Engaging Community Colleges A First Look

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STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND STUDENT SUCCESS The Ins
and Outs
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• Arleen Arnsparger, Project Manager
• MetLife Foundation Initiative on Student Success
  University of Texas at Austin
• Jeff Crumpley, Senior Research Associate
  Community College Survey of Student Engagement
  University of Texas at Austin

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• Test Your Community College IQ!
• What percentage of first time U.S. freshmen in
  colleges and universities enroll in community
  colleges?
• Answer 45

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• Test Your Community College IQ!
• What percentage of community college students
  attend part-time?
• Answer 63 (22 at 4-year colleges)

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• Test Your Community College IQ!
• What percentage of community college students
  plan to earn a degree?
• Answer 79 (More than 70 cite transferring as
  a primary or secondary goal)

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• Test Your Community College IQ!
• What percentage of community college students
  plan to earn a certificate?
• Answer 48

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• Test Your Community College IQ!
• Yet.what percentage of community college
  students earn an associate degree or certificate
  6 years after entering college?
• Answer 25
• Yet....what percentage of community college
  students actually transfer?
• Answer 25

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Test Your Community College IQ!

• Whats the national dropout rate (not returning
  for sophomore year) for students attending public
  two-year colleges?
• Answer 48 (Compared to 32 for public
  four-year colleges)

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Lets talk about

• Whats CCSSE?
• Key CCSSE Findings
• What Matters Most for Student Success
• Using CCSSE Data for Improvement
• Promising Practices from CCSSE Colleges

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CCSSE A Tool for Improvement

• Assess quality in community college education
• Identify and learn from good educational practice
• Identify areas in which we can improve

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CCSSE A Tool for Improvement

• Completed 5th administration
• 700,000 students
• 550 community colleges
• 48 states, British Columbia, Marshall Islands

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CCSSE A Tool for Improvement

• CCSSE data analyses include a three-year cohort
  of participating colleges.
• The 2006 CCSSE Cohort includes more than 249,000
  community college students from 447 community and
  technical colleges in 46 states.

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Creating a Culture of Evidence

• Students typical experience versus best
  experience
• How can more of our students have the best
  experience?

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Student Engagement

• the amount of time and energy students invest in
  meaningful educational practices

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Student Engagement

• Institutional practices
• Student behaviors
• Highly correlated with student learning and
  retention

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Student Engagement

• Its unlikely to happen by accident.
• It has to happen by design.

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Why Student Engagement?

• 20 Years of Research on Undergraduate Student
  Learning, Persistence and Success
• 1 Year of Really Cool Research in the Community
  College Field CCSSE Validation Study

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• Why those survey questions?
• See the 300 page annotated bibliography
• on the CCSSE Website!
• www.ccsse.org

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CCSSE Benchmarks
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Benchmarking and Reaching for Excellence

• The most important comparison where you are now,
  compared with where you want to be.

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CCSSE Benchmarks for Effective Educational
Practice

• Active and Collaborative Learning
• Student Effort
• Academic Challenge
• Student-Faculty Interaction
• Support for Learners

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Student Voices on Student Engagement

• Lets listen

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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

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• Active Collaborative Learning
• Students learn more when they are actively
  involved in their education and have
  opportunities to think about and apply what they
  are learning in different settings.
• Do our perceptions match our students
  experiences?

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• Active Collaborative Learning
• Often or very often
• Worked with other students during class? 45
• Worked with classmates outside of class? 21

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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

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• Student Effort
• Students behaviors contribute significantly to
  their learning and the likelihood that they will
  attain their educational goals.
• Do our perceptions match our students
  experiences?

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• Student Effort
• Often or Very Often
• Prepared 2 or more drafts of a paper? 49

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Academic Challenge

• Survey items associated with this benchmark
  include experiences such as
• Working harder than you thought you could to meet
  an instructors expectations
• Whether coursework emphasizes synthesis and
  analysis as opposed to memorization
• Number of assigned textbooks and papers

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• Academic Challenge
• Challenging intellectual and creative work is
  central to student learning and collegiate
  quality.
• Do our perceptions match our students
  experiences?

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• Academic Challenge
• Very much or quite a bit
• Worked harder than you thought you could to meet
  instructors expectations? 48

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Student-Faculty Interaction

• The items used in this benchmark include
  experiences such as
• Using e-mail 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

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• Student-Faculty Interaction
• In general, the more interaction students have
  with their teachers, the more likely they are to
  learn effectively and persist toward achievement
  of their educational goals.
• Do our perceptions match our students
  experiences?

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• Student-Faculty Interaction
• Often or very often
• Talked about career plans with instructor or
  advisor? 24
• Received prompt feedback (written or oral) from
  instructors on your performance? 55

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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

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• Support for Learners
• Students perform better and are more satisfied at
  colleges that are committed to their success and
  cultivate positive working and social
  relationships among different groups on campus.
• Do our perceptions match our students
  experiences?

