College Success Seminar Executive Summary FY 2008.pdfThe College Success Seminar is an asset to the...

College Success Seminar

Documenting the Success of Students Enrolled in the College Success Seminar

FY 2008

Prepared by CCC Office of Research and Evaluation

December 2009

Executive Summary The City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) is a system of seven urban community colleges dedicated to serving the educational needs of Chicago residents. CCC serves a large number of students who are underprepared for the rigors of college. To improve the preparedness of CCC students, CCC offers the College Success Seminar for eligible students. This course is designed to develop student success skills in three areas:

• Academic study skills • Self‐motivational skills • Reading and critical thinking skills

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the College Success Seminar (CSS) on CCC students enrolled in the course. Two main indicators were analyzed:

• Successful course completion • Term‐to‐term retention

Key Findings Nearly two thirds (62.0%) of students enrolled in the CSS course in summer 2007 successfully completed the course with grades A‐C.

About two thirds of students enrolled in the CSS course in fall 2007 (67.2%) and spring 2008 (65.6%) successfully completed the course with grades A‐C.

Achievement gaps are apparent when comparing CSS course performance by:

o Gender. Women continue to outperform men when comparing their CSS course successful completion rates.

o Race. Black students struggle to successfully complete the CSS course compared to Hispanic, White, and Asian/Pacific Islander students.

o Age. Older students continue to outperform younger students when comparing their CSS course successful completion rates.

Course Completion. Students who completed the CSS course with grades A‐C also completed their other courses with grades A‐C at higher rates than Credit students who did not enroll in the CSS course (figure 14).

o In fall 2007, CSS coursetakers successfully completed 72.4% of their courses with grades A‐C compared to 69.6% for non‐CSS Credit students.

o In spring 2008, CSS coursetakers successfully completed 70.8% of their courses with grades A‐C compared to 61.5% for non‐CSS Credit students.

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Fall 2007 – Spring 2008 Retention Rates. Students who enrolled in the CSS course in fall 2007 were retained at higher rates than Credit students who were not enrolled in the CSS course.

o All Credit Students. Students enrolled in the CSS course in fall 2007 were retained at a rate of 71.9% in spring 2008 compared to 65.9% of non‐CSS Credit students.

o New Students. New students enrolled in the CSS course in fall 2007 were retained at a rate of 75.6% in spring 2008 compared to 62.3% of non‐CSS new Credit students, a difference of 13%.

o Remedial Coursetakers. Remedial coursetakers enrolled in the CSS course in fall 2007 were retained at a rate of 75.2% in spring 2008 compared to 71.7% of non‐CSS remedial coursetakers.

Conclusion The College Success Seminar is an asset to the City Colleges of Chicago. It has become a valuable tool for promoting course success and student retention for “at‐risk” student populations. Students enrolling in the College Success Seminar have been retained at higher rates than students who were not enrolled in the course. Additionally, students who successfully complete this course tend to also successfully complete their other courses. However, the impact of the course is limited. There continues to be disparities in course success by gender, race, and age. Also, the College Success Seminar does not have an impact on successful remediation. With continued monitoring and evaluation of the College Success Seminar, CCC will be able to impact more students and better promote student success.

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Introduction The City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) is a system of seven urban community colleges dedicated to serving the educational needs of Chicago residents. The CCC’s broad mission and open door policy provides countless opportunities for students at all levels of education. CCC serves a large number of students who are underprepared for the rigors of college. This lack of preparedness has made college retention and course completion a challenge for these students. To improve the preparedness of CCC students, CCC offers the College Success Seminar for eligible students. This course is designed to develop student success skills in three areas:

• Academic study skills • Self‐motivational skills • Reading and critical thinking skills

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the College Success Seminar on CCC students enrolled in the course. Two main indicators were analyzed:

• Successful course completion • Term‐to‐term retention

Background Remedial and developmental education is a necessary mission of the community college. However, these courses do not address key skills critical to academic success including:

• Study habits • Time management • Goal setting

To address this gap, community colleges offer college success courses. These courses are becoming a well‐established part of the community college curriculum (Zeidenberg, Jenkins, & Calcagno, 1994). Yet, few research studies have analyzed their effectiveness. One longitudinal study assessing the student life skills (SLS) course at 28 community colleges in Florida found that

Enrollment in an SLS course has a positive marginal effect on a student’s chances of earning a credential, persisting, or transferring (Zeidenberg, Jenkins, & Calcagno, 1994).

