2010

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2010

Developmental Education: What Policies and Practices Work for Students?

Weak academic preparation impedes achievement in higher education for millions of young people. Colleges address this problem by providing developmental education programs designed to strengthen students’ skills so they can successfully complete college-level courses. Too often these programs are not very effective in helping students overcome weaknesses. At the same time, increasing numbers of colleges and states are experimenting with innovations to help more underprepared students succeed.

NCPR’s national conference on developmental education, on September 23rd and 24th, 2010, presented the latest high-quality research on developmental education, providing a solid basis for future practice, policy, and continued study.

Agenda

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

5:00-7:00PM

Opening Reception

  • (All conference participants are invited)

Everett Lounge, Zankel Hall

Thursday, September 23, 2010

7:00-8:00AM

Registration and Breakfast

  • (Continental breakfast served in Horace Mann (HM) 144 and 146. Enjoy your meal in HM 138, 140, 150, or 152. No food or beverages are allowed in the Cowin Auditorium)

Cowin Center, Horace Mann Hall
8:00-9:00AM

Welcome and Keynote Address

  • Welcoming Remarks: Thomas Bailey, Director, NCPR
  • Introduction of Keynote: Susan Fuhrman, President, Teachers College
  • Opening Keynote: Martha Kanter, Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education

Cowin Auditorium
9:00-10:00AM

Panel 1: Overview of the Problem of Developmental Education

  • "Developmental Education Outcomes" (Thomas Bailey)
  • "Does Remediation Work for All Students? How the Effects of Postsecondary Remedial and Developmental Courses Vary by Level of Academic Preparation" (Bridget Terry Long and Angela Boatman)
  • "The Role of State Policy in Improving Outcomes in Developmental Education" (Michael Collins)

Cowin Auditorium
10:15-11:45AM

Panel 2: Assessment and Placement

  • "Assessing Developmental Assessment in Community Colleges: A Review of the Literature" (Katherine Hughes and Judith Scott-Clayton)
  • "Best Practices in Setting Cut-Scores in Postsecondary Education" (Deanna Morgan)
  • "One-Shot Deal: Students’ Perceptions of Assessment and Course Placement at the California Community Colleges " (Andrea Venezia, Kathy Bracco and Thad Nodine)
  • "Replacing Remediation with Readiness" (David Conley)

Cowin Auditorium
12:00-1:00PM

Breakout Sessions-choose from four sections. See below for detailed information.

  • B1A: College Board Diagnostic (Jonell Sanchez)
  • B1B: California Early Assessment Program (Sonia Ortiz-Mercado)
  • B1C: College-ready Standards (Bill Moore)
  • B1D: Noncognitive/Affective Assessments (Hunter Boylan)

Horace Mann Classrooms

  • HM 138
  • HM 140
  • HM 150
  • HM 152
1:00-2:00PM

Lunch Break(Lunch is provided in HM 144 and 146. Enjoy your meal in HM 138, 140, 150, or 152.)

Horace Mann Classrooms
2:00-3:30PM

Panel 3: Developmental Education Models

  • "Building Foundations for Student Readiness: A Review of Rigorous Research and Promising Trends in Developmental Education" (Elizabeth Zachry and Emily Schneider)
  • "Developmental Summer Bridge Programs: Implementation and Early Evidence from a Random Assignment Study" (Heather Wathington)
  • "Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Education: Early Impact Findings from Three Colleges" (Mary Visher)
  • "Video-based Supplemental Instruction" (Glen Jacobs and Kim Wilcox)
  • "Washington State's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST)" (Davis Jenkins)

Cowin Auditorium
3:45-4:45PM

Breakout Sessions-choose from five sections. See below for detailed information.

  • B2A: Developmental Summer Bridges (Conchita Hickey)
  • B2B: Learning Communities (Rachel Singer and Gillies Malnarich)
  • B2C: Video-based Supplemental Instruction (Cathy Unite)
  • B2D: Washington State's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) (Tina Bloomer)
  • B2E: 'Getting Past Go' and Tennessee Board of Regents Developmental Studies Redesign (Bruce Vandal)

Horace Mann Classrooms

  • HM 138
  • HM 140
  • HM 148
  • HM 150
  • HM 152

Friday, September 24, 2010

8:00-8:30AM

Breakfast(Continental breakfast served in HM 144 and 146. Enjoy your meal in HM 138, 140, 150, or 152.)

