Stairway to Success: Improving Developmental Student Success Rates in Composition

1. Give the Action Project a title: Stairway to Success: Improving Developmental Student Success Rates in Composition  

2. Describe this Action Project’s goal in 100 words max:  The project goal is to improve success rates of developmental English students enrolled in the composition sequence. Students successfully completing the developmental English course could enroll in both the developmental and college composition course during the same semester. Students who need further assistance with English skills would remain in an extended developmental class. Students would experience less academic frustration with improved skills; instructors would spend less time teaching basic skills in non-developmental courses; advisors would have a specific and appropriate enrollment plan for developmental English students.

3. Identify the single AQIP category. Category One—Helping Students Learn

4. Describe briefly why PCC is taking on this action project now:  Concern regarding success of developmental students in their college classes was highlighted by college employees at a Fall 2007 AQIP in-service workshop. In addition, PCC has made improving developmental student success rates in English a part of our state performance agreement.

5. List the organizational areas—institutional depts., programs, etc. most affected (directly and/or indirectly): English Dept./Advising/Technical Programs(scheduling)/Athletics (scheduling)/Finance(funding)

6. Name and describe briefly the key organizational processes that you expect this Action Project to change or improve:  Course scheduling and advising will be affected. We will be offering several developmental and college composition sections during the same time slot. This will affect English Department scheduling (we may need adjunct assistance), student scheduling (students will not have a choice as to what time to enroll in developmental English classes), and advising (advisers will have to enroll students in the required class; advisers will also have to review student success in the first class to enroll students in the next class. Both classes would be completed within one semester.) Budgets will also have to be adjusted to include additional instructional expenses. 

7. Explain the rationale for the length of time planned for this Action Project:  We have spent this fall and will spend next spring finalizing processes and schedules needed for this project.  However, since our first cohort group will not enroll until Fall 2008, we decided not to retire this project until the Fall 2010 group completes the semester. We wanted to have at least two fall enrollments included in our data, for fall provides the largest number of developmental student enrollment.

8. Describe how you plan to monitor how successfully your efforts on this Action Project are progressing:  We plan to use enrollment and course completion data to show whether or not students enrolled in this new format are successful in composition classes at a higher rate than previous data indicates. We will also use short surveys to evaluate whether or not students, instructors, and advisors are less frustrated. We will have to evaluate whether the one time slot is too limiting. This may be done through interviews with technical program instructors, coaches, and a student group. 

9. Describe the overall “outcome” measures or indicators that will tell you whether this Action Project has been a success or failure in achieving its goals: One measure will be an improved success rate of the students in their developmental and college composition courses. Another will be a review of the streamlined enrollment, including whether or not students are more motivated to be successful since they may complete English Composition I and their developmental course during one semester instead of two.

10. Other information (e.g. publicity, sponsor, external partners): This project will require that the new process be clearly explained to everyone affected. We will need to point out the goal is to help students move into the college composition sequence more quickly with not only the skills they need but also a higher degree of motivation. 

11. Contact information: Monette DePew, English Instructor;  monetted@prattcc.edu; 620-450-2211.