All of the City Colleges offer the College Success Seminar (CSS) Course (figure 1). Four colleges (Daley, Malcolm X, Olive‐Harvey, and Truman) began offering the course in summer 2007, Harold Washington began offering the course in fall 2007, and the final two colleges (Kennedy‐

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Enrollment 121


Enrollment 1,074

Other Course Enrollments


Successful Course

Completion (Grades A-C)

Successful Course


Reenrolled in Fall 2007

Reenrolled in Spring 2008

Summer 2007

Cohort

Fall 2007

Cohort


Enrollment 916


Successful Course


Spring 2008

Cohort

King and Wright) began offering the course in spring 2008.

Figure 1: Colleges offering the College Success Course, FY 2008

Methodology Three separate analyses were conducted for the summer 2007, fall 2007, and spring 2008 cohorts of students enrolled in the CSS course. Course enrollments, grades, and retention rates were documented and compared to students not enrolled in the college success seminar.

Figure 2: College Success Course Cohort Methodology, FY 2008

Enrollments exclude students who withdrew prior to Census Date in each term.

Summer 2007 Fall 2007 Spring 2008*

*In spring 2008, Wright College enrolled 9 students in 1 section. Wright College is excluded from detailed analyses. However, Wright students are included in the district total and district‐wide analyses.

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N = 121

Findings Summer 2007 Cohort Analysis Summer enrollees at the City Colleges of Chicago are a unique group of students. Most summer students tend to be returning students enrolled part‐time. In a 2006 study of CCC summer students, the analysis found:

• Nearly 1 in 4 summer students were students at 4‐year institutions taking summer courses.

• More than 1 in 3 students were “fast‐track” students (enrolled at CCC in spring, summer, and fall 2006).

In addition to the high proportions of “fast‐track” students, course enrollments in the summer differ from the spring and fall terms. Fewer students are enrolled in the summer compared to the fall and spring terms and course offerings, particularly remedial and developmental courses, are limited. Key Findings

In summer 2007, 121 students enrolled in the CSS course at 4 colleges district‐wide. Most of these students were enrolled at Olive‐Harvey College (41%).

A significant proportion (16.5%) of CSS summer 2007 students were enrolled in Adult Education courses.

Nearly two thirds (62.0%) of students enrolled in the CSS course in summer 2007 successfully completed the course with grades A‐C (figure 4).

Figure 4: Successful Completion (Grades A‐C) of the College Success Seminar, Summer 2007

Figure 3: Summer 2007 College Success Seminar Enrollment by College

DA16%

MX26%OH

41%

TR17%

62.0%7515220982245121

%NWIFDCBA

Successful Course


GradesTotal

Enrollment in College Success Seminar

62.0%7515220982245121

%NWIFDCBA

Successful Course


GradesTotal

Enrollment in College Success Seminar

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Academic performance in the CSS course varied across the colleges (figure 5). All 19 CSS coursetakers (100%) enrolled at Daley College successfully completed the CSS course with grades A‐C. At the same time, just 1 in 4 CSS coursetakers (26.5%) at Olive‐Harvey successfully completed the CSS course with grades A‐C.

Figure 5: Successful Completion (Grades A‐C) of the College Success Seminar by College

Summer 2007

The unique nature of the summer term as well as students enrolled in summer courses complicate comparative analyses. Without a similar comparison group, comparisons of retention rates and course completion between summer students enrolled in the CSS course and summer students not enrolled in the CSS course are not meaningful.

Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 Cohort Analyses CSS students enrolled in fall 2007 and spring 2008 differ from summer 2007 CSS students.

