City College of San Francisco - California Competes

THEME I
methods for their participation. Many of the current tutors are students, which results in high turnover.
Given this, and the positive experience of the Math Lab in employing professional tutors (see “Math activities
past, present & future”), one of the goals of the English Department will be to hire more professional
tutors (classified employees) who will remain employed for longer periods and form a learning community
that addresses long-term change in the same way that the Math Lab has.
With Title III funding, the English Department is also working to improve lab instruction, which, in the
past, was unstructured and not sufficiently integrated with classroom work. Students go to the lab on their
own time (students in Koret-supported sections are required to spend 32 hours in the lab per semester)
and can select from a variety of activities that are becoming increasingly linked, with Title III funding,
directly to classroom outcomes. That is, English faculty are beginning to devote time to identifying lab
activities that correspond best to each week of classroom instruction such that they can give students
specific assignments for the lab.
Math activities past, present & future. Math activities in the realm of basic skills have focused primarily
on determining the best format for delivering instruction, as well as on tutoring and workshops to
accompany classroom teaching. In the realm of formal classroom instruction, the Basic Skills Initiative
has targeted courses at the E level, a grouping of courses at the same basic skill level that are offered in a
variety of formats. The traditional format for these courses has been self-paced over the course of 17 weeks
(one semester). The Math Department subsequently realized that the 17-week model was not producing
the desired pass rates and began offering several 7-week self-paced sections in addition to the 17-week
sections in Fall 1992. Then, in Fall 2002, in response to the fact that pass rates were still not optimal, the
Department opened up a new, lecture-based variant of E level courses which became known as E3 while
the “traditional” 7- and 17-week courses became known as E1. Over time, in part with Koret funding as
of Spring 2003, the College has been testing these different models, including another variant on E1 that
includes workshop tutoring support as well.
To date, the College has found that students in the E3 classes (both with and without an associated workshop)
pass at significantly higher rates than students enrolled in the E1 self-paced class (again, the
“original” basic skills course). The E1 pass rate has remained relatively steady from Spring 2003 through
Fall 2004. Performance in fall semesters is generally higher than in spring for E3 courses, but the general
trend is that E3 student pass rates are not only much higher than performance in E1, but also are increasing
modestly when comparing Fall 2004 to Spring 2003. Based on these findings, the College is in the
process of reducing the number of traditional E1 sections available and replacing most of them with E3
sections until the time that an optimal balance between the two is achieved. This is not without caution;
the Department has found that a certain number of students will always prefer the self-paced model (e.g.,
those who test into basic skills Math but in reality have enough Math background to quickly pass into the
next level of Math, 840). The Department has also initially found that students who enroll in Elementary
Algebra after passing E3 have not exhibited pass rates as high as those who enroll in Elementary Algebra
after passing E1. The College is continuing to examine these differences.
In addition to the Department’s exploration of how best to structure classes, faculty have begun collectively
investigating specific pedagogies and activities to engage students, based on their realization that the
materials (e.g., worksheets) used in the E sections, although designed to promote learning, have not radically
improved student success rates. An informal group of roughly 10 faculty now meet on a regular basis
to discuss not only how to support the 10–15 percent of students at the lowest end who are not likely to
pass in one semester, but also the basic skills Math curriculum more generally. Questions they are exploring
include, “Are certain topics more important Less important Are exercises and activities appropriately
suited to promote learning” One outcome of these discussions has been the decision to incorporate more
manipulatives into classroom activities.
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