College Skills

1. College Skills Duncan Graham & Lucy Rodriguez November 5, 2008

2. Welcome! • Basic Skills ~ College Skills Definition: “Basic skills are those foundation skills in reading, writing, mathematics, & English as a Second Language, as well as learning skills & study skills, which are necessary for students to succeed in college-level work.” Source: Basic Skills as a Foundation for Student Success in California Community Colleges Report. March 2007. p.4.

3. Why Focus on College Skills? • The need today is greater because: • Increased volume of students accessing higher education • Increased diversity of academic & social backgrounds • Culmination of 2 centuries of opening access to higher education to the less than academically qualified • 80% of future jobs need a degree

4. State of College Skills • Our Students • K-12 educated students • Returning adults (English & ELL) • Immigrants (none or minimal K-12 education) • International students

5. Why Focus on College Skills? • Educational skills are necessary to achieve success in present-day society • Skills deficits damage CA economy • Lack of literacy wastes human potential • Adapted from Payne, G. (2006, June). Re-counting ‘illiteracy’: literacy skills in the sociology of social inequality. British Journal of Sociology, 57(2), 219-240. Functional Literacy (Reading Street Signs / Balancing a Checkbook) Losing high paying jobs to the global economy

6. Administrative Policy Issues • No Common Definitions of College Skills courses and student services • Masking basic skills under college funding umbrella • Insufficient & fragmented funding structure • High School Curriculum not Aligned with Colleges • Inconsistent Community College Standards & Definitions

7. Economic Policies • Access to college is “required by our present-day technological society.” -Markus & Zeitlin, 1998 • In the next 25 years -McCabe, 2001; ETS, 2007, Adelman, 2004 • 80% of jobs will required post-secondary education • 30% of California high school grads are prepared for college • Large numbers of workers will retire & need to be replaced by people with post-secondary education

8. ROI Economic Policies $44 Million • Taxpayers paid about $1 billion on national basic skills education - Breneman & Harlow, 1998 • Less than 1% of the entire U.S. higher education budget is spent on basic skills - Brothen, 2004 • For every $1 billion spent = ROI of $44 million from tax revenue - Saxon & Boyle, 2001 • 70% in California need basic skills remediation - Adelman, 2004. • In 2008-09, CA designated BSI funding from the state representing less than a tenth of 1% for Foothill’s budget.

9. CA’s Solution to Education Gap • The CA Basic Skills Initiative • Provides additional funding source • Provides common framework for understanding basic skills

10. Basic Skills Initiative Phase I • Developed & Produced the Poppy Copy • Extensive literature review • Self assessment tool • Cost-revenue tool

11. Basic Skills Initiative Phases II & III • Phase II: Provide training seminars to all 109 colleges on the Literature Review & how to complete their self-assessment evaluation & selection of implementation strategies for local program improvement of basic skills • Phase III: Provide regional training seminars on in-depth topics such as integrating student services with academics

12. College Skills at Foothill • Over 35 Foothill staff & faculty members joined one of four investigative teams: • Team A: Organizational and Administrative Practices • Team B: Program Components • Team C: Staff Development • Team D: Instructional Practices

13. College Skills at Foothill • Campus-wide dialogue was generated by the 4 investigative teams through: • Interviews with various departments and individuals • Surveys, phone calls, emails • Division meetings devoted to basic skills learning • Each team presented their findings at a campus-wide meeting & some division meetings

14. College Skills at Foothill • Each Investigative group was asked to: • Submit a summary of their discoveries • Create an initial set of recommendations to improve basic skills • Create a list of things we should be doing and/or new & revised goals • The recommendations were compiled into the current college skills action plan

15. College Skills Action Plan at Foothill • Looking at this from an State perspective, our action plan needs to provide: • Accountability measures • Proof of taxpayer money well-spent • Legal compliance • Deadlines & timelines for getting the job done • Something to help Judy & Dolores practice writing their signatures

16. College Skills Action Plan at Foothill • Looking at this from an Foothill perspective, the action plan provides: • A course of direction • A policy and planning tool to generate change • A topic of conversation • A list of priorities to focus on • A tool to measure impact of change

17. Reporting Structure • College Skills at Foothill College • College Skills Steering Committee • Roundtable College Skills Subcommittee • Roundtable

18. College Skills Steering Committee • Develop highly coordinated college skills program • Support staff development • Integrate student & academic services • Recognition that college skills are a college-wide concern

19. College Skills Action Plan • Action: Incorporate basic skills evaluative components into all formal institutional & program review & planning processes for both academic & non-academic programs. Based on Effective Practice B2. • Accountability: Produce a comprehensive basic skills pattern or map that shows where students enter/exit sequence • Impact: Cleaned up curriculum database, courses, curriculum sheets, identified proper TOPS codes, definitions, prereqs Students have transparent route to careers, degrees, transfer colleges, life enrichment… Research: Capture data on where students get stuck or succeed.

20. College Skills Action Plan • Action: Administration actively supports staff development opportunities on basic skills topics. Based on Effective Practice C1. • Accountability: What 3 good ideas did you get from the basic skills conference you attended? • Impact: “We found a college doing an intensive combined beginning & intermediate algebra course. It would be a fully loaded course (12 quarter units) & this is all the student would be doing. It's a similar idea to a language immersion course.” “I learned that learning communities do not have to be elaborate to be effective, & have begun conversations …about doing some of that next quarter.” “Based on the work of Ruth Stiehl, I learned how mapping a program illuminates the logic (or illogic) of course sequences, pre-requisites & student learning outcomes. This strategy is useful for program planning & curriculum development since it highlights how the themes & outcomes of a course align with those in other courses. Or not!”

21. College Skills Action Plan Exposes additional problems to address • Action: Use collaborative efforts of the Language Arts faculty to pilot a new ESL assessment test for incoming freshmen. • Accountability: Shift in student success rates in ESL classes. • Impact: Improved student success, retention & persistence rates in ESL & beyond. More consistent standards and streamlined learning. More accurately places students in classes.

22. College Skills Action Plan • Give access to view financial aid screens on SIS to all Outreach staff so they can answer simple questions for students. Effective Practice B4. • Accountability: Staff have access to screens. • Impact: Students receive timely assistance in identifying and applying for appropriate sources of financial aid.

23. Questions? http://www.foothill.edu/staff/irs/BSI/discussions.html