The Faculty Inquiry Network Basic Skills in Complex Contexts ASCCC Voc Ed Conference March 11, 2010 Lin Marelick, FIN CTE Coach Scott Albright, Diesel Mechanics College of Alameda Kathryn Browne, Early Childhood Education, Skyline College

Faculty Inquiry What is faculty inquiry? Faculty inquiry is a form of professional development by which teachers identify and investigate questions about their students’ learning. The inquiry process is ongoing, informed by evidence of student learning, and undertaken in a collaborative setting. Findings from the process come back in the form of new curricula, new assessments, and new pedagogies, which in turn become subjects for further inquiry.

Faculty Inquiry What Colleges have Faculty Inquiry Network (FIN) projects? College of Alameda, Berkeley City, Cerritos College, East Los Angeles College, Glendale College, Laney College, Las Positas College, Los Angeles Trade Tech College, Los Medanos Puente, Los Medanos/San Diego City, Mt. San Antonio College, San Diego Mesa College, Santa Ana College, Santa Barbara City College, College of the Siskiyous, Skyline College.

Faculty Inquiry What resources are available to learn more about the FIN or other Faculty Inquiry Groups (FIGs)? This Faculty Inquiry Toolkit is a resource from the SPECC Project (Strengthening Pre-Collegiate Education in Community Colleges), sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and funded by the Hewlett Foundation

College of Alameda Diesel Mechanics Diesel Mechanics program Question: Will the integration of contextualized basic skills curricula embedded into CTE courses improve student success? How will this compare to student success under the existing program model? What did we do? What resulted from our efforts? How did our question change?

College of Alameda Diesel Mechanics What did we do – Year 1 Assessed students for English and Math to determine at what level our students were Surveyed students on their current reading strategies as well as the difficulties they experienced during reading Pretested students with Chapter Reading Quiz Taught session on reading strategies w/think-aloud demonstration Reformatted Classroom Pedagogy to incorporate student group work and add group presentations of reading material Post tested students on Chapter Reading Quiz

College of Alameda Diesel Mechanics What did we do – Year 1 Reformatted classroom pedagogy again to address slipping test scores Students given in class time to work in groups to prepare for classroom presentation Cut lecture time even further to allow for study and presentation time Added hands on lab time as lecture time was cut even further due to coverage of material during students presentations

College of Alameda Diesel Mechanics What resulted from our efforts – Year 1 Improved test scores Increased student ownership of curriculum Increased student engagement Increased amount of actual reading taking place

College of Alameda Diesel Mechanics Our plan for FIN – Year 2 In the coming year we plan to incorporate a technical writing component Develop pedagogy Analyze results

Skyline College Early Childhood Education Early Childhood Education Program Question: What is the impact of first-language literacy levels on Spanish-speaking students’ ability to succeed in the ECE program? Can an intervention that combines Spanish literacy education and contextualized ESL improve outcomes for these students? What did we do? What resulted from our efforts? How did our question change?

Skyline College Early Childhood Education What did we do? Spring 2009: surveyed students in 9 sections to identify a Spanish-speaking low-performing cohort Difficulty finding our cohort Not many students openly self-identified as Spanish-speaking on the survey We had difficulty pulling students into focus groups Many students remained “under the radar”

Skyline College Early Childhood Education What did we do? Fall 2009: Targeted only 2 sections; went into the classes instead of them coming to us Presented multi-lingualism an asset Did lesson studies highlighting careers and language Held focus groups (pullouts from class) with the aim of illuminating the behaviors of strong and weak students Result: higher numbers, found our cohort

Skyline College Early Childhood Education What resulted from our efforts? Characteristics of High-performing Bilinguals Self-knowledge, vision, skills. Attitudes: confidence, eye contact, relaxed body language, ability to talk about one’s strengths, engagement in a group, strong skills in both 1 st and 2 nd language

Skyline College Early Childhood Education What resulted from our efforts? Characteristics of Low-performing bilinguals Lack of self-knowledge/awareness High goals, but vague idea of what it takes to get there Ill-defined and generally poor study skills and behaviors. Attitudes: were characterized by apathy, hesitance, reticent body language, passivity, or lack of engagement, spotty skills in English and heritage language

Skyline College Early Childhood Education What resulted from our efforts? Spring ’10: Student Behavior Identification Survey Personal Ideas of Success Personal Ideas of Success Sample question: “I know what it takes to get the career I want to get.” Goal: To illuminate behaviors that might predict student success. The next step: Create a series of self-reflective activities with the aim of strengthening students’ self-knowledge, self-confidence, and ability to build their own skills.

Skyline College Early Childhood Education How did our question change? From: What is the impact of first-language literacy levels on Spanish-speaking students’ ability to succeed in the ECE program? Can an intervention that combines Spanish literacy education and contextualized ESL improve outcomes for these students? To: What factors contribute to low student success in self-identified Hispanic students in ECE? What behaviors do strong and weak students engage in? How can we identify weaker students early enough to improve their success?

Skyline College FIN Y2 Our plan for Year 2 Analyze survey Develop self-knowledge and reflection and clarity of goals in students Create a series of self-reflection activities inspired by the OnCourse materials used in our counseling department in order to increase awareness and self-knowledge.OnCourse Identify focus groups to improve student success.

Skyline College FIN Y2 Our plan for Year 2 Future actions Create a learning community of ECE and Spanish (not ESL as previously thought, although perhaps as a later step) Implement a workplace “ESL for Educators” course to support ECE second-language English speakers.

Faculty Inquiry Network Questions? Exercise- Discuss the following question with others at your table: What are you grappling with in your classroom?

FIN Basic Skills in Complex Contexts URL: Contact information: Lin Marelick, Scott Albright, Kate Browne,