Increasing Student Transition and Success:Cal-PASS

California Partnership

for Achieving Student Success

A Matter of MisalignmentAccording to a recent report issued by the Stanford University Bridge Project:

“…the coursework between high school and college is not connected; students graduate from high school under one set of standards and, three months later, are required to meet a whole new set of standards in college.”

Troubling Indicators

- High HS drop-out rateUp to 50% in large urban districts

- Poor transition rates from HS to college

- Significant remediation needs in higher educationOver 70% in Community CollegesAlmost 50% in California State UniversitiesOver 30% in University of California

What is Cal-PASS?

Publicly funded initiativeLinks primary, secondary and post-secondary

institutions on a regional basisTracks students from one segment to the nextEngages faculty across segments in

instructional conversationsIncludes over 3,000 K-12 schools, community

colleges, and universities throughout California

Cal-PASS PrinciplesCollaborationDiscoveryContinuity/AlignmentInnovationEvaluationExpansion

Making Cal-PASS Work: Intersegmental Professional Learning Councils

EnglishMathematicsCounselingELTech PrepScience

First math class attempted in community college Total  

   Basic Math

Pre-Alg

Beg Alg

Geo Int Alg Stats+Pre-Calc

Calc % N

Max HS math with grade of C or better

Basic Math 11% 14% 41% 1% 28% 5% 1% 0%

100% 730

Pre-Alg * * * * * * * * 100% *

Beg Alg 11% 10% 42% 1% 29% 5% 2% 0% 100% 1291

Geo 2% 3% 29% 2% 49% 9% 5% 1% 100% 1758

Int Alg 1% 2% 14% 1% 47% 21% 13% 2% 100% 5966

Stats+ 0% 0% 3% 0% 26% 47% 19% 4% 100% 238

Pre-Calc 0% 0% 2% 0% 21% 38% 29% 10%

100% 2485

Calc 0% 0% 0% 0% 4% 28% 21% 48% 100% 585

  Total 320 377 2232 101 4824 2743 1775 682 13054

Relation between last math passed at Alpha High School and first math attempted at Beta College

Red = attempted class in college lower than that already passed in high school

Gold = attempted class in college equal to that already passed in high school

Green = attempted class in college higher than that already passed in high school

    Success rate (grade of C or better) in first math class attempted in community college

 

    Basic Math

Pre-Alg

Beg Alg

Geo Int Alg Stats+ Pre-Calc

Calc Total

Max HS math with grade of C or better

Basic Math 57% 58% 44% * 45% 56% 86% * 49%

Pre-Alg * * * * * * * * 100%

Beg Alg 57% 60% 41% 72% 41% 56% 50% * 46%

Geo 76% 67% 57% 50% 54% 61% 67% * 57%

Int Alg 78% 75% 64% 59% 68% 72% 69% 69% 68%

Stats+ * * 100% * 75% 86% 69% 70% 79%

Pre-Calc 100% 100% 92% 67% 79% 79% 75% 74% 78%

Calc * * * * 91% 87% 79% 80% 82%

  Total 64% 64% 55% 57% 64% 75% 72% 76% 66%

Red = attempted class in college lower than that already passed in high school

Gold = attempted class in college equal to that already passed in high school

Green = attempted class in college higher than that already passed in high school

Relation between last math passed at Alpha High School and success in first math attempted at Beta College

Rank Description

1 Basic Math

2 Pre-Algebra

3 Beginning Algebra

4 Geometry

5 Intermediate Algebra

6 Statistics/Finite/Discrete/Other Transferable Math

7 Advanced Algebra/College Algebra/Precalculus/Trigonometry

8 Calculus

9 Linear Algebra/Diff Eq/Other higher math

Relationship between sequence in which math courses were taken in high school and the level of the first math class

attempted at a local community college

First math class attempted at Local Community College

Basic Math

Pre-Alg

Beg Alg Geo Int Alg

Stats/ Finite Precalc Calc Total

133 25% 57% 7% 0% 7% 4% 0% 0% 28 34 4% 47% 39% 0% 9% 0% 1% 0% 188 344 4% 33% 53% 0% 8% 0% 3% 0% 79 334 2% 62% 27% 0% 9% 0% 0% 0% 55 345 5% 18% 20% 0% 45% 2% 9% 0% 703 3455 3% 17% 16% 0% 52% 2% 10% 0% 124 3456 9% 4% 15% 0% 51% 7% 11% 4% 55 4576 4% 0% 0% 0% 19% 19% 52% 7% 27 3457 4% 4% 6% 0% 29% 8% 37% 12% 254 457 9% 5% 4% 0% 35% 10% 29% 7% 99 357 6% 60% 16% 0% 17% 1% 0% 0% 77 4578 5% 0% 0% 0% 8% 6% 31% 49% 77

Sequence of classes attempted in high school

458 0% 0% 0% 0% 14% 0% 46% 39% 28 Total 92 377 334 0 574 66 258 93 1794

Red = attempted class in college lower than that already passed in high school

Gold = attempted class in college equal to that already passed in high school

Green = attempted class in college higher than that already passed in high school

Success* in First Community College Math Course after Successfully Completing High School Math by Senior Math Status

