BSSOT News

A newsletter about the activities of the Basic

Skills Student Outcomes

Transformation Grant at Merced College

CULTIVATING SUCCESS THROUGH INQUIRY, COLLABORATION, AND BEST PRACTICES IN THIS ISSUE:

Welcome to Spring 2017! by Jessica Moran

The spring semester is well underway. On behalf of the whole BSSOT Team, we want to thank you for your continual support as we reach out to various departments on campus.

As a brief update to the work done, in December 2016, we were happy to announce that the Basic Skills and Student Outcomes Transformation Program launched its Merced College web page. On this page, you can find links to the BSSOT newsletter; events and activities, including a video and presentation from our December 1st grant forum; and descriptions of our many programs, such as Habits of Mind, English acceleration, embedded peer mentors, and the Interdisciplinary Literacy Center. We hope that the site can help you stay up-to-date on the many changes taking place around campus. Visit the BSSOT web page at http://www.mccd.edu/resources/bssot/index.html.

In January, the BSSOT Team realized there was a need for a liaison between our main campus and our Los Banos campus. We appointed John Jason Long as faculty liaison at the Los Banos campus. He has worked diligently throughout the quarter to recruit Embedded Peer Mentors at

Office of Student Equity Report Learn how implementing Multiple Measures for placement on campus has helped students succeed and review data about student placement.

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FIG Updates Keep up to date about our four FIGs and what you can do to become a part of one.

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Spotlight on Students Hear from our newly hired Embedded Peer Mentors (EPMs) who are excited to start training this semester.

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Los Banos. He also provides weekly updates to the BSSOT Team. We appreciate the strong collaboration and open communication the grant has fostered so far.

In February 2017, the Board of Directors invited us to present on the BSSOT Grant at their monthly meeting. Future plans include attending department area meetings to conduct similar presentations and create campus wide awareness of BSSOT goals.

Lastly, we encourage everyone to join our Faculty Inquiry Groups (FIGs). More information can be found on page 2-3 of our newsletter. In addition, our program office is always interested in your comments. Please reach out to me for any questions or concerns at jessica.moran@mccd.edu or (209) 381 – 6477.

Emily and Houston discussing during the Reading Apprenticeship event

held at the Business Resource Center on Friday, February 24, 2017

Student Equity Report by Dr. Regina Coletto

Traditionally, Merced College has utilized Accuplacer test scores and counselor intervention as the multiple measures criteria to place students into English courses. However, recent studies show that utilizing high school grade point average and course grades as multiple measures criteria are more accurate for course placement than test scores alone.

In fall 2016 the Merced College English department finalized a Multiple Measures Decision Tree that takes into account the various methods for placement into ENGL-01A. Many of the methods, such as the use of EAP scores and AP test scores have already been used on a small scale basis by the counselors in conjunction with the students' test scores. The main change, based on the above mentioned studies, uses self-reported high school cumulative GPA information and grades in specific high school English classes to place students into ENGL-01A. The studies show this self-reported data is accurate up to ten years post-high school and report that students underestimate their GPAs and course grades.

Beginning in December 2016 all students who take the Accuplacer test will answer a series of background questions in order to assess their readiness for ENGL-01A. The questions ensure the student is an active high school senior or has already left the K-12 system, has graduated from high school within the past 10 years, and then meets the GPA and English course grade criteria. If a student meets all the criteria they can be placed directly into ENGL-01A based solely on the background questions related to the Multiple Measures Decision Tree. If they do not meet this criteria they will be placed into an English course based on their Accuplacer test scores and counselor intervention.

To date approximately 70% of the students answering the new questions are placing directly into ENGL-01A. The English department has worked to alter their course scheduling to allow for more students to enroll in ENGL-01A in the spring 2017 and the fall 2017 semesters due to this new placement process. The BSSOT grant will be providing academic support to students, in addition to professional development opportunities to our English faculty. Everyone involved in this project is excited to see the

results of the spring 2017 ENGL-01A enrollees.

Our FIGs Don’t forget…our Faculty Inquiry Groups (FIGs) are open to all Merced College faculty and interested staff. Take a moment to review our meeting minutes and take part of this exciting journey!

Habits of Mind—The HoM FIG centers onhelping students to produce knowledge and develop critical perspectives on their own thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, and work product.

FIG Leader: Pam Huntington pamela.huntington@mccd.edu

Meeting Minutes: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uxadamhosiybe5k/A ADXLmMp3S0iLAGTlqTt5AMQa?dl=0

Embedded Peer Mentors and Reading Apprenticeship—The EMP/RA FIG has been designed to help faculty, staff, and students re- envision students’ capabilities. Rather than focusing on students’ under preparedness, RA helps faculty find ways to leverage students’ strengths and capabilities to create ‘apprentice’ students capable of discipline-specific academic literacies.

FIG Leader: Shirley Kahlert shirley.kahlert@mccd.edu

Meeting Minutes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/143uk YIhMankdZWSx7uU4Jb6bDfByqTuS-d4FA9EkBqA/edit?usp=sharing

Interdisciplinary Learning Center—The ILC FIG is centered on design, pedagogy, and curriculum for our new ILC. The ILC will promote cooperative and collaborative learning environments where faculty, staff, and peer mentors work with students to create environments where students take ownership of their learning and course content thereby making learning more meaningful.

FIG Leader: Candace Hull-Taylor candace.taylor@mccd.edu

Meeting Minutes: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vew19bj87gfwoxc/AA BgjZ2_c7wFvh6zeeUrMat8a?dl=0

California Acceleration Project—The CAPFIG focuses on ways to increase basic skills course completion in English and math through a variety of best practices and operates under the belief that ‘we can do better’ to help students complete remedial courses.

