Engagement By Design: Focus on Developmental Education Community College Survey of Student Engagement 2004 Findings

CCSSE’s Growing Scope CCSSE 2004 Over 92,000 community college students 152 colleges 37 states CCSSE collegesin ‘05 Cumulative total approaching 400,000 students

Benchmarks for Effective Educational Practice CCSSE reports survey results in two ways: national benchmarks — areas that educational research has shown to be important in quality educational practice — and students’ responses to individual survey items. The five benchmarks are: H Active and Collaborative Learning H Student Effort H Academic Challenge H Student-Faculty Interaction H Support for Learners CCSSEville Community College 2004 Benchmark Scores

Reaching for Excellence CCSSE encourages colleges continually to ask whether current performance is good enough and to reach for excellence in student engagement. Colleges can: 1. Compare themselves to the national average (the 50 mark). 2. Compare themselves to high-performing colleges. 3. Measure their overall performance against results for their least-engaged group, aspiring to make sure all subgroups engage in their education at similarly high levels. 4. Gauge their work in areas their college strongly values. 5. Contrast where they are now with where they want to be. CCSSEville Community College 2004 Benchmark Scores 50--

Developmental Education Students at CCSSE Colleges More likely to be a first-generation student Less likely to have a high school diploma Significantly less likely to identify English as first language Slightly more likely to be single and to have children at home.

Active and Collaborative Learning Key Findings: All CCSSE 2004 colleges Students Who Collaborated on Projects During Class Students Who Collaborated on Classwork Outside of Class

Student Effort Key Findings: All CCSSE 2004 colleges Students Who Come to Class Unprepared Hours Full-Time Students Spend Studying

Student Effort Students who often/very often prepared two or more drafts of an assignment: Developmental 56% Non-developmental 42% Students who often/very often worked harder than they thought they could to meet expectations: Developmental 52% Non-developmental 43%

Academic Challenge Key Findings: All CCSSE 2004 colleges Are Students Writing Enough? Are Students Reading Enough?

Academic Challenge Developmental Education Students Report Significantly Higher Levels of College Contributions to Knowledge, Skills and Personal Development Not so surprising: -Writing clearly and effectively -Speaking clearly and effectively -Solving numerical problems

Academic Challenge Developmental Education Students Report Significantly Higher Levels of College Contributions to Knowledge, Skills and Personal Development Also: -Understanding yourself -Understanding people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds -Developing a personal code of ethics -Gaining information about career opportunities

Student-Faculty Interaction Key Findings: All CCSSE 2004 colleges Students Who Discussed Ideas with Instructors Outside of Class Students Who Talked with Advisors or Instructors about Career Plans

Support for Learners Students’ Use of Academic Advising/Planning Services Students’ Use of Career Counseling Services

Support for Learners Developmental students report: -Significantly more frequent use of academic and student support services – except transfer assistance -Significantly greater importance placed on academic and support services – except transfer assistance -Greater satisfaction with academic and student support services across the board

Support for Learners Student Experiences Re: College Emphasis on… -Encouraging you to spend significant amounts of time studying -Encouraging contact among diverse students -Helping you cope with non-academic responsibilities -Providing the support you need to thrive socially All responses significantly higher for developmental students than for non-developmental students.

Summary: The Good News Developmental students… …have high aspirations – for associate degree and certificate attainment …appear to exert significant effort to succeed …take advantage of services offered by their colleges and are satisfied with those services

Why Focus on Developmental Education and the First Year? But… -Developmental students report lower grades – -And they are significantly more likely to indicate risk of dropping out of college due to academic under-preparation and lack of finances

Why Focus on Developmental Education and the First Year? CCSSE Respondents by Credit Hours Earned at the College

Engagement in Action Strategy #1: Engage early, engage often

Engagement in Action Strategy #1: Engage early, engage often Strategy #2: Stress academic advising

Engagement in Action Strategy #1: Engage early, engage often Strategy #2: Stress academic advising Strategy #3: Purposeful re-design