Developmental Education Committee

Meeting Minutes: October 4, 2004

Present: Rody Bowers-Hughes, Ann DeArmond, Hanna Erpestad, Kathy Grosh, Terese Johnson, Damon Kapke, Georgia Robillard , Jeri Schwerin, Paula Young

1. New Members - Terese Johnson is the new representative to our committee from Student Life. It was noted that the committee needs representation from at least one technical program. Committee members will continue to look for participation from the technical programs.
2. Learning Center-

• Study groups - Paula reported that the Learning Center has started several study groups in the science areas and is hoping to organize groups for math and specific writing skills.
• Tutor Training - Training of peer tutors is currently taking place. Several specific topics need to be addressed for students to acquire CRLA certification. One area is ESL tutoring and Damon will address that topic at the next training session.
• Advisory Committee - An advisory committee consisting of cross campus members has been established to help guide and advise Learning Center Activities. The first goal of this group is to expand the library of current textbooks in the LC.
• Tutors - An ESL tutor is being hired and currently there is a tutor for assisting students in the area of study skills. Tutor schedules are available on the LC webpage.

3. ESL - Damon reported that it has been difficult getting the program going due to students, who would benefit from ESL instruction, not taking the classes. Only one class in ESL ran this semester, but it is hoped that the next level of reading and writing will be offered in the spring. It was also recommended that an Advisory Board be established for the ESL program and that another meeting of the ESL task force be held before Spring semester. Ann said she would talk to Jim Berg about setting up another meeting to discuss plans for spring and next year.
4. Class Cancellations -

• Frustration was expressed over the cancellation of not only the ESL classes, but other developmental courses the week before the start of Fall semester.
• Georgia said it is most difficult for her advising. She often places disability students in specific courses where she feels they will be successful partly due to the instructor and then the instructor is changed at the last minute or the class is canceled. When assignments are changed, she then must re-write accommodations.
• Consistency and credibility are questioned when courses are canceled and staffing changed right before the start of a semester. The committee also expressed concern that developmental courses are often taught by adjunct hired at the last minute, rather than unlimited faculty. A best practice in the area of Developmental Education is the staffing of developmental courses with well-trained, full-time instructors.

5. Learning Communities -

• A huge thank you to the advisors and Student Services for their hard work this summer encouraging students to be part of the two developmental learning communities and for the great job they did assisting students in registering appropriately for the two Developmental Education Learning Communities.
• Hanna reported that as an instructor in one of the Learning Communities she has found it very useful to understand the curriculum in the Reading course, as well as the sharing of student information between instructors. She said the students also are benefiting from knowing each other better.
• The four faculty involved and Paula will be meeting soon to discuss the success of the cohorts and also the assessment of students. They will also determine dates for advisors to meet with students in the first level classes to register students for Spring cohorts in the second level of developmental reading and writing.
• As part of the IE initiative students in the cohorts are to be tested at the end of the semester with ACCUPLACER. Ann suggested it would be most helpful to post-test all students taking the reading and writing courses; however, funds were only set aside for students in the learning communities.
• The CSI survey will also be given to students in these courses as another means of assessment.

6. Assessment Activities - Ann reported that the CSI survey worked well with the campus-wide assessment of student learning. Another assessment project is occurring in the Critical Reading courses. The Nurse Entrance Exam was given to all Critical Reading students at the beginning of the semester and will also be administered at the end of semester. This will give both the reading and nursing instructors needed information on the usefulness of the course for all students. Since, this test is a diagnostic tool rather than a placement test; it can give some very useful information on specific skills and assist instructors in changing curriculum and assignments, if needed.
7. Curriculum Changes - Ann reminded everyone that any changes in curriculum need to be given to Student Services. This is necessary to be sure placement messages are accurate on student advising reports and also to help advisors and students in the registering process. Kathy said she would remind the Math instructors of this as they are involved in significant changes to their courses. The committee questioned Kathy about the accelerated course for Algebra I and II. Several members expressed concern about this configuration. Another concern was brought up by Georgia about the Elementary Algebra test allowing students who would score into Adult Basic Ed from the Arithmetic test, to be placed into Pre-Algebra. Ann suggested that there should be a way for the Elementary Algebra test to move students back to the Arithmetic test and will talk to Joni about that.
8. MnADE - Ann, Paula, and Sherry Dalager will be attending the Minnesota Association of Developmental Education conference on October 7 and 8 and will report back at the next meeting.
9. Research - Further research on the success of students taking college courses after completing developmental classes is being done as a follow up to the study completed last spring. Hopefully more information will be available soon.
10. Journal - Copies of the Journal of Developmental Education, including the Fall 2004 issue, are available in the CTL room on the third floor.
11. Other - The committee expressed a desire to review the mission statement and goals of the Developmental Education program at the next meeting. It was also suggested that the program have its mission and goals in the school catalog.

The next meeting will be Monday, November 1, at noon. The room will be determined at a later date.

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