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• Support for Learners
• Very much or quite a bit
• Provides the support you need to help you succeed
  at this college 70

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Key Findings 2006 CCSSE Cohort
Support for Learners Students identify the
most important service as Academic Planning and
Advising
Source 2006 CCSSE cohort data.
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• Where do students go for Academic Advising and
  Planning?
• CCSSE Colleges
• Academic Advisor (Not faculty) 10
• Academic Advisory (Faculty) 43
• Friends, family, other students 26
• Online 7
• No academic advising 13

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2006 Community College Faculty Survey of Student
Engagement

• CCFSSE asks faculty about
• Teaching practices
• How they spend professional time in and out of
  class
• Their perceptions of students educational
  experiences
• And
• Its aligned with CCSSE

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CCFSSE How Faculty Members Use Class Time

• In your selected course section, on average, what
  percentage of class time is spent on each of
  these activities?

Note Percentages may not total 100 due to
rounding. Source 2006
CCFSSE Cohort data.
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Coming soon! SENSE
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The Survey of Entering Student Engagement
(SENSE)
SURVEY OVERVIEW

• Purpose
• Systematically understand
• earliest student experiences
• Emphasis on the front door experience
• Help students persist through equivalent of first
  semester (12-15 credits)

The Survey of Entering Student Engagement
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Compare/Contrast with CCSSE
SURVEY OVERVIEW

• CCSSE administered spring SENSE given in fall
  during 4th and 5th weeks
• CCSSE samples drawn from all credit courses
  SENSE samples courses most likely enrolling
  entering students
• CCSSE assesses overall quality/ institution-wide
  use of effective educational practice,
  predominantly through the eyes of experienced
  students
• SENSE assesses effective practice in areas
  strongly affecting entering student success

The Survey of Entering Student Engagement
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SENSE SERVICES

• Coming Soon
• Student Focus Groups and Interviews
• Talking Sense
• First Look Report
• Entering Student Success Institute
• Effective Practice Examples
• www.enteringstudent.org

The Survey of Entering Student Engagement
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Dig into the Data!

• Go to your Benchmark group
• Look at the data
• Ask yourselves questions

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WHAT MATTERS MOST FOR STUDENT SUCCESS
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Lessons from High-Performing Colleges

• High expectations for everyone! and support go
  hand in hand

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Lessons from High-Performing Colleges

• Active and collaborative learning for everyone!
  - in class and outside of class

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Lessons from High-Performing Colleges

• Everybody sings from the same songbook.
• Clear values, sharp focus!!

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Lessons from High-Performing Colleges

• They hire for skill, fit and passion.

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Lessons from High-Performing Colleges

• Developmental education is HUGELY important!

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Lessons from High-Performing Colleges

• Relationships are key every day, in every way.

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Lessons from High-Performing Colleges

• Theyre bold, theyre flexible, they take risks.

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Lessons from High-Performing Colleges

• Improvement is a constant journey.
• Data are the starting point.

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Using CCSSE Data for Improvement
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What can you do?

• Start with the truth.
• Understand the facts.
• Share the facts.
• Act on the facts.
• Track progress by measuring outcomes.

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Using CCSSE to Assess, Inform, and Act

• Identify key areas aligned with college mission
  and strategic plan.
• Identify student groups in need.

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Using CCSSE to Assess, Inform, and Act

• Start with the benchmarks.
• Look at individual survey items.
• Disaggregate the data.

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Using CCSSE to Assess, Inform, and Act

• Involve the college community.
• Design strategies and set targets.
• Share the data and plans to address them.

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Using CCSSE to Assess, Inform, and Act

• Track progress by measuring outcomes.
• Scale up efforts that are working. Modify or
  discontinue those that are not.

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Using CCSSE to Assess, Inform, and Act

• 11. REPEAT!

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CCSSE Colleges Act on Fact
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• Active Collaborative Learning
• Learning communities
• Informal learning spaces
• Focus on research

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• Student Effort
• Stricter reading requirements
• Activities and assessments tied to required
  reading and assignments

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• Academic Challenge
• High expectations
• Providing support to help students meeting the
  expectations

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• Improving Student-Faculty Interaction
• Private meeting space for adjunct faculty to meet
  with students
• Faculty workshops on engagement strategies

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• Support for Learners
• Advisors in Residence
• Facilitated study groups
• Include faculty and peer advisors

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• Engaging Faculty
• Faculty workshops focused on benchmarks
• Digging into data
• Asking questions
• Borrowing shamelessly from each other and
  high-performing colleges!

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• Other promising practices
• Required orientation and College Success Course
• Early and frequent feedback
• Early alert systems
• Adult Fast-track degree
• Focused professional development
• Building on what works!

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• What is the single most important
• factor that keeps students
• in school?
• YOU!

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Tools to Help You

• Examples from Member Colleges
• Course Feedback Form
• Classroom Observation Form
• Student Focus Group Toolkit (can be adapted for
  faculty and staff focus groups)
• Video clips
• www.ccsse.org