Educational Research Section Princeton University April 30, 2010

1. Persistence in High School & College: Tools to Help Increase Persistence and Degree Attainment Educational Research Section Princeton University April 30, 2010

2. 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

3. Community Colleges in America

4. Per Capita Student Spending

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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”

8. Aggregate Passing Rates For English 101 in Lib Arts Clusters vs. Stand-Alone Liberal Arts Cluster n=1,514 All Other Students n=16,383

9. 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

10. First Year Academy Non-ESL Learning Communities: Pass Rates

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

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

13. FY Academy ESL Learning Communities Comparative Grades (GPA) Students obtain significantly higher grades in all course types when courses are taken in the learning community format.

14. 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.

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Results • Judge us not by how our students come in, but rather where they wind up!