College Readiness Project
In 1994, the Instruction Commission of Washington State’s Community and Technical Colleges requested that an effort be made to study the “readiness” of students moving from developmental reading, writing and mathematics to college entry-level courses. The request led to a statewide effort to create developmental education outcomes for the state’s two-year colleges funded by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) Assessment, Teaching & Learning initiative. Interested faculty from all the colleges were brought together to work on this project.
The purpose of the College-Ready Project evolved into three key components:
- To provide a consistent framework for evaluating “college-readiness,” e.g., what students should know and be able to do when they exit developmental education courses and enroll in college entry-level courses or enter the workforce.
- To provide evidence to support the key role developmental education plays in preparing students for success in college and the workplace.1
- To address accountability questions raised by the legislature and public.
Initially, community and technical college faculty gathered information from a variety of sources.
- Program outcomes specific to their individual colleges.
- The work of Washington State’s Commission on Student Learning to define K-12 benchmarks.
- The efforts in other states to define what it means to be college ready.
- Workplace skill standards considered necessary for one to be an effective worker.
- The work of the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) to define minimum admission standards for four-year institutions.
- Developmental education educators with knowledge of theories of cognitive psychology and the current research on how people learn.
- Faculty who teach college entry-level courses for input on their expectations of what students need to be able to know and do when entering their courses in order to be successful (see Survey, Appendix A).
Using this information, the Project faculty developed Learning Outcomes—general expectations for exit—for reading, writing, mathematics, student responsibility, and observing, listening, speaking. The outcomes were agreed upon by faculty in all the two-year colleges and endorsed by the Community and Technical College system’s Instruction Commission in May 19972. The learning outcomes are considered “a work in progress” and are reviewed periodically to ensure their currency and validity. Revisions have already occurred and the area of technology added since the initial efforts.
In phase two, at bi-yearly workshops involving many of the initial Project faculty, Assessments were designed to focus on the knowledge and skills students needed to succeed in college entry-level courses. As a component of the assessments, criteria were developed to reflect the level of proficiency required. The criteria were then examined in light of actual student work. The assessments—available on the SBCTC’s Assessment, Teaching & Learning web page—are intended as a resource to developmental education programs and faculty throughout the state. How faculty decides to teach and assess the outcomes is an individual choice.
Recognizing that no one individual assessment can measure all the outcomes of a developmental education course, and with each assessment having its own ‘Criteria for Evaluating’ or Rubric, efforts then focused on developing course expectation rubrics. This effort has resulted in rubrics for reading, writing, mathematics, student responsibility and technology.
Current efforts are to increase sample assessments, particularly for outcomes not well represented by current assessments, to collect student work, and to promote discussion of developmental education learning communities and how to assess them.
A real sense of purpose and direction has evolved since the College-Ready Projects early beginnings. Participants continue to help frame a vision of developmental education—what we teach, how we evaluate, and what are standards for achievement. For additional information, please contact Anna Sue McNeill at amcneill@sbctc.ctc.edu or 360-704-4345.
The participation of numerous educators from across the state has been essential to the success of this project. Appendix B lists the names of faculties and administrators who have been involved through participation in the workshops and/or submission of assessments and student work.
1SBCTC data show that for both transfer and workforce students combined, students who complete a developmental education course are more likely to stay in school and persist towards their transfer and workforce preparation goals making developmental education a good investment. return to main text
2In addition, individual colleges and/or faculty may have outcomes specific to their campus or course. return to main text