Improving Student Success at Sinclair CC: Lessons from Three Initiatives

In today’s post, Kathleen Cleary, associate provost for student success at Sinclair Community College, recaps her presentation from the June 2012 Conference on Developmental Education sponsored by the National Center for Postsecondary Research. Kathleen recounts how Sinclair’s student success efforts have evolved through the institutional change work of Achieving the Dream and the Developmental Education Initiative, setting them up for statewide transformation as part of the Completion By Design network.

When Sinclair began our work with Achieving the Dream (ATD) in 2005, we opted to infuse ATD principles and goals into standing college processes and systems to avoid perceptions that this was an “add-on” to existing work. The strength of this work is that we approached improving student success, particularly for underserved populations, as a way of life at the college, rather than a program that would have a beginning and ending. With the Developmental Education Initiative (DEI), we pushed the envelope of possibility even further and began to make bolder, more aggressive changes in our pedagogy, structures, and curriculum. When we learned that we were granted funding for Completion by Design (CBD), we took a different approach and made the conscious decision to be high profile, even creating a statewide Completion by Design office on campus. The evolution of our student success work is built on the solid, data-driven, culture-changing work of ATD, through groundbreaking efforts in DEI, to a systemic, campus-wide ownership of the need to move the needle on student outcomes in Completion by Design.

The gains for Achieving the Dream centered on use of data, policy changes, and a commitment to enhancing teaching and learning. Faculty began tracking student success in gatekeeper courses in developmental and college-level English, reading, and math. When faculty saw their success rates, they began to experiment with new ways of teaching and structuring courses. Policy changes such as the no late registration policy were watershed moments for the college as we made a cultural shift from an access-centric institution to an access and success focus. Another hallmark of our ATD work was the creation of the Center for Teaching and Learning, which has provided professional development on topics including student engagement, diversity in the classroom, and increasing student success and completion. Through such DEI initiatives as boot camps, math modules, accelerated English, and early support in high school, we began to accelerate students’ progress through developmental education, while continually tracking student success into the next course in the sequence. The work of ATD and DEI became the cornerstone for Completion by Design both at Sinclair and across the state of Ohio. The goal is to create a seamless pathway for students that helps them graduate in higher numbers and more quickly, with fewer excess credits.

The four strategic priorities for the state have their roots in the ATD/DEI colleges of Ohio:

1.    Academic Program Redesign and Contextualization
2.    Accelerating Students through the Pathway
3.    Integrated Student Support and Development
4.    Institutional and State Policies

All four of these priorities have already been addressed through the ATD and DEI colleges in Ohio and are the natural choices for the state’s continuing student success work with the Completion by Design colleges. While Sinclair is the only Ohio CBD college to be involved in all three initiatives, the work reflects the lessons learned by colleges across the state in all three initiatives. It is an exciting time to be working with community colleges as students across Ohio and the nation are poised to graduate in greater numbers as a result of the exciting findings of this work.

Link Link Link

• Just in case you missed The New York Times piece on CUNY’s New Community College, you can read about efforts to build a community college from scratch here. Dean Dad provided some commentary this week on his Inside Higher Ed blog.

• MDRC released two studies about learning communities this week: The Effects of Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Education: A Synthesis of Findings from Six Community Colleges and Commencement Day: Six-Year Effects of a Freshman Learning Community Program at Kingsborough Community College. You can read a summary of both reports here, along with MDRC’s take on what this research suggests about implementing and scaling up this approach at community colleges. 

• More webinar fun next week, this time from the Tennessee College Access and Success Network. They’ve got two offerings focused on adult learners coming up. On July 30 at 10am CDT, you can dial in for a presentation about Roane State’s H20 Program, which connects adult learners with opportunities in both higher education and the workforce. The presenters will also lead a discussion about the importance of connecting workforce needs with learning among adult learners.Sign up here. On July 31 at 9am CDT, Dr. Doyle Brinson of East Tennessee State University weighs in on integrating instructional resources and student services for adult learners. Sign up here.

Reporting for Duty

There’s always a long list of reports you could be reading, but here’s a few we think are worth downloading. C’mon—you’ve at least got time for the executive summary!

• Our colleagues here at MDC have just released a report examining the recent experiences of community colleges across the United States that are implementing the Center for Working Families (CWF) approach to help low-income families attain financial stability and move up the economic ladder. The approach combines what community colleges do so well—provide individuals with training that connects them to dynamic careers—with the financial support necessary to complete education and connect with a career path. “Center for Working Families at Community Colleges: Clearing the Financial Barriers to Student Success” takes a closer look at the emerging CWF Community College learning network and shows how the individual colleges provide their CWF services, whom they seek to serve, how the CWF fits and adapts within local college contexts, what outcomes they are accomplishing, and provides the answers to other key learning questions.

• The Lumina Foundation and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) share lessons learned from their "Non-traditional No More" project in “Going the Distance in Adult College Completion: Lessons from the Non-traditional No More Project.” The report includes suggestions for improving policies and practices that will increase college completion among adults who have earned college credits but did not graduate. 

• MDRC has two new evaluations focused on developmental education at community colleges. “What Can a Multifaceted Program Do for Community College Students?  Early Results from an Evaluation of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for Developmental Education Students” looks at preliminary results from the ASAP program at three CUNY community colleges. “Bridging the Gap: An Impact Study of Eight Developmental Summer Bridge Programs in Texas” reports findings about student outcomes for eight Texas community colleges, including two DEI colleges, El Paso Community College and South Texas College.

