Focusing the QEP
Robin Haggerty
Originated July 28, 2005
Presented August 4, 2005 QEP Committee Meeting
Our QEP topic:
“After participating in meetings that were held throughout the College community, and after reading the written reports for each of the meetings held, the Leadership Team has decided that the institutional focus for the QEP should be on developing a program to improve the success rate of students enrolled in developmental courses. Also recognizing that this issue was related closely to improving the success rate in allied health, the committee also decided that the QEP should deal specifically with students enrolled in developmental mathematics, since it has been determined that a lack of knowledge in this area is one of the primary reasons for student failure.”—memorandum from Dr. Ayers on May 27, 2005 regarding service on QEP committee.
How do we define “Student Success”?
Success is tied to better completion rates, better grades, student performance on post-tests and performance in subsequent courses. There are also numerous socio-economic issues to overcome: first generation students and subsequent attendance problems, tied not only to lack of understanding of the work involved to be successful in college, but to lack of reliable transportation, lack of reliable childcare, and other personal problems such as divorce, physical abuse, and drug abuse. (all from QEP committee meeting on July 18) . How can we assist students? How can we assess learning?
Information we need to determine before deciding on particulars for the QEP:
1) How many students understand the Compass and its significance? Who can explain why he or she is placed into developmental level courses? (Until students understand the significance of the test, there could be numerous problems: not taking the test seriously and then subsequently, not taking placement advice seriously. This could be one of many reasons students resist the math sequence so enthusiastically).
2) We need to develop a questionnaire for students: call it an “engagement” survey for developmental math students. Include questions about the following:
· Attitude toward math (for sample questions see Miami Dade QEP)
· Locus of control
· Self-confidence
· Engagement with class: how often, during a typical week, do you study for this class? How long do you study? Describe as clearly as possible how you prepare for a test? How long does it take to prepare for a test? What actions could you take to perform better in this class? Explain as clearly as possible how you were placed in this class. What did your advisor tell you about placement?
Perhaps the questionnaire could be in two parts, given once in the first week of class and again at midterm? I would also like to see this given to MA 109 students.
3) How many of our students are placed appropriately into developmental math?
4) How many follow the correct sequence? How many take the sequence semester by semester?
5) How many are placed into math in a timely fashion (i.e. first semester of classes: this is a looong sequence; plus, if a student takes his or her first developmental class in the spring, there will be several months of dead-time in the summer since there are no developmental classes taught in the summer sessions).
6) What kind of retention is there from semester to semester? What is the pass rate and the E/W report by campus per class? (We need to discuss pass rate vs. success rate. Do we define success by all A, B. and C grades? Students who get a D in developmental should not really take the next course in the sequence.)
7) How many students take MA 109 without appropriate test scores or appropriate developmental coursework?
8) How are developmental math classes scheduled? Are there enough per campus? (For this, we need to know the number of students who test into the courses, not just how many test into developmental math). Are they scheduled at the same time as other developmental classes that students may also need to take? I already have that info for this semester: I still need the number who test into the individual classes per campus.
9) We need some other qualitative data as well…we need to interview students who have been successful (we’ll need to determine what we mean by this, etc..) in developmental math and those who have not been successful. We need to determine what each group is doing.
10) How many students in allied health programs (are there particular programs having problems?) are having difficulty with math they should theoretically have learned in MT 110? What’s missing? An understanding of fractions?
Questions/Avenues of Work ahead for the QEP
1. Do we need a Developmental Studies Program? Will a Developmental Co-ordinator suffice? Even if there is just a coordinator, we will need a mission/philosophy. See the NADE Self-Evaluation Guidelines for developing a program.
· Points in favor: could clear up scheduling and take over advising for “at risk” students.
· Points against: faculty would probably have to be divided between divisions. Who should work there? Will the faculty buy-in?
· Should this be a question for just the QEP Gang or for the full faculty?
2. Adjunct/faculty relationships. On some campuses, adjunct faculty teach all of the developmental math classes; therefore,
· Should the math department develop model syllabi for each level of math taught by adjunct faculty?
· Does the math department need to provide a Mentor for each developmental math adjunct faculty member?
· Can we provide incentives for adjunct faculty to take part in professional development? Can we also provide membership in KADE and a trip to a professional development conference if they want to attend? (Membership in KADE is cheap!!!)
· Should each developmental math adjunct faculty member receive a note-book with the model syllabi and best practices for teaching developmental math?
· Should more full time faculty take on the developmental math positions?
3. Improving Advising
· How can we better communicate to students the importance of the Compass?
· How can we better communicate to students the need to take developmental math courses quickly/early and in sequence? How can we communicate to faculty that this is also important???
· How can we better communicate to students the importance of attendance?
· Do we have an effective early warning system for students? Is mid-term assessment enough?
· Do we have a plan to address students who are not making progress?
· Should there be PeopleSoft blocks for anyone enrolling in any math course without appropriate coursework or test scores?
· How can we improve advisor training? How long has it been since we’ve had advisor training anyway? Should advisor training also include dealing with the “at risk” students? How to identify “at risk” students? Where to refer “at risk” students to for counseling or other services??? (By the way, having one counselor on campus for over a thousand students is not in any way realistic or healthy)
· Should we have special advisors for “at risk” students? How will the advisors be identified? How many should we have?
· Advisor load/over load
· Follow-up during evaluation on advising? How many advisees are you seeing? How many got placed into appropriate classes? Have you seen your advisees each semester? Until there is accountability, some advisors will continue to simply sign off on schedules. Also, students should not be able to have a schedule put into the computer without an advisor number and readable signature.
4. Will advising alone address some of our more pressing social concerns?
· Childcare? (Can teaching students to have a Plan A, B, and C be enough?)
· Divorce/Abuse/Drugs
· Can we teach students how to realize when they should drop a class? Again, this is a question of teaching them to realize the amount of work and responsibility involved.
5. Questions to be addressed by math faculty/department
· Competencies for each math course (including MA 109); see competencies found in Docushare.
· Departmental model syllabi?
· Outcomes assessment (do they want an pre-test and exit test for each course, including MA 109?)
· Departmental test bank?
· Workshops about learning styles and how to develop objectives/outcomes and assessment?
· Investigate “best practices” for teaching developmental math? What do the experts say? What do our own experts say???
· The math faculty/department will also need to determine their relationship with adjunct faculty.
· Should we (based on data collected) start thinking about supplemental instruction for all developmental math classes? For example we could start thinking about requiring all students to spend an hour per week working on PLATO. Should we have all developmental math classes be 4 credit hour classes?) Should part of the supplemental work include workshops on math anxiety and how to study math?
· Should we have a special lab/supplemental instruction for MT 110 students regarding the specific kinds of problems they will face in the medical field?
· Should we have early exit options for coursework? Can we have continuous registration?
6. Tutoring services: “the effectiveness of tutoring is strongly influenced by the quality and the amount of training received by tutors” (Boylan & Saxon; Boylan, Bliss & Bonham 1997)
· Should we ask questions about the types of training tutors receive?