First-Year Courses for Undeclared Students: Using Civic Engagement - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

First-Year Courses for Undeclared Students:

Using Civic Engagement and Partners to Enhance Quantitative Reasoning

Rob Catlett

Department of Math, Computer Science, and Economics

Stacey Braun

Student Advising Center

ESU Background

• ckgrounds. According to ACT, only twenty-four percent of ACT-tested 2010 high school students met or exceeded college readiness benchmarks i
• ckgrounds. According to ACT, only twenty-four percent of ACT-tested 2010 high school students met or exceeded college readiness benchmarks i

Residential Public University in Kansas Undergraduates 61.4% Female 38.6% Male Undergraduates 4,066 Freshmen 1,132 Sophomores 742 Juniors 753 Seniors 1,282 Unclassifjed 157 Graduate 2,196 T

• tal 6,262

ESU Background

• ckgrounds. According to ACT, only twenty-four percent of ACT-tested 2010 high school students met or exceeded college readiness benchmarks i
• ckgrounds. According to ACT, only twenty-four percent of ACT-tested 2010 high school students met or exceeded college readiness benchmarks i

Retention and Graduation Rates

Retention Rate

73%

Full-time Freshmen Fall 2009 Enrolled in Fall 2010

Six-year Graduation Rate

41%

2003 cohort

US Background

• ckgrounds. According to ACT, only twenty-four percent of ACT-tested 2010 high school students met or exceeded college readiness benchmarks i
• ckgrounds. According to ACT, only twenty-four percent of ACT-tested 2010 high school students met or exceeded college readiness benchmarks i

ACT 2010 College-Ready

Academic Challenges Math 24% are ready for college in all four ACT areas The Least Ready: 43% Math Ready 29% Science Ready

Student learning and ability to retain mathematical and quantitative reasoning is among the most daunting challenges many universities face, especially for students with weak mathematical backgrounds.

Student Learning

Student Success

Does Student Learning = Student Success?

Student Learning

Student Success

Measuring and Defining Student Learning Have our lower-scoring students had adequate experience in student learning in mathematical and quantitative reasoning? Have they ever experienced success?

Assessment

Student Learning

Grades Vs Linkage Studies

Linkage Studies Are Used to Access Student Progress: ESU Math and Quantitative Reasoning (Before 2003-6)

Higher than expected 9.09%

Expected progress 80.38%

Lower than expected 10.53%

Low CAAP math High 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 n High 10 4 6 19 17 21 67 9 1 4 4 15 19 20 21 14 98 ACT 8 3 2 6 14 12 29 18 23 2 109 M 7 1 2 5 13 17 16 4 7 2 67 A 6 10 6 27 28 39 42 18 7 1 178 T 5 6 15 16 48 41 46 43 15 1 231 H 4 1 15 7 23 18 12 12 4 2 1 95 3 9 14 12 24 15 11 2 1 88 2 10 9 8 11 7 2 2 1 50 Low 1 16 16 8 11 9 1 1 62 42 83 62 159 149 159 172 100 78 41 1045

Linkage Study Following Increase in Math and Quantitative Reasoning Emphasis in Other Courses

Low CAAP Math High

Deciles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 n High 10 1 1 4 6 13 35 9 1 1 5 4 7 13 31 16 87 ACT 8 1 1 3 5 5 16 10 22 1 72 M 7 3 8 7 4 13 5 3 1 51 A 6 3 1 2 4 11 13 15 11 7 1 74 T 5 2 8 5 19 19 9 22 10 1 100 H 4 1 3 4 9 19 8 8 5 1 62 3 2 4 1 6 10 5 2 1 1 35 2 4 4 1 2 3 2 5 23 Low 1 8 7 3 5 24 20 29 17 55 84 51 89 59 72 32 508

Higher than expected 12.20%

Expected progress 77.56%

Lower than expected 10.24%

Consider the Number of Students

In Deciles 1 – 5 = Math ACT 19 and lower

Math was the lowest and the others are typically a point higher Thus the ACT Composite is a bit higher as well at approximately 20

Source calculated from publicly available ACT data 2006

Student Learning

Breaking the Cycle of Learn and Forget Do students work on assignments just to get credit? Do they learn for an exam to pass or get a high grade? Do they engage in excessive memorization?

MA 098 Challenges

MA 095 is the lowest of all remedial courses MA 098 is the next followed by MA110 College Algebra which is offered for college credit

MA 098 Challenges

MA 095 is the lowest of all remedial courses MA 098 is the next followed by MA110 College Algebra which is offered for college credit

CW101 - FYE Civic Engagement

A First-Year-Experience (FYE) Course for Undeclared Students

ESU has tried a variety of FYE courses over the years Many programs have FYE courses for students in their majors Renewed emphasis on FYE and in 2010 an ESU group explores FYE for undeclared students CW101 Civic Engagement is one of the initial offerings

CW101 - FYE Civic Engagement

Target Group of Students

First Year Students Lowest Math placement = MA 095 Based on ACT math scores

Students Get Involved in the Community

Civic Engagement Projects – Working with Others

Voter registration with the League of Women Voters Part of the eCitizenship Initiative of the American Democracy Project (ADP) Emphasis on (new to Kansas) electronic voter registration Voter Education – Constitution Day Hosted the Only Debate for the US House of Representatives (No Quantitative Emphasis)

Students Get Involved in the Community

Civic Engagement Projects

Neighborhood Revitalization Project with the City of Emporia The City allocated $25,000 to assist with the cleanup Civic Engagement Students plan the logistics Civic Engagement Students Create the Assessment Total Tons Tons per block? Average Product? Percentages? All were challenging

Neighborhood Revitalization

Allocating Students and Mapping the Community Designing the Assessment of What Was Collected

Assessment

Total Tons Tons per Block Volume vs. Weight Tires per worker Average Product Percentages All were challenging

Environmental Awareness

Working with the City and the EPA Awareness Education Labeling (Painting) Storm Drains Brochure

Environmental Awareness

Working with the City and the EPA Awareness Education Labeling (Painting) Storm Drains Brochure

Bonding Experiences

Five Field Trips City of Emporia: Engineering Water Housing Fire and Rescue Topeka Rescue Mission

Topeka Rescue Mission

Distribution of Holiday Gifts The Homeless Shelter was Full Many in the Community are Homeless Students Help Organize and Assist with the Distribution

• f

Food, Appliances, Gifts Everyone gets Clothes Children - Toys

Characteristics of Experiences that Infmuence Student Learning

Patrick Terenzini (Last evening)

• 1. Entail encounters with challenging ideas & people
• 2. Require active engagement with those challenges
• 3. Occur in a supportive environment
• 4. Emphasize meaningful real-world examples
• 5. Involve relational, interpersonal connections

Other FYE Courses for the Undeclared

Issues Who Teaches the Courses? Uniformity Common Content Academic Freedom

Challenges

Student Interest Enrollment Attendance Completing Tasks

Other Initiatives

Adopt a Floor Segregated First Year Students Faculty/Staff Mentors

Questions & Comments

Rob Catlett

Department of Math, Computer Science, and Economics

rcatlett@emporia.edu

Stacey Braun

Student Advising Center

sbraun@emporia.edu