AB1725 Curses and Blessings: Prerequisites and Basic Skills Alignment

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AB1725 Curses and Blessings Pre-requisites and
Basic Skills Alignment

• CurriculumCommittee
• Cristela Solorio-Ruiz, Rio Hondo College, Student
• Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh, Pierce College, CIO
• Greg Burchett, Riverside City College
• Chris Sullivan, San Diego Mesa
• Jon Drinnon, Merritt College

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This Breakout has two important sections

• Information about basic skills alignment and
  coding
• Discussion about the pre-requisites
• We need your feedback on both topics

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Basic Skills Course Alignment and Leveling

• Why we did this
• What we did
• Guidelines
• What it will mean

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What is next?

• Resolution
• Vetting
• Another resolution
• Recode in Summer at Curriculum Institute

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Resolutions

• Resolutions 9.05 Spring 06 requested the senate
  to review policies, procedures, laws, and
  legislation related to pre-requisites,
  co-requisites, and advisories.
• Resolution 4.04 Fall 06 charged the faculty to
  explore restricting students from enrolling in
  general education or major preparation courses
  until students establish competency at a locally
  determined level in composition and/or reading.

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Faculty Concerns

• Faculty are concerned about the current
  prerequisite validation process
• Faculty are concerned that students take and fail
  college level courses without addressing basic
  skills needs
• Other outside agencies are making suggestions and
  drafting law that will take this out of our
  hands.
• What potential changes would improve policies
  concerning prerequisites and provide policy
  makers with a direction forward focused on
  student success?

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Administrative Concerns

• Pre-requisite re-validation, it is validation
  lite
• Change will happen! We can mediate it or watch it
  happen.
• A real change in the way we view basic skills
  remediation
• Wrap around educational institutions
• Mandatory assessment, nuanced assessment,
• and possible use of the CSU assessment

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Student Concerns

• Basic Skills Pre-requisites and her experience
• Student Assembly supported C-id work
• Pros and cons

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Others ConcernsLAO Recommendations

• Most community college students lack sufficient
  reading, writing and math skills for college
  work.
• A large number do not overcome the deficiencies
• Statewide math and English test derived from k-12
  math and English standards
• Require students to address basic skills course
  needs upon enrollment

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Others ConcernsIt Can Happen by Nancy Shulock

• Get students into the right classes, including
  remedial work
• Change college fiscal flexibility modify 50
  law, fund based on student progress and success,
  etc

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What are your concerns?

• Underprequisited around country particularly here
  in CA Maldef suit
• Could advisories be accompanied by a rating about
  how likely you are to succeed? e.g. if you are
  reading level X your potential of succeeding is
  XX
• Get data on nuanced assessment learning is
  spiral, give them discrete basic skills needs
• Finding a placement test that we can use that is
  similar
• Have we had underprepared students for so long
  that we have decreased our standards in our
  present courses.
• Some students demonstrate the ability to succeed,
  but dont due to stability versus basic skills
  needs
• Got to be done across the board rather than by
  individual faculty or courses
• Concerns about the validity of our assessment
  instruments
• We need to involve more discipline faculty in
  reading, English, etc
• Accountability for us and for students

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• Even students that are passing some courses may
  have underlying basic skills, how are they
  getting through the courses? How do we really
  address these foundational needs?
• Student motivation, if a student has to do all
  the basic skills courses first they may not be
  motivated enough to get.

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What are the barriers?

• Do financial aid requirements set up students for
  failure?
• Assessment scores and Basic skills coursework are
  not portable.
• This is a three way partnership with students,
  instruction and student services in order to
  achieve success.

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What are possible solutions?

• Can a statewide group (e.g. RP ) establish a
  system wide level of significance and
  validation?  Do we need a resolution in the fall
  asking for this standard?
• The system funding structure is a problem.  Can
  there be incentives () to develop better
  student success?
• How can we capitalize on EOPS success and other
  successful models on a larger scale?
• How can we develop the eagerness in students to
  take assessment?  Make it more human?  If
  everyone must assess, then those who are
  deficient will see that everyone has been treated
  the same.

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Other possible solutions?
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Summary