*Success is defined as earning a “C” or better

% Successful in first CC

Math Course Total n

Students who successfully completed highest math course during 12th grade year 70.9% 1,387 Students who attempted, but did not successfully complete highest math course during 12th grade year 51.4% 473 Total 1,870

Students who successfully completed highest math course before 12th grade year 66.6% 1,218

Relationship between the last English class passed at Alpha High School and the first English class attempted

at Beta College

First English class attempted in community college

Basic Skills ESL Degree

Applicable Transferable

Critical Thinking/ Literature Percent Count

Remedial 75% * 18% * 0% 100% 51

ELD 59% 18% 21% * 0% 100% 71

English 25% 1% 43% 30% 1% 100% 4492

AP English 4% 0% 17% 77% * 100% 184

Highest level of English in high school successfully completed Total 1205 42 1992 1499 60 4798

Red = transitioned down at least one level from high school to college, Yellow = stayed at same level in college as in high school, Green = transitioned up at least one level from high school to college. Turquoise = transition from native to non-native course or vice versa.

Success in a Community College Biology Course by Highest Level of English Completed in High School

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

Highest Level of English Completed with a "C" or Better

Not Successful 92.3% 64.3% 55.3% 33.3%

Successful 7.7% 35.7% 44.7% 66.7%

English 9 & 10 English 11 English 12 AP English

Misclassification Rate = 35%

Begin Algebra3652

A/B/C 254

A/B/C 1255

D 10

A/B/C254370%

F43012%

D67918% F 310

11%

62%

47%

38%

15%

57%

27%

8th grade course 8th grade success 9th grade course 9th grade success

D 222

A/B/C 59

Inter Algebra703%

Begin Algebra202580%

Geometry44718%

Geometry142%

Begin Algebra66297%

Begin Algebra42499%

F 548

D 98

A/B/C 377

D 45

F 25

A/B/C 8

F 282

84%

10%

6%

84%

14%

D 40

A/B/C 102 24%

9%

66%

Begin Algebra3607

A/B/C 137

D 11

Far Below Bas45213%

Advanced562%

Below Basic157644%

11%

31%

22%

5%

10%

15%

73%

26%

58%

8th grade course 8th grade proficiency 9th grade course 9th grade success

D 48

A/B/C 24

80%

Begin Algebra44999%

Geometry473%

Inter Algebra262%

Geometry16916%

Begin Algebra152497%

Begin Algebra88082%

F 264

A/B/C 691

D 195

F 638

A/B/C 135

A/B/C 19

A/B/C 35

45%

13%

42%

51%

23%

D 25

F 9

A/B/C 5

A/B/C 13

12%

91%

4%

4%

Proficient44612%

Basic107730%

Inter Algebra297%

Geometry20847%

Begin Algebra20947%

Inter Algebra13

23%

Geometry37

66%

F 12

A/B/C 594

D 92

F 194

D 6

A/B/C 171

D 12

F 26

A/B/C 190

D 9

F 9

Begin Algebra6

11%

68%

23%

82%

6%

83%

95%

100%

A/B/C 25 86%

Transition pathways from last community college math at nearby feeder colleges to first math at the local CSU campus

(STEM = Science, technology, engineering, math)

1%

6%

7%

42%

44%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Transitioned down at least one level fromCommunity College to CSU in same pathway

Took a math class at CSU similar to that passed atthe community college

Transitioned up at least one level in math fromCommunity College to CSU in same pathway

Transitioned to CSU general education pathwayfrom Community College STEM pathway

Transitioned to CSU STEM pathway fromCommunity College general education pathway

Exploratory Analysis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Pathways from Community College to University

Use classification and regression tree (CART) to predict degree based upon:

Highest level math completed at community collegeNumber of classes passed and units earned at a CC in

Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics

Financial aid, time at CC, time at university, time to degree, zip code

Whether student had same major in first and last university term

Ethnicity, gender, age, disability status

Using CART to Predict Degree

Highest level math completed at community college (available for n=2,764) correctly predicted 49% of balanced sample compared to 33% with random guess

Using all variables correctly predicted 76% of balanced sample compared to 33% with random guess

Using all variables correctly predicted 90% of total sample compared to 88% for guessing “other” for all degrees

Last Math <= 7 Units Bio <= 7.500

Units Health <= 0.750 Chem courses <= 0.500 Other Degree (1,019; 0.755)Chem courses > 0.500

Last math <= 6 Health Degree (154; 0.442)Last math >= 7 STEM Degree (52; 0.538)

Units Health > 0.750Time between CC and Univ <= -1.875 STEM Degree (50; 0.46)Time between CC and Univ > -1.875 Health Degree (126; 0.833)

Units Bio > 7.500 Time to degree <= 1.562 STEM Degree (37; 0.892)Time to degree > 1.562 Health Degree (687; 0.846)

Last Math >= 8 Health courses <= 0.500 STEM Degree (634; 0.852) Health courses > 0.500 Health Degree (60; 0.5)

Model using CART on balanced sample

How to Contact Us

Terrence WillettDirector of Researchtwillett@calpass.org

(831) 277-2690

Nathan PellegrinResearch Analyst

npellegrin@calpass.org(619) 933-3973

Eden DahlstromAssistant Director of Regional Collaboration/Research Analyst

edahlstrom@calpass.org(530) 204-7129

www.calpass.org