Defining Excellence: Lessons from the 2013 Aspen Prize Finalists Presentation at Innovations 2014

Defining Excellence: Lessons from the 2013 Aspen Prize

Finalists

Presentation at Innovations 2014

Dr. Rob Johnstone, National Center for Inquiry & Improvement (NCII)

Joshua Wyner, College Excellence Program, The Aspen Institute

COLLEGE EXCELLENCE PROGRAM


THE ASPEN PRIZEWinners and Finalists

Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA (2013)Valencia College, Orlando, FL (2011)Walla Walla Community College, Walla Walla, WA (2013)

Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, NY (2013)Lake Area Technical Institute, Watertown, SD (2011, 2013)Miami-Dade College, Miami, FL (2011)West Kentucky Community & Technical College, Paducah, KY (2011)

Brazosport College, Lake Jackson, TXBroward College, Ft. Lauderdale, FLCollege of the Ouachitas, Malvern, AR Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Perkinston, MSMott Community College, Flint, MINortheast Iowa Community College, Calmar, IASanta Fe College, Gainesville, FLSoutheast Kentucky Community & Technical College, Cumberland, KYSouthwest Texas Junior College, Uvalde, TX

WINNERS

FINALISTS w/ DISTINCTION

FINALISTS

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• Completion outcomes• Learning outcomes• Labor market outcomes• Equity in outcomes

THE ASPEN PRIZEFour measures of community college excellence:

High absolute performance

Improvement over time

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Lessons from the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence


Outcomes of Prize finalist colleges: Completion/Transfer rates that far surpass the national average

Three-year completion and/or transfer rates compared to the national average

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National Average Finalist Average Top 3 Average

40%

53%

64%

• Lake Area Technical Institute (ND)• Santa Barbara City College (CA)• Santa Fe College (FL)


Outcomes of Prize finalist colleges: Exceptional improvements over time in completion

Increase in the number of credentials awarded at Valencia College, 2002-2011

*Note: Enrollment increased by only 40% between 2006-07 and 2011-12

COLLEGE EXCELLENCE PROGRAM5

-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

1%

6%

13%



Outcomes of Prize finalist colleges: Exceptional equity in access for underrepresented populations

% Difference between underrepresented minority enrollment in institution and percentage of the population in the college’s service area (TOP THREE PERFORMERS)

0% means the college’s enrollment has the same proportion of underrepresented minority students as the general population; i.e., minorities are fully represented at the college

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Outcomes of Prize finalist colleges: Far greater equity in outcomes than the national average

Three-year completion and/or transfer rates for underrepresented minority students compared to the national average

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National Average Finalist Average Top 3 Average

34%

44%49%

• Brazosport College (TX)• Santa Barbara City College (CA)• Santa Fe College (FL)



Outcomes of Prize finalist colleges: Exceptional short-term labor market outcomes for graduates

Average salaries of recent graduates compared to the average for all new-hires in the region (TOP THREE PERFORMERS)

Lake Area Technical Institute (SD)

$20,540

$28,756

40% above avg.

Regional average

Walla Walla Community College (WA)

$23,211

$41,548

79% above avg.

Regional average

Brazosport College (TX)

$31,086

$56,576

82% above avg.

Regional average

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Outcomes of Prize finalist colleges: Exceptional long-term labor market outcomes

Average salaries of graduates 5 years after graduation compared to the average for all workers in the region (TOP THREE PERFORMERS)

Walla Walla Community College (WA)

$36,803

$57,044

Miami-Dade College (FL)

$45,664

$63,016

Brazosport College (TX)

$46,832

$77,272

55% above avg.

38% above avg.

65% above avg.

Regional average

Regional average

Regional average

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Lessons from the Aspen Prize:

Themes emerging from site visits to finalist colleges


Themes characterizing the institutions that achieve exceptional outcomes for students:

1. Strong leadership & vision

2. Clear pathways to credentials and other intentional structures to support students

3. Intentional focus on improving teaching and learning

4. Consistent, systematic, & strategic use of data to improve practice

5. Integrated structures that link the college to the broader community for the benefit of students





Theme 1: Strong Leadership & VisionExceptional colleges have strong executive leaders who:

• Communicate a clear vision focused explicitly on student success, and ensure that all the institution’s work and resources aim towards that goal

• Inspire and sustain a change in culture towards innovation, data-informed practice, and shared responsibility for student success

• Consistently act in ways that make clear that their central concern is student success, including by taking risks

• Develop strong external partnerships that support student success

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West Kentucky Community and Technical College • President Barbara Veazey implemented a standardized reading assessment

across the college and used the discouraging results to build urgency. • Engaged faculty in a college-wide dialog about they might improve reading

skills, and thus student outcomes overall. • Leveraged that dialog into:

A system where nearly every instructor in the college was part of a “learning circle” to develop, implement, and evaluate new college-wide strategies to teach reading

Development of defined learning outcomes, common course rubrics, and common final test questions used by multiple professors

A sustained, collaborative focus on the discipline of teaching and learning, which remains a signature element of the college’s culture

• Result: Over 40% improvement in reading scores across the college.