• Fall 2007 and spring 2008 CSS students tend to take larger course loads. • More than 70% of fall 2007 and spring 2008 CSS students enrolled full‐time. • More than 70% of fall 2007 and spring 2008 CSS coursetakers enrolled in remedial

courses. • In fall 2007, more than half of CSS coursetakers were new students.

100%

78.1%

26.5%

85.7%

62.0%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

DA MX OH TR CCCN=19 N=32 N=49 N=21 N=121

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N = 1,074

N = 916

Key Findings In fall 2007, 1,074 students enrolled in the CSS course at 5 colleges district‐wide. Nearly three quarters of the students were enrolled at Truman and Malcolm X (figure 6).

A significant proportion (21.3%) of CSS fall 2007 students were enrolled in Pre‐Credit courses. Less than 1% enrolled in Adult Education courses.

In spring 2008, 916 students enrolled in the CSS course at all the colleges district‐wide. More than half of the students were enrolled at Truman and Malcolm X (figure 7).

A significant proportion (18.3%) of CSS spring 2008 students were enrolled in Pre‐Credit courses. Just 2.3% enrolled in Adult Education courses.

About two thirds of students enrolled in the CSS course in fall 2007 (67.2%) and spring 2008 (65.6%) successfully completed the course with grades A‐C (figure 8).

Figure 8: Successful Completion (Grades A‐C) of the College Success Seminar by College

Figure 7: Spring 2008 College Success Seminar Enrollment by College

MX24%

OH8%

KK14%

WR1%

DA12%

HW7%

TR30%

Figure 6: Fall 2007 College Success Seminar Enrollment by College

DA8%

MX23%

OH14%

HW7%

TR48%

67.2%722768184841461993771,074

%NWIFDCBA

Successful Course


Grades

Total Enrollment in


67.2%722768184841461993771,074

%NWIFDCBA

Successful Course


Grades

Total Enrollment in


65.6%601711216666163189249916

%NWIFDCBA

Successful Course


Grades

Total Enrollment in


65.6%601711216666163189249916

%NWIFDCBA

Successful Course


Grades

Total Enrollment in


Fall 2007

Spring 2008

8

73.3%

61.3% 60.5%

77.9%67.1% 67.2%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

DA HW MX OH TR CCCN=90 N=75 N=243 N=149 N=517 N=1,074

73.1% 62.5%

55.6%

70.7% 70.0%64.5% 65.6%

0%10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

100%

DA HW MX OH TR KK CCCN=108 N=104 N=223 N=273 N=124 N=916N=75

In fall 2007, the proportion of students who successfully completed the CSS course with grades A‐C ranged between 60.5% and 77.9% across the colleges (figure 9).

Figure 9: Successful Completion (Grades A – C) of the College Success Seminar by College Fall 2007

In spring 2008, the proportion of students who successfully completed the CSS course with grades A‐C ranged between 55.6% and 73.1% across the colleges (figure 10).

Figure 10: Successful Completion (Grades A‐C) of the College Success Seminar by College Spring 2008

Wright College is excluded from this chart since only 9 students were enrolled in 1 section. However, Wright students are included in the district total and the spring 2008 analyses.

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Achievement gaps are apparent when comparing course performance of students by: o Gender o Race o Age

Gender. Women continue to outperform men when comparing their CSS course successful completion rates (figure 11).

Figure 11: Successful Completion (Grades A‐C) of the College Success Seminar by Gender

Race/Ethnicity. Black students struggle to successfully complete the CSS course compared to Hispanic, White, and Asian/Pacific Islander students (figure 12).

Figure 12: Successful Completion (Grades A‐C) of the College Success Seminar by Race/Ethnicity

68.4%

65.2%

50%

52%

54%

56%

58%

60%

62%

64%

66%

68%

70%

Female Male

68.6%

60.1%

50%

52%

54%

56%

58%

60%

62%

64%

66%

68%

70%

Female Male

N=692 N=382 N=590 N=326

Fall 2007 Spring 2008

78.0%

65.1%

70.7% 71.0%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

Asian/PacificIslander

Black Hispanic White

84.1%

60.0%

62.4%

71.9%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

Asian/PacificIslander

Black Hispanic White

N=59 N=696 N=191 N=93 N=44 N=668 N=124 N=57


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Age. Older students continue to outperform younger students when comparing their CSS course successful completion rates (figure 13).