FIG Leader: Denise Rempel denise.rempel@mccd.edu

Meeting Minutes: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5qag0z4j2losvco/AAA wmqGeU6bmfyjvUu73SUHoa?dl=0

BSSOT News Issue #2 February 2017

CAP FIG Designs Accelerated Curriculum by Denise Rempel

The focus of the CAP FIG this spring has been to design curriculum for the ENGL 85AC course that will begin in Fall 2017. ENGL 85AC, a one-level below transfer composition course, relies on "backwards design" principles, which hold that lower courses in a sequence should mirror upper courses in a sequence but with greater student support and time for practice. FIG members have specifically designed the course to give students practice with the skills, content, and ways of thinking required in college-level courses in their program of study. CAP FIG members have also committed to norming, a process of calibrating scoring criteria among instructors, to promote best practices in the classroom and our discipline. Finally, we have committed to data collection and review to gauge the efficacy of the ENGL 85AC course and curriculum. If you are interested in learning more about ENGL 85AC, or acceleration, and the many ways it will promote equity, retention, and completion of college courses, we invite you to join the CAP FIG. Please contact Denise Rempel at denise.rempel@mccd.edu for meeting times and locations.

HoM FIG Members Find Their "Why"by Pam Huntington

The Habits of Mind (HoM) Training Team is in place: Keri Ortiz, Will Baker, Sonja Downing, Suzanne Kobzeff, Kristin Rigby, Dee Near, Brandon Tenn, Lee Anne Hobbs, and Pam Huntington. The team attended their first training session on February 10th at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, CA, where 3CSN staff presented many innovative ideas regarding appreciative inquiry and recognizing the strengths of our current college climate. Several Los Medanos College faculty and staff shared their five year journey in bringing the Habits of Mind Initiative to their campus where HoM practices are now an integral part of all campus life. In one particularly rewarding group activity, team members discovered the individual and collective "why" motivating their work. The team hopes to bring a similar activity to Merced College, holding a drive where faculty and staff can find their "why." The team will be attending their second training session on March 17th at Hartnell College.

In the meantime, members of the training team and others have been attending the monthly HoM FIG (Faculty Inquiry Group) to learn more about the integration of the Habits of Mind principles into the classroom and our own personal lives. The next HoM FIGs will be held from 1-2pm on Friday 03/24, 04/28, and 05/19 in IAC-256C. All are welcome to attend. Some current readings the group has been engaging with include excerpts from Grit by Angela Duckworth, The Growth Mindset by Annie Brock and Heather Hundley, and the article “Faculty—Administrator Relationships and Responsive Decisionmaking Systems: New Frameworks for Study” by Marietta Del Favero, Louisiana State University.

ILC FIG Conceptualizes Literacy Centerby Dr. Candace Taylor

Plans for the new ILC are proceeding apace. The ILC will be housed in Comm 2 and 5 and Darden Architects, Inc. have been contracted. The space will be renovated during summer 2017, and the ILC will open fall 2017. The ILC will provide individualized academic support and just-in-time remediation for students. It will serve as a campus community hub where students can receive academic support, study for their courses, and relax in an academically supportive atmosphere. We aim to make the campus “stickier” via the ILC: we predict that the more students have a place where they can receive academic support services in an attractive setting (computers and printers, phone charging stations, reading cubbies, group and individual study carrels), the better they will perform in their classes and, as a by-product, the less they will require remediation. Beginning in fall 2017, all students enrolled in English courses will be co-enrolled in EDU 112D, providing them with access to the ILC. We envision that the ILC will have 100+ students utilizing the facility at any one time. On average, we predict that 540+ students will use the ILC regularly during any given term.

EPM/RA FIG Members Hire Student Workersby Dr. Shirley Kahlert

As Embedded Peer Mentors (EPMs), ten Merced College students are traveling forward in their journey to become educators. Funded by BSSOT, these peer mentors will work in both the classroom and the new ILC helping students write stronger papers in our new accelerated English 85AC courses and across the disciplines. EPMs will attend the Tutor Expo in Stockton and receive extensive training in Reading Apprenticeship and other strategies, which support student learning, both on campus and in students' lives away from school. A hearty welcome to our ten EPMs!

BSSOT News Issue #2 February 2017

Meet Our Embedded Peer Mentors by Jessica Moran

Meet our newly hired EPMs. Our EPMs will start training this spring 2017 semester in order to be prepared to start assisting our students in the accelerated English 85AC classes as well as in our Interdisciplinary Literacy Center (ILC) in fall 2017.

BSSOT News Issue #2 February 2017

Anore Barrera “I’ve been tutoring in

various ways for nearly 3 years and it brings

me a lot of joy.”

Aysia James “I want to be an EPM because students can

feel intimidated by professors….”

Cynthia Bravo “…I want to help

others. During high school, I was a part

of a similar program and I really loved it.”

Emily Lagomarsino “I would like to help

others with their education and their

academic goals.”

Kody Huntington “I would like to be an EPM because I enjoy being in a

learning environment.

Stephanie Oliveira “I love teaching study groups and especially grammar…”

Stephanie Armendariz

“I believe being able to help others succeed is

a unique gift.”

Houston Dowen “This job puts me on

track to remain in good academic

standing.”

Raul Mendoza “I am grateful for

the opportunity to grow.”

Nicholas Rharbi “I am patient and empathetic, and

have a passion for helping others.”