grammar, and punctuation

Placement Cut Off Scores

Writeplacer

FA '10 SP '11 FA '110

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

8069

5965

WP 4WP 4-8Overall Success

Accuplacer

FA '10

SP '11

FA '11

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

69

5965

AP 86-100AP 101+Overall Success

SAT Exemption

FA '10 SP '11 FA '110

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

86

59

7569

5965

SAT ExemptOverall Success

Evaluation of InitiativesResearch Question

Are students who enroll in a MAT 010 conceptual approach pilot more successful than those students who enroll in a traditional MAT 010 course?

Previous Literature/Research

Research Design Metric & Definition

Population Under Study

Population or Sample

Study Occur

Timeframe/Timeline

Control Group

Treatment Introduced

Comparison Group Analysis

Success Rate in Alt Math 010 vs. Success Rate in all other Math 010 courses Success Rate= (Grades of A, B, C, P) / Total enrolled in the course)

Students enrolled in the Alternative MAT 010 and all other Mat 010 students

Total population of students in the courses.

All locations

Fall 2008, Spring 2009. Fall 2009, Spring 2010

Yes: All MAT 010 sections that are not part of the Alternative approach

none

Confounding Variables

Type of Data:Qualitative/ Quantitative/ Mixed Method?

Collection Method

How will the data be analyzed

Targeted Outcome

Does the data match the question?

Can we estimate or predict fiscal cost if any?

Different faculty may be teaching the course; no textbook

Mixed Grade Data

Pre & Post Tests

Student Evaluations

One Minute Papers

Percentages,

Mean, Median, Mode, Standard Deviations

Theme Analysis

Success Rate of XX%

Yes $300 supplies

Dissemination of Results

Research and Practice Academic Division Presentations General Faculty Meetings President’s Cabinet Board of Trustees National/Regional Conferences

Gateway Course Academy

Outgrowth of the initiatives: Goal is to provide faculty with the necessary support

to develop, implement and evaluate improvements Cross-disciplinary team (Economics, Beginning

Algebra, Criminal Justice, Intro to Education , US History & Basic Writing 2)

Members identify a course-based research question

Gateway Academy

Broader issues of student motivation, college readiness and faculty development are discussed

Future expansion of the group will be on-going

Final Thoughts