City College of San Francisco - California Competes

THEME II
The English Department’s various SLO initiatives are still in the early stages of development and implementation.
Only the English 94 common exam has been used long enough to produce preliminary
evidence of its effectiveness. But the preliminary evidence is significant. Comparing Fall 1999 to Fall 2003,
student retention increased from 70.6 percent to 77.2 percent, and success rates increased from 53.8 percent
to 61.4 percent. 10 Not only are more students staying in the classes, but more students are succeeding
in those classes. During this same period, there have also been positive changes in the retention and
success rates for the courses that lead into and follow English 94. While it is not possible to attribute all
of these positive developments to the implementation of the English 94 common exam, it is quite clear
that the changes that the common exam effected in the Department are having a substantial impact on
teaching and learning.
Why is this single assessment intervention having such a major impact on teaching and learning and
the redesign of the curriculum There are many potential explanations. First, it is not surprising that
outcomes assessment will improve as faculty more clearly define what those outcomes should be. Second,
outcomes assessment is an effective way of monitoring the consistency across multiple sections of a single
course. However, the ability to monitor outcomes is also one of the most controversial aspects of the SLO
movement. Some teachers fear that outcomes assessment will be used in the evaluation of faculty (in fact,
the accreditation standards include such a requirement in III.A 1.c), and that faculty who cannot produce
adequate student performance on common assessments will be negatively evaluated. Other faculty
contend that common outcomes assessments will encourage faculty to “teach to the test.”
The experience of the CCSF English Department may point to a middle ground in this often polarizing
dialog. The English 94 common exam has demonstrated that faculty can actively engage in common
assessment procedures without using those procedures as a punitive evaluation criterion. Most faculty
want to improve their performance and increase retention and success rates. The English common exam
experience provides evidence that faculty will have tools to improve their performance when they are
given clear objectives and methods for assessing their effectiveness in accomplishing those objectives.
Most reading and writing instructors believe that developing a student’s reading and writing skills is as
much about developing a student’s ability to use processes as it is about arriving at a correct answer.
Therefore, it is not possible to “teach to the test” under these circumstances. The test merely evaluates
the student’s mastery of the process and provides evidence that the instruction is effective. The most
significant lesson of the English 94 initiative is the impact that outcomes assessment can have on a
program and department.
Student Development SLO Initiative—A Context for Identity and Identifying. To fully appreciate the
Student Learning Outcomes initiatives in the Student Development Division, it is important to place thiseffort
in the context of the development of the Division itself. Until 2001, all of the programs and services
currently in Student Development were organized under the supervision of the Provost, who had responsibility
for overseeing all instructional programs, student services, and all campuses. In Spring 2001, a new
Vice Chancellor of Student Development position was created and a new division was defined that included
all counseling services, learning assistance, matriculation, admissions and records, and several targeted
student retention programs. This was the first time in the College’s recent history that the programs and
services in student development had an independent identity and leadership with full-time responsibility
for addressing the goals of the Division.
Soon after establishing the new Vice Chancellor’s office, the College undertook a careful examination
and evaluation of the organization of the Student Development Division that led to the reorganization
of counseling programs and services. Prior to the restructuring, almost all of the counseling services
10 Fall comparative data has been used for these comparisons since students tend to perform at lower levels during the fall
vs. spring semesters. Success rates are determined as completing the course with a “C” or better and include withdrawals
as unsuccessful.
270 CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO