The Evolution of a PSEO Writing

Program:

Using Inquiry-Based Collaborative Communities to

Insure College Readiness

Researcher’s Background

• 10 years teaching English at SMSU• Passion to insure accessible and

equitable education to all students • Professional awareness of

disconnect in high school and college standards

• Belief in the need for a system wide P-16 mentality

Chapter 1- Statement of the Problem

To determine the level of perceived college readiness between high school students in a dual enrollment English course using inquiry based instruction to implement the pre-determined syllabus and those who were not.

Defining the Program

• Dual enrollment, also known as “dual credit,” “concurrent enrollment,” and “joint enrollment,” refers to the participation in college-level courses and the earning of college credits by high school students. (Kleiner & Lewis, 2005)

SMSU’s Program Model

• Provides a college or university faculty mentor who – Meets regularly with the teacher – Monitors assignments, assessments, and

instructional effectiveness – Ensures that the course meets the learning

outcomes and that students are held to college-level standards;

• Provides each secondary instructor with opportunities to participate in appropriate campus-based faculty development activities. (MnSCU, System Procedures, Chapter 3, 2003)

So, what is College Readiness?

• When ACT conducted the annual National Curriculum Survey (2007), the term was defined as the following: – Approximately a 75% chance of earning

a grade of C or better, or approximately a 50% chance of earning a grade of B or better, in selected courses commonly taken by first-year college students (p. 1).

Inquiry-Based Instruction

• The amount of student learning that occurs in a classroom is directly proportional to the quality and quantity of student involvement in the educational program (Cooper and Prescott 1989).

• Yet studies indicate that teachers typically dominate classroom conversation, consuming nearly 70% of classroom time.

• IQB students are at the helm of the learning process and teachers in the role of learning facilitator, coach, and modeler.

Purpose of the Study

• Local Level– Improve College Readiness empirical

data for SMSU– Improve College Readiness in SMSU

PSEO English students– Bring attention to the potential of

SMSU’s PSEO program to create alignments with local high schools

• National Level– Add to the growing body of research

searching for alignment solutions– See PSEO as turn-key ready for

individual cases of institutional College Readiness disconnect

Chapter 1 - Significance of the Study

• Ever decreasing educational budgets with ever increasing pressure for students to perform

• Young program nationally with little data collection standards

• Potential to begin the transition to K-16 system

• Opportunity for SMSU to lead nationally

• High school students involved in PSEO programs go on to obtain more post secondary education credits

Chapter 1 - Research Questions

• Student self-perception of college readiness before and after course

• High school administrator and teacher perception of student college readiness before course

• College instructor and teacher perception of student college readiness after course

• Correlation of IQB score with perception of college readiness

Chapter 2 – Summary of Literature Review

Findings• More data is needed, perhaps more structure

• Seen as the future of education, perhaps in re-visioning where high school education ends and postsecondary education begins

• PSEO is naturally oriented to collaborations between college and high schools, professors and teachers, and finally students

• PSEO is the beginning of P-16 in practice

• PSEO solves real college readiness situations

Chapter 3 – Methodology: Population

• Population was all English dual enrollment program participants based out of SMSU in the Fall 2008 semester– Students– Teachers– Administrator– College Instructor

Chapter 3 – Methodolgy: Instrumentation

High School Administrator – Pre-survey

High School Teacher – Pre and post-survey

High School Student – Pre and post-survey

College Instructor – Pre and post-survey as an aggregate for all assigned schools

Chapter 3 – Methodology: Instrumentation

• Surveys– Adapted from NACEP accreditation

samples and literature review research– Reformatted into electronic application

and stored in a university data base– Converted into Excel– Likert scale questions using 1 to 5

ratings– Post-surveys same as pre-surveys– Compared changes between the two

Chapter 3 – Methodology: Instrumentation

• 24 participated in workshop discussion about college readiness using survey

• All teachers were informed through workshop or email regarding preferred inquiry based methods

• 18 students (two schools) participated in post-survey focus groups

Chapter 3 – Methodology: Instrumentation

• Steps for teachers and researcher– Complete an online pre-survey– Ensure administrator and students do so– Attend the prep workshop– Ask professors to complete a post-survey– Ensure administrator and students complete

post-survey

Chapter 3 – Methodology: Data Collection Procedures• Invitation letter emailed August 16

explaining steps• Pre-survey was complete within the first 2

weeks of semester• Online post-survey completed by all by

January 31.• First focus group was conducted February

11• Second focus group was conducted

February 15

Chapter 3 - Methodology: Data Analysis

• Returned data from online surveys stored in university data base

• Analyzed using Excel and SPSS• College perception scores of schools were

compared• Researcher reported means and standard

deviations to select survey responses• Pearson correlation tests were performed • Microsoft Word document used to record

answers and analyze focus group commentary

• Mixed method design assisted in ensuring validity

Chapter 3 - Methodology: Data Analysis of IQB

Rating• Pro Inquiry Based (+1)– Student-led

brainstorming– Student-directed

free-writing– Peer re-visioning– Peer Editing– Student-led

discussions

• Anti Inquiry Based (-1)– Testing– Lecturing– Written Prompts– Paper Formulas

Possible -9 to +9

Student Pre to Postsurvey College Readiness Growth•  Study Habits

+.01• Time -.12• Expectations

+.46• Work -.46• Challenge -.06• Assignment Atten.

-.20• Independence 0.00• Group

+.07• Express -.01• Persistence -.05

•  Topic -.10• Thesis

+.25• Organization

+.16• Usage

+.54• Logic -.12• Sources -.12• Points of View -.14• Self Edit

+.42• Peer Edit

+.21

Teacher Pre to Postsurvey Eng. College

Readiness Growth•  Study Habits +1.15

• Time +0.04

• Expectations +1.47

• Work +.0.92

• Challenge -0.24

• Assign. Atten. -0.22

• Independence +0.01

• Group +.33

• Express +0.82

• Groups +0.19

• Topic+0.65

• Thesis+0.79

• Organization+0.86

• Usage+0.19

• Logic+0.53

• Sources+0.46

• Points of View+0.21

• Self Edit+0.88

• Peer Edit+0.94

• Und Coll. Text+0.85

Growth in Comprehensive College

Readiness  •  Student -0.07

• Teacher +1.23

• Admin/Prof +0.61

Correlations

Strong positive correlation (using the Pearson test) between growth of college readiness and inquiry-based ratings

• IQB and General College Readiness .808

• IQB and English College Readiness .826

• English College Readiness and General College Readiness .883

Conclusions

• Inquiry based learning practices result in increased growth of college readiness skills

• High school teachers see concurrent enrollment as increasing their students college readiness skills

• Students decreased their overall perception of personal college readiness over the semester according to quantitative data – realization of real expectations

• Concurrent enrollment programs are key to rural school sustainability and rural student accessibility

• Remediation can begin in high school• University is a service institution – initiate

partnerships

Chapter 5 - Recommendations

• Further research must be done in– College readiness– Concurrent Enrollment Programs model

outcomes– Use of inquiry-based strategies in

writing and/or literacy based courses– P-16 movements at state and federal

level

Sustainability of Rural Education depends on Collaborative

Partnerships!