Committing to Student Engagement AVC 2008 Findings

Community College Survey of Student Engagement CCSSE: A Tool for Improvement CCSSE helps us:  Assess quality in community college education  Identify and learn from good educational practice  Identify areas in which we can improve

Community College Survey of Student Engagement CCSSE: A Tool for Improvement How the CCSSE Survey Came to AVC:  Spring 2008  Researched by the Student Success and Equity Committee  Funding Approved by the Enrollment Management Committee

Community College Survey of Student Engagement CCSSE: A Tool for Improvement Why the CCSSE Survey:  Nationally Normed Survey to Measure Institutional Learning Outcomes, Program Learning Outcomes, Operational Outcomes and Student Learning Outcomes.  Survey Given to 62 Randomly Selected Classes (Excluding Classes with High Percentage of High School Students) Classes at Both Lancaster and Palmdale Randomly Selected by Time of Day

Community College Survey of Student Engagement CCSSE: A Tool for Improvement Who Took the Survey:  Gender –M 47% 39% 42% –F53% 61% 58%  Age – % 30% 25% – %18%19% – %13%15% –25-299%11%14% –30-395%12%14% –40-495%12%8% –50-644%11%4% –65+0%0%1% AVC Respondents AVC IPEDS Cohort Colleges

Community College Survey of Student Engagement CCSSE: A Tool for Improvement Who Took the Survey:  Ethnicity –American Indian1%1%1% –Asian/Pacific Islander5%6%6% –Black14%18%14% –White39%40%57% –Hispanic29%28%16% –Other7%7%5%  Full Time/Part Time –Full Time68%32%38% –Part Time32%68%62% Respondents AVC Cohort Colleges

Community College Survey of Student Engagement CCSSE: A Tool for Community Colleges CCSSE data analyses include a three-year cohort of participating colleges.  The 2008 CCSSE Cohort includes more than 343,000 community college students from 585 institutions in 48 states, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and the Marshall Islands.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement  Antelope Valley College  Berkeley City College  Butte College  Citrus College  College of the Desert  College of the Siskiyous  El Camino College  El Camino College Compton Center  Glendale Community College Participating California Community Colleges in 2008 :  Laney College  Moorpark College  Oxnard College  Sacramento City College  San Jose City College  Skyline College  Ventura College  West Hills College Coalinga  West Hills College Lemoore  West Hills College NDC

CCSSE Benchmarks

Community College Survey of Student Engagement CCSSE Benchmarks for Effective Educational Practice The five CCSSE benchmarks are:  Active and Collaborative Learning  Student Effort  Academic Challenge  Student-Faculty Interaction  Support for Learners

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Benchmarking — and Reaching for Excellence The most important comparison: where you are now, compared with where you want to be.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement CCSSE Benchmarks for Effective Educational Practice

Community College Survey of Student Engagement CCSSE Benchmarks for Effective Educational Practice

Community College Survey of Student Engagement CCSSE Benchmarks for Effective Educational Practice

Building a Culture of Evidence

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Start with the Truth “We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face. … We must do that which we think we cannot.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Active and Collaborative Learning Survey items that contribute to this benchmark include experiences such as:  Asking questions in class  Making class presentations  Working with other students in and out of class  Discussing ideas from classes outside of class

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Active and Collaborative Learning at AVC

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Student Effort Survey items associated with this benchmark include experiences such as:  Preparing multiple drafts of papers  Integrating ideas from various sources  Coming to class unprepared  Using tutoring services, skill labs, or computer labs  Hours per week spent studying

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Student Effort at AVC

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Academic Challenge Survey items associated with this benchmark include experiences such as:  Working harder than you thought you could to meet an instructor’s expectations  Whether coursework emphasizes synthesis and analysis as opposed to memorization  The number of assigned textbooks and papers

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Academic Challenge at AVC

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Student-Faculty Interaction The items used in this benchmark include experiences such as:  Using to communicate with an instructor  Discussing grades, assignments, and career plans with an instructor  Receiving prompt feedback from instructors  Working with instructors on activities other than coursework

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Student-Faculty Interaction at AVC

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Support for Learners The items that contribute to this benchmark include:  Whether the college provides the support students need to succeed  How much the college helps students cope with nonacademic responsibilities  Students’ use of academic advising/planning and career counseling services

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Support for Learners at AVC

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Five Lessons Learned Lesson #1: Be intentional  Engagement doesn’t happen by accident; it happens by design.  Just as colleges must be intentional about engagement, students must be intentional about their own success.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Five Lessons Learned Lesson #2: Engagement matters for all students, but it matters more for some than for others  There are consistent, unacceptable gaps between outcomes for high-risk students and outcomes for their peers.  CCSSE data show that high-risk students typically are more engaged than their peers, but tend to have lower aspirations and less successful outcomes.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Five Lessons Learned Lesson #3: Part-time students and faculty are the reality of community colleges — and typically are not addressed in improvement efforts  Colleges that are serious about improvement must better engage part-time students.  Colleges are beginning to engage part-time faculty to better engage part-time students.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Five Lessons Learned Lesson #4: Data are our friends  Colleges operating within a culture of evidence embrace data, sharing them honestly and unflinchingly.  Data often conflict with individuals’ observations because data show the typical student experience — and that is what colleges must understand to improve.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Five Lessons Learned Lesson #5: Look behind the numbers  Colleges can go deeper with qualitative data, such as student focus groups.  On the national level, CCSSE is exploring how relationships help students succeed, and is continuing its research program.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Five Strategies That Work Strategy #1: Set high expectations and clear goals Set high expectations:  Set and communicate high expectations.  Language matters.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Five Strategies That Work Strategy #1: Set high expectations and clear goals Set clear goals:  Set goals and provide the support to meet them.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Five Strategies That Work Strategy #2: Focus on the front door  Community colleges typically lose about half of their students prior to the second college year.  Current research indicates that helping students succeed through the equivalent of the first semester can dramatically improve retention — and improve students’ chances of attaining further milestones.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Five Strategies That Work Strategy #3: Elevate developmental education  Up to 61% of all first-time community college students are academically underprepared for college-level courses, and the numbers are far higher in some settings.*  Research shows that effective remediation pays high dividends, but success may depend on early intervention. *Source: Adelman, C. Principal Indicators of Student Academic Histories in Postsecondary Education, (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences), January 2004.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Five Strategies That Work Strategy #4: Use engaging instructional approaches  Most community college students are on campus only when they attend classes.  CCSSE data indicate that the most successful engagement strategies happen in classrooms.  Colleges can play to the strength of in-class engagement by maximizing engaging instructional approaches.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement Five Strategies That Work Strategy #5: Make engagement inescapable  Colleges are most likely to engage students when they make engagement inescapable.  Colleges and their faculty members can set the tone for — and set the terms of — student engagement.