Managed Enrollment A Process – Not a Product

Workshop Objectives  Define Managed Enrollment  Compare Open Entry to Managed Enrollment  Learn how to use Managed Enrollment in adult education programs  Develop a plan for implementing Managed Enrollment at your school.

The Issues:  Students are often “Here today - Gone tomorrow!”  Can anything be done about it?  Are they “stopping out or dropping out?”  Can we keep students engaged and connected while they are away from class?

Reality:  FUNDING: Performance and FTE  FTE ± 90 %  Performance ±10 %  ENROLLMENT & RE-ENROLLMENT:  12 hour rule  6 absences rule

Introduce Yourself and Tell us About Your Program…  Type of Learners (Demographics)  Courses Offered  Class Locations  Times Classes Offered  Enrollment Patterns (Seasons/Day/Eve)  Attendance Patterns  Teachers (FT/PT/Area of Study)

Critical Question for Today  Is the Open Entry - Open Exit enrollment policy a support or a barrier to learner persistence?  What do you think?

Open Enrollment Challenges  New students enter, sometimes daily  Difficult to stay the course with lessons  New students come in the middle of lessons  Student’s goals get lost in shuffle  Students have lower expectations  Hard to build a strong sense of community among students

Open Enrollment Benefits  Learners know their own needs and time constraints best and have flexibility to manage their schedules  Programs are mandated to provide the best instruction to all students at all times  No student is turned away without an attempt to accommodate them immediately

Managed Enrollment…  Structured times for enrollment  Reflect students’ actual attendance pattern  On a continuum between open and closed enrollment 100% Classes Open 50% 100% Classes Closed

Research on ME  Shows students believe ME helps them stay in class.  Shows students understand they will achieve progress by a certain time.  Finds the best course length is 6-9 weeks (Students’ learning curve decreases between 7-8 weeks)

ME Challenges  Changes always raise anxiety level  Administrators and teachers unsure of meeting program and grant goals  Can give perception that student’s needs and teacher’s needs are in opposition

ME Benefits…  Teachers and students say it feels like a “real school”  Students say classes are more organized  Students say they feel like they belong to a supportive community in class  Teachers say students are more likely to learn at the same rate and pace  Teachers say students make faster progress from level to level

Programs Using ME Suggest… Programs Using ME Suggest…  Use enrollment deadlines  Restrict number of absences to 5 or less  Have Open Entry classes for students cannot attend regularly or cannot wait:  Facilitated Self-study + Workcenter Class  Distance Learning

CASE STUDY #1  MiraCosta College (CA) wanted to know if ME would raise student attendance  Step 1: Hold focus groups with teachers and students.

CASE STUDY #1 cont… Findings of Focus Groups  Teachers:  Students make classroom attendance low priority  Students not always serious about studying  It is difficult to teach open entry classes  Students:  Learning English is very important.  How did we get placed into this level?  How do we get out of this level to another?  Students also reported making large personal sacrifices to attend classes.

CASE STUDY #1 cont…  Identify specific program issues based on interviews.  Measure three areas:  Enrollment patterns  Retention rates  Promotion rates  Establish student outcomes

CASE STUDY #1 cont…  Establish shorter instructional terms  Establish attendance requirements  Pilot the ME plan

MiraCosta Results: 1995 – Attendance Hours 209, ,164 # FTE Students Attended less than 15 hours 23% <1% Retention Rate <50% 80% Promotion Rate 8% 50%

CASE STUDY #2 Fresno Adult School (CA) ABE ESOL “Persistence Rates at Vista Adult School,” Louann Gigante &mapID=1758

CASE STUDY #3 ABE & GED Center (PA) PRE-GED Daytime Class Percentage attending >12 Hours “Moving from Open Enrollment to Managed Enrollment,” Kate Hyzer 62% 91%

CASE STUDY #4 Miami Dade College (FL)  Kendall Adult ESOL Program–  Level “A” 79 Registered -79 Tested  Level “B” 86 Registered – 75 Tested  Level “C” 167 Registered – 148 Tested  Level “D” 164 Registered – 139 Tested  Level “E” 136 Registered – 117 Tested  Level “F” 42 Registered – 37 Tested

Miami Dade College cont..  Enrolled a total of 674 students  Passing rate in individual classes ranged from 38 % to 100%  439 of 674 passed to next higher level  74 students jumped two levels  Overall passing rate of 74%

4 Steps to ME STEP 1  Establish the Issues of your program  Do Focus Groups and Surveys with Stakeholders:  Students  Teachers  Administrators

STEP 2:  Design a Pilot Class:  Establish # of Weeks  Establish an Enrollment Process  Keep an Open Entry class  Establish Data to Obtain

STEP 3  Assess the Pilot  How will it be measured?  What types of Outcome Data  How to Obtain Learner Comments  How to Obtain Teacher Comments

STEP 3 cont…  Types of Outcome Data to Obtain  Passing rates of students from level to level  Transfer rates of students from ESOL to ABE  Stop-Out Patterns  Percentage of Learners that persist:  More than 12 Hours  More than mid- point of the class  All the way to the end of class

STEP 4  Full Implementation  Presentations on Pilot Results to Administrators  Administrative Decisions Process  Use Feedback Loop for Continuous Improvement  Student Surveys and Focus Groups  Outcome Data

Resources  MiraCosta College tion/ESL/managedenrollment.htm tion/ESL/managedenrollment.htm  National Center For the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) rators_sourcebook_december_2005.pdf rators_sourcebook_december_2005.pdf

Thank You !!  Phil Anderson   Steve Osthoff   Tony Lagos   Claire Valier 