• The Center for Law and Social Policy recently released a summary of a jointly sponsored national survey of adult education state directors conducted during February 2012. “Sinking or Swimming: Findings from a Survey of State Adult Education Tuition and Financing Policies” digs into the policies that govern the way adult education is funded, including the costs borne by local districts, community colleges, and other providers and by the states, the federal government, and students.

• Jack Rotman, over at Developmental Math Revival, has been sharing a thoughtful exploration and critique of recent developmental ed press and research.

Let's Try This Again: Links!

• On June 21-22, the National Center for Postsecondary Research at Columbia University hosted a conference, Strengthening Developmental Education: What Have We Learned and What’s Next, featuring dev ed experts from across the country, including some from our own DEI colleges and states. You can check out an overview of the conference and download materials here. Jennifer Gonzales at the Chronicle of Higher Ed gave this recap of a conference keynote address from U.S. undersecretary of education, Martha Kanter: “Rather than abolish remedial education, Ms. Kanter implored the scholars to continue their work to reform and improve it.” Hear! Hear!

• Last month, Jobs for the Future published a new policy brief about financial aid that needs to be on your reading list. Aid and Innovation identifies financial aid rules and regulations that block innovations meant to help low-income students; describes how policy leaders and financial aid experts in several states are building work-arounds to those issues; and recommends how states can work together to better meet students’ financial aid needs. You can download it here.

• In addition to that policy brief, JFF also released another edition of Achieving Success, the newsletter all about Achieving the Dream and Developmental Education Initiative state policy. This one’s got more on the Virginia Community College System dev math redesign, Florida legislation that is strengthening community college transfer pathways, and more. Download it here.

• Recently, the MDC-led Financial Empowerment for Student Success Learning Network hosted an enlightening discussion on how to use a college’s student success course to teach students about financial literacy and management, with speakers from two Achieving the Dream institutions. The presentations from Debby King of Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas and Sonya Caesar of the Community College of Baltimore County answered questions about how they have effectively made financial capability an integral part of course curriculum. They shared many lessons, including some important advice on how to involve administration and how to get student input to develop the most effective course of study. You can link to a recording of the webinar here. (Go ahead and follow the registration instructions—that will set you up to view the recording!) 

• Just can’t get enough of webinars? Inside Higher Ed is hosting one next Tuesday, July 10 at 1pm Eastern to share results from a new study of faculty perspectives on online education. “Conflicted: Faculty and Online Education 2012” will feature Scott Jaschik, editor of Inside Higher Ed, Joshua Kim, director of learning and technology, Master of Health Care Delivery Science program, Dartmouth College, and blogger at Inside Higher Ed; Steve Kolowich, technology reporter at Inside Higher Ed; and Jeff Seaman, co-director, Babson Survey Research Group. Register here.

Scaling Social Impact: NYC Edition

Earlier this month, we attended the Social Impact Exchange’s annual Symposium on Scaling Social Impact. The Symposium brought together nonprofit organizations, funders, consultants, and evaluators to share knowledge about bringing social solutions to scale. We were there to share what we learned as we created More to Most, a guidebook on scaling up effective community college practices, and to learn from the experiences of others. Here are a few themes from the conference that we’d like to share:

• If “scaling social impact” sounds like a nebulous phrase, that’s because it is. As the meeting organizers readily admitted, “There are many ways to achieve scaled impact—from replicating programs in new locations to developing breakthrough products and services; from scaling policy initiatives and social movements to online expansions through the use of toolkits and platforms. And there are other types of expansions too that include knowledge sharing, network building and collaborations.” While many of the symposium attendees were focused on replicating a nonprofit’s services across multiple geographies, More to Most is focused on scaling within a system. Our big question: how can community colleges go from serving some students in effective programs, to expanding those programs to more students, and finally reach most of those who can benefit from them.
• Is the ideal funder a thought partner, too? According to a panel on grantmakers and nonprofits working in partnership, yes. One panelist used a food metaphor (always our favorite) to explain: she said funders should help build the kitchen, but they don’t need to be in there cooking with you; in other words, there’s a place for funder input in program design, but implementation should be left to the delivery organization. Another pointed out that when funders are engaged as thought partners, they are usually willing to be more flexible with timelines and shifting plans. 
• Making the most of opportunities is usually good, but being too opportunistic and losing coherent priorities is bad. Know yourself and your non-negotiables. If you adjust a working solution to meet the preferences of a new funder or for the sake of simply making the program larger, you may risk your effectiveness. 
• To get results, make talent development a priority. A panel of philanthropic leaders drove the point home at the symposium, reminding us that a key indicator of job satisfaction across sectors is the feeling of continual challenge. The panelists recommended that the social sector pay more attention to cultivating talent and leadership over time. For community colleges, this means that any successful scaling effort should be linked with professional development and faculty engagement. 
• Sustainable funding is crucial to scaling success. A program can’t rely on a continuous stream of grants to operate. While grant funds work great for start up and proof of concept, a program needs to identify a long-term sustainable funding stream. Many grantmakers are hesitant to fund an idea that doesn’t have a plan for revenue generation. At the community college, this usually means finding a way to get resources reallocated in the general fund. Use the grant money to demonstrate the effectiveness of your program, so that college administrators recognize the value of incorporating the program into the annual budget.