Developmental Education Committee

Meeting Minutes: December 4, 2002

Present: Becky Bradshaw, Barb Cox, Ann DeArmond, Jerry Niebauer, Nancy Schumacher

Minutes:

1. ESL - The Retention Committee has also been discussing the need to serve ESL students at LSC and have talked to the Area Learning Center about visiting our campus to explain their services. It was noted that a few years ago representatives from the Area Learning Center shared their information with the Developmental Education Task Force, and it was determined then that there was a gap in services provided to students whose first language is not English. This task force strongly recommends some action be taken to address the needs of this population of students.
2. Advising for Spring and Fall - Developmental Education instructors are interested in assisting with the training of the new advisors that will be hired in the next few months. Possible ways we can help is to provide written information, such as the current summaries we have available for developmental reading and writing classes, or some type of brochure. We also would be willing to work with new advisors during a duty day at the end of Spring semester. It is imperative that advisors understand the scope and purpose of developmental courses. Advisors need to be aware of mandatory placement and how these courses can improve basic skills that are needed to be successful in college. The advising center will need to be reminded again of the need for students who score into Reading 0450 to be taking Study Skills 0451 concurrently.
3. Schedule - Developmental Math, Reading, and English faculty will work in the next few weeks to develop a student friendly schedule to give to the Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences to help in preparing for academic year 2003-4.
4. Essential Skills and Concepts for Biology and Health - BIOL 1102 (Developmental Science course) - Ann met with instructors from the nursing program and science courses to develop a plan to assist students preparing for the nursing degree. The entrance exam for the nursing program will be given prior to students being accepted into the program to identify students that may be at risk in successfully completing the courses needed. Data collected from previous exams has indicated that some students, who may not score into developmental reading on the Accuplacer test, are struggling with the scientific inferential reading required on the nursing exam and in their science and nursing courses. It was decided that these students will be advised to take BIOL 1102 and READ 1450 (Critical Reading) concurrently. They will then be re-tested to see if their reading skills and understanding of scientific material has improved. Ideally it would be a benefit to have this group of students as a cohort taking the same section of the science class and reading class. However, it is unknown at this time the number of students that will take this combination of classes and so difficult to schedule. It might be reasonable to have ready blind sections of both classes that would work well together in the schedule and be available should a large enough number of students require both courses.
5. Research - The appropriate research form has been obtained from the Office of Institutional Research to request research concerning developmental education students. Questions identified by this committee will be forwarded to Sue Sternerson's office for consideration this spring.

Next Meeting - With the end of the year quickly approaching, the committee has decided it will not meet again this semester. Committee members will be notified of the first meeting in January. Candy Barnack will facilitate the meetings during the Spring Semester.

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