Horace Mann Classrooms
8:30-9:00AM

Reflections on the First Day

  • Speaker: Thomas Brock, MDRC

Cowin Auditorium
9:30-10:30AM

Panel 4: Pedagogy and Classroom Strategies

  • "Pedagogy and Classroom Strategies: Overview" (Nikki Edgecombe)
  • "The Quandaries of Basic Skills: Views from the Classroom" (Norton Grubb)
  • "Improving Developmental Mathematics Education in Community Colleges: A Prospectus and Early Status Report on the Statway Initiative" (Uri Treisman and Jenna Cullinane)
  • "Contextualized Reading-Writing Intervention Study" (Dolores Perin)

Cowin Auditorium
10:45-11:45AM

Breakout Sessions-choose from four sections. See below for detailed information.

  • B3A: Views from the Classroom (Laura Hope)
  • B3B: An Alternative Pathway: From Developmental Math to Statistics (Susan Wood)
  • B3C: Contextualized Reading-Writing Intervention Study (Negar Farakish)
  • B3D: Online Learning (Shanna Smith Jaggars)

Horace Mann Classrooms

  • HM 138
  • HM 140
  • HM 150
  • HM 152
11:45AM-12:45PM

Lunch Break(Lunch is provided in HM 144 and 146. Enjoy your meal in HM 138, 140, 150, or 152.)

Horace Mann Classrooms
12:45-1:30PM

Address

  • Introductory Remarks: Thomas Brock, MDRC
  • Speaker: John Easton, Director, IES

Cowin Auditorium
1:30-3:00PM

Closing Session: Reactions and Next Steps

  • Presenter: Ann Person
  • Presenter: Jim Applegate
  • Presenter: Kay McClenney
  • Moderator: Thomas Bailey

Cowin Auditorium

Break-Out Session Descriptions

The breakout sessions are designed to offer conference participants the opportunity to delve more deeply into a panel presentation topic. Panelists will be available to answer questions about the research presented, while facilitators specially chosen for their experience and expertise in the topic area will provide additional information and their own perspective.

Below are descriptions of each of the breakout sessions and the name of the expert that will facilitate the session. Please note that breakout sessions B1D, B2E, and B3D present additional, related topics that could not be included in the panel sessions.

Assessment and Placement Breakout Sessions

B1A: College Board Diagnostic
Jonell Sanchez will introduce the new College Board Diagnostic and engage participants in a discussion about the use of diagnostics in the developmental education setting. As diagnostic tests give guidance on a student’s strengths and weaknesses rather than yielding a standardized cutoff score, how might such tests be used in the current environment where most colleges still need to place large numbers of students based on a single score? Participants will also have the opportunity to ask Deanna Morgan questions about her work with colleges over the years on setting cutoff scores.

B1B: California Early Assessment Program
Could California’s Early Assessment Program (EAP) ameliorate some of the problems experienced by students that are described in Andrea Venezia’s paper? Sonia Ortiz-Mercado will describe the implementation and impact of California’s Early Assessment Program and engage participants in a discussion about the role of early assessment in reducing the need for remediation. Participants will also have the opportunity to further discuss students’ perceptions of assessment and placement with Andrea Venezia.

B1C: College-Ready Standards
Bill Moore will facilitate a discussion around David Conley’s reconceptualization of assessment and remediation, drawing on his own experience in Washington State with the design of new college-ready math standards, curriculum, and assessment materials. Participants will have the opportunity to ask David Conley questions and discuss the benefits and challenges of designing and implementing comprehensive and aligned state-level standards, curriculum, and assessments.

B1D: Noncognitive/Affective Assessments
A fair number of noncognitive and affective assessments exist, but are they being used? And for what purposes? Hunter Boylan will describe several different noncognitive and affective assessments. Participants will discuss the possible benefits of using these alternative assessments and how they can be realistically and effectively implemented in the developmental education setting.

Developmental Education Models Breakout Sessions

B2A: Developmental Summer Bridges
Conchita Hickey will facilitate a discussion about the Developmental Summer Bridges (DSB) program and share her experience with the design and implementation of the DSB program on her campus, Texas A&M International University. Participants will have the opportunity to ask Heather Wathington about the findings from the DSB experimental study and to consider the feasibility of implementing DSB on their campuses.

B2B: Learning Communities
Rachel Singer will speak about the expansion of learning communities on her campus, Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY, and Gillies Malnarich will describe the pedagogy and integrative work underlying successful learning communities. Participants will consider the institutional and instructional challenges of implementing learning communities for students placing into developmental education classes and have the opportunity to hear more about the learning communities experimental studies from Mary Visher.

B2C: Video-Based Supplemental Instruction
Cathy Unite and Kim Wilcox will facilitate a discussion about supplemental instruction (SI) and the more structured version of SI, video-based supplemental instruction (VSI). Participants will learn more about this alternative form of instructional delivery and discuss the benefits and challenges of using VSI in the developmental education setting.