Figure 13: Successful Completion (Grades A‐C) of the College Success Seminar by Age

Course Completion. Students who completed the CSS course with grades A‐C also completed their other courses with grades A‐C at higher rates than Credit students who did not enroll in the CSS course (figure 14).

o In fall 2007, CSS coursetakers successfully completed 72.4% of their courses with grades A‐C compared to 69.6% for non‐CSS Credit students.

o In spring 2008, CSS coursetakers successfully completed 70.8% of their courses with grades A‐C compared to 61.5% for non‐CSS Credit students.

Figure 14: Comparison of CSS and Non‐CSS Credit Students, Successful Completion (Grades A‐C) of Courses


*Difference is statistically significant at the .05 level N refers to the number of courses taken by students (excluding the CSS course)

N=634 N=327 N=67 N=45

64.4%

70.6%71.6%

77.8%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

20 and under 21-30 31-39 40 and over

62.6%

66.8%

72.2%

79.6%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

20 and under 21-30 31-39 40 and over

N=489 N=319 N=54 N=54


72.4%69.6%

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

Perc

en

t o

f C

ou

rses C

om

ple

ted

wit

h

Gra

des A

-C

CSS (Grades A-C)Non-CSS Credit

N=1,744 N=86,823

*70.8%

61.5%

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

Perc

en

t o

f C

ou

rses

Co

mp

lete

d w

ith

G

rad

es

A-C

CSS (Grades A-C)Non-CSS Credit

*

N=1,519 N=92,304

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Fall 2007 – Spring 2008 Retention Rates. Students who enrolled in the CSS course in fall 2007 were retained at higher rates than Credit students who were not enrolled in the CSS course. This was true for:

o All Credit Students o New Students o Remedial Coursetakers

All Credit Students. Students enrolled in the CSS course in fall 2007 were retained at a rate of 71.9% in spring 2008 compared to 65.9% of non‐CSS Credit students (figure 15).

New Students. New students enrolled in the CSS course in fall 2007 were retained at a rate of 75.6% in spring 2008 compared to 62.3% of non‐CSS new Credit students, a difference of 13% (figure 16).

75.6%

62.3%

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%New CSSNew Non-CSS Credit

*

N=558 N=6,787

71.9%

65.9%

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%CSSNon-CSS Credit

*

N=1,074 N=29,642

Figure 15: Comparison of CSS and Non‐CSS Credit Students, Fall 2007 – Spring 2008 Retention Rates

All Credit Students

*Difference is statistically significant at the .05 levelN refers to the number of students enrolled in fall (excludes graduates)


New Students

*Difference is statistically significant at the .05 levelN refers to the number of students enrolled in fall

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Remedial Coursetakers

*Difference is statistically significant at the .05 levelN refers to the number of students enrolled in fall (excludes graduates)

Remedial Coursetakers. Remedial coursetakers enrolled in the CSS course in fall 2007 were retained at a rate of 75.2% in spring 2008 compared to 71.7% of non‐CSS remedial coursetakers (figure 17).

Summary of Findings The College Success Seminar has had positive impacts on participating CCC students. The findings show improvements in:

Successful Course Completion Term‐to‐Term Retention Rates

However, gaps in achievement still exist for students most in need of support including:

Male students African‐American students Young students

75.2%

71.7%

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%Remedial CSSRemedial Non-CSS Credit*

N=778 N=8,134

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Conclusion The College Success Seminar is an asset to the City Colleges of Chicago. It has become a valuable tool for promoting course success and student retention for “at‐risk” student populations. Students enrolling in the College Success Seminar have been retained at higher rates than students who were not enrolled in the course. Additionally, students who successfully complete this course tend to also successfully complete their other courses. However, the impact of the course is limited. There continues to be disparities in course success by gender, race, and age. Also, the College Success Seminar does not have an impact on successful remediation. With continued monitoring and evaluation of the College Success Seminar, CCC will be able to impact more students and better promote student success.

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