Student Success Seminar Central Piedmont Community College August 5, 2015

Disruptive Innovations 1.The Learning College 2.The Student/Success Completion Agenda 3.General Education for the 21 st Century 4.Assessing and Accounting for Student Success

Barriers to Reform The primary barrier to educational reform and transformation is the historical architecture of education.

1984—K. Patricia Cross After some two decades of trying to find answers to the question of how to provide education for all the people, I have concluded that our commitment to the lock-step, time-defined structures of education stands in the way of lasting progress.

1993—Wingspread Group Putting learning at the heart of the academic enterprise will mean overhauling the conceptual, procedural, curricular, and other architecture of postsecondary education on most campuses.

1994—Roger Moe Higher education is 1,000 years of tradition wrapped in 100 years of bureaucracy.

2014—Terence Robinson Our current educational system is similar to a wealthy patriarch who is brain dead and has had a complete systems failure but is kept on life support. He is no longer functional or productive, but because so many depend on him and have a special interest in his survival, no one is willing to pull the plug.

Time-Bound Time is learning’s warden. School year Semester course Class hours Three 55 minute classes a week for 30 students times 5 courses

Place-Bound We go to school; we go off to college; we get kicked out of school; school is out. Campus Classroom Library Distance learning

Efficiency-Bound Most of our rules and regulations are about what we can’t do than what we can do. Linear/sequential ADA/FTE Three hours of credit for biology, gym, algebra, history, and shop

Role-Bound If you hold a Master’s Degree you have been taught for 17 years by 93 teachers since first grade. Knowledge expert Deliver knowledge thru lecture Sole judge Guardian

Forces Resisting Change Federal, state, & local policies Funding mechanisms Secondary, community college, & university separate systems Students Mid-level Managers Curmudgeons

What really works to help students succeed?

“Best Practices” “While colleges will likely need to adopt some new practices and adapt some older practices, practice-based reforms cannot be the primary work undertaken by colleges participating in Completion by Design.” Venezia, Bracco, & Nodine 2011

“Best Practices” Adopting discrete “best practices” and trying to bring them to scale will not work to improve student completion on a substantial scale. Davis Jenkins April 2011—CCRC

Guidelines for Student Success 1. Every student will make a significant connection with another person at the college as soon as possible.

Guidelines for Student Success 2. Key intake programs including orientation, assessment, advisement, and placement will be integrated and mandatory.

Guidelines for Student Success 3. In addition to assessing student skills and knowledge, affective dimensions will also be assessed.

Guidelines for Student Success 4. Every student will be placed in a “Program of Study” from day one; undecided students will be placed in a mandatory “Program of Study” designed to help them decide.

Guidelines for Student Success 5. Every student will be carefully monitored throughout the first term to ensure successful progress; the college will make interventions immediately to keep students on track.

Guidelines for Student Success 6. Every student who enrolls to pursue a certificate or degree will work with college personnel to create an individual Student Success Pathway—a Roadmap to Completion.

Connection From interest to application Entry From enrollment to completion of gatekeeper courses Progress From entry to course of study to 75% of requirements completed Completion From complete course of study to credential with labor market value Student Success Pathway

Pathway Components Preparing to begin classes Connecting to high schools Providing classroom instruction Preparing for completion & next steps Monitoring first-term progress Preparing for subsequent terms Providing remediation Celebrating milestones & completion

Role of Leaders “There are many important aspects of the Student Success Agenda---But significant change will not occur—and stick— without visible, persistent leadership from the college president or chancellor.” Byron & Kay McClenney 2010

Role of Trustees Community-college governing boards must take the lead in precisely defining student success and completion in the context of their own institutions. Once defined, boards should place high priority on assessing and highlighting student success and completion on the board meeting agenda. Noah Brown, President & CEO Association of Community College Trustees

Role of Faculty Colleges need to find ways to make student success central to the work of everyone on campus—particularly the faculty—equipping all with the knowledge and skills required for their most effective work.

The Completion Agenda “It’s not that we are ignorant and don’t know what to do. The question is whether we want to do it badly enough.” Deborah Meier Author & MacArthur Fellow

What Do We Need? In the words of poet T. S. Eliot we need leaders who are willing “to disturb the universe.”

Terry O’Banion Ancora Imparo “Still I Am Learning.” Michelangelo