B2D: I-BEST
Tina Bloomer will facilitate a discussion about I-BEST and share her experiences with the design and implementation of I-BEST at Washington State community colleges. Participants will have the opportunity to ask Davis Jenkins about the findings from the I-BEST studies and to engage in a discussion about implementing the I-BEST model on their campuses.

B2E: “Getting Past Go” and Tennessee Board of Regents Developmental Studies Redesign
Bruce Vandal will present initial findings from “Getting Past Go,” a collaborative effort among state leaders in postsecondary education that seeks to leverage developmental education policy to increase college attainment rates. Participants will discuss how state policy can support effective models of developmental education. In addition, participants will hear about results from the Tennessee Developmental Studies Redesign at the Tennessee Board of Regents that was implemented with support from the National Center for Academic Transformation.

Pedagogy and Classroom Strategies Breakout Sessions

B3A: Views from the Classroom
Laura Hope and Norton Grubb will facilitate a discussion about traditional pedagogical practices being used in the developmental education classroom and the barriers to instructional change on college campuses. Participants will be asked about their own experiences with effective and ineffective pedagogy and their ideas surrounding how developmental education instruction can be improved.

B3B: An Alternative Pathway: From Developmental Math to Statistics
Susan Wood will facilitate a discussion about the proposal to change the developmental math course sequence from a pathway into college-level algebra to a pathway into college-level statistics. Participants will consider how much algebra students need and the implementation challenges and possible consequences of a statistics pathway. Participants will also have the opportunity to ask Uri Treisman about the Statway Initiative specifically.

B3C: Contextualized Reading-Writing Intervention
Negar Farakish and Dolores Perin will provide examples of the Content Comprehension Strategy Instruction (CCSI), and participants will have an opportunity to discuss the feasibility of the intervention in their classrooms. In particular, four dimensions of the intervention will be discussed: contextualization of reading and writing skills in the subject matter of degree-credit courses, the focus on explicit reading and writing strategies, the use of curricular supplements for underprepared students, and possible adaptations of the CCSI for use inside the developmental education classroom.

B3D: Online Learning
Shanna Jaggars will describe findings from her literature review on the effectiveness of online learning. Participants will discuss how online learning should be implemented to best promote developmental education student access and progression. Some of the questions posed will be: What kinds of improvements need to be made to online pedagogies? How are these improvements similar to or different from improvements that should be made in face-to-face classrooms?

 

>> Download the Agenda (PDF)

PANEL 1

Background Data and General Effects

Presentation: "Developmental Education Outcomes" (Thomas Bailey)

Presentation: "Does Remediation Work for All Students? How the Effects of Postsecondary Remedial and Developmental Courses Vary by Level of Academic Preparation" (Bridget Terry Long and Angela Boatman)

Presentation: "The Role of State Policy in Improving Outcomes" (Michael Collins)

PANEL 2

Assessment and Placement

Presentation: "Assessing Developmental Assessment in Community Colleges: A Review of the Literature" (Katherine Hughes and Judith Scott-Clayton)

Presentation: "Best Practices in Setting Cut-Scores in Postsecondary Education" (Deanna Morgan)

Presentation: "One-Shot Deal: Students’ Perceptions of Assessment and Course Placement at the California Community Colleges" (Andrea Venezia, Kathy Bracco and Thad Nodine)

Presentation: "Replacing Remediation with Readiness" (David Conley)

PANEL 3

Developmental Education Models

Presentation: "Building Foundations for Student Readiness: A Review of Rigorous Research and Promising Trends in Developmental Education" (Elizabeth Zachry and Emily Schneider)

Presentation: "Developmental Summer Bridge Programs: Implementation and Early Evidence From A Random Assignment Study " (Heather Wathington)

Presentation: "Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Education: Early Impact Findings from Three Colleges" (Mary Visher)

Presentation: "Video-based Supplemental Instruction" (Glen Jacobs and Kim Wilcox)

Presentation: "Washington State's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST)" (Davis Jenkins)

PANEL 4

Pedagogy and Classroom Strategies

Presentation: "Pedagogy and Classroom Strategies: Overview" (Nikki Edgecombe)

Presentation: "The Quandaries of Basic Skills: Views from the Classroom" (Norton Grubb)

Presentation:"Improving Developmental Mathematics Education in Community Colleges: A Prospectus and Early Status Report on the Statway Initiative" (Uri Treisman and Jenna Cullinane)

Presentation: "Contextualized Reading-Writing Intervention Study" (Dolores Perin)

Breakout Session: BC3: Contextualized Reading-Writing Intervention Study (Negar Farakish and Dolores Perin)

Webinar Downloads

NCPR hosted a web conference on December 15, 2010 that created an opportunity for participants to continue discussion that arose at the conference. » More Information » View Recording

Webindar PowerPoint PDF