Theme 1: Strong Leadership & Vision (example)

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Lake Area Technical Institute

• Every action taken by President Deb Shephard is aligned to a single goal: rigorously preparing students for in-demand careers.

• Shephard sets high expectations for all programs to communicate with stakeholders and deliver exactly what both students and industry need.

• Through unusually close relationships with employers, faculty design and continuously update programs and instruction so that students develop the right skills for their future jobs.

• Students engage in high levels of hands-on learning from the beginning of every class, so students are fully engaged in courses that closely simulate their future work environment.

• Result: 76% graduation rate and remarkably strong employment rates for graduates.

Theme 1: Strong Leadership & Vision (example)

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Theme 2: Clear pathways and structures for student support



The most effective of the Prize finalist colleges have built comprehensive student support systems crossing major functional or curricular divisions that historically did not work together. They have:

• Built new pathways to success that eliminated pitfalls for students, including narrowly defined course sequences, fully integrated learning communities, and block program structures.

• Embedded high-impact support services within the classroom to ensure that all students receive core non-academic supports (e.g., advising, registration, tutoring, note-taking guidance, career counseling).

• Redesigned systems from scratch (one-stop shops, new registration centers, etc.) and implemented them college-wide rather than in small pilots.

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Theme 2: Clear pathways and structures for student support (example)



Miami-Dade College

• Part of its work with Completion by Design addressed challenge of over 1,000 courses in hundreds of pathways with no clear direction for students

• Engaged faculty and advisors in the design of structured course sequences

• Established clear expectation for fundamental change, using data and leadership to create urgency

• Created time and space for faculty to learn from students and advisors,

ensuring deep understanding of challenges of existing program structure

• Result: New default curricula for five degree pathways, that, together, serve 60 percent of all new students

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Theme 2: Clear pathways and structures for student support (example)



Santa Fe College

• Created My Academic Plan, an online program that guides students through their entire academic program based on their degree goals and schedules—a structure that builds academic planning around students’ lives.

• MAP configures class schedules for students to select from based on their real-life schedules and degree goals. If they choose a course off their degree path, a warning alerts them.

• After two semesters, the MAP system insists that undecided students declare a program of study.

• Students can see at any point if the courses they are registering for will count toward transfer to dozens of four-year colleges, removing reliance on advising and helping students chart out a clear path to transfer.

• Result: very high rates of four-year transfer and bachelor’s degree attainment.

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Theme 3: Intentional focus on teaching & learningLessons from the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence


Exceptional colleges set the expectation that faculty and staff will continually improve their own practices. They take seriously the scholarship of teaching and learning and make intentional efforts to improve the quality of instruction. This focus is demonstrated by:

• Faculty engaged in self-assessment and eager to improve their instruction to better serve students.

• Explicit connections between individual student learning and larger measures of course, program, and institution success.

• A systematic use of evidence of students’ learning outcomes to drive improvements in instruction.

• Tenure and promotion models supported by systematic collection and discussion of data on student learning outcomes.

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Theme 3: Intentional focus on teaching & learning (example)Lessons from the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence


Santa Barbara City College

• Driven by a strong, shared focus on transfer preparation and equitable outcomes, the college has established strong tutoring centers to deliver the rigorous education students need to succeed at the college and in later bachelor’s programs.

• Exceptional writing center is staffed by trained faculty and is aimed not just at improving a given assignment but at teaching writing skills that are applicable for all future work.

• Well-staffed and planned math tutoring center experiences exceptional levels of student participation.

• Peer tutors embedded in courses provide a crucial link between professors and struggling students.

• Results: Very strong four-year transfer and bachelor’s completion rates, including for Hispanic students.

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Theme 3: Intentional focus on teaching & learning (example)Lessons from the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence


Valencia College

• Throughout the college, faculty consistently invent new approaches to teaching and measure whether they improve student learning.

• Two-thirds of tenured faculty came through the new tenure process, which requires “action research projects”: Candidates take a new approach to teaching, measure student outcomes, and present results to colleagues.

• Faculty built and implemented the Teaching & Learning Academy, a high-quality center for professional development tied to both tenure and continuous improvement.

• The college is working to improve the post-tenure review process and engage adjuncts in Teaching and Learning Academy practices.

• Result: Graduation rates nearly double those of peer institutions; strong transfer and bachelor’s completion rates.

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Theme 4: Consistent and strategic use of data

Colleges that achieve exceptional outcomes for students go beyond data-driven practice; they have cultures of inquiry and action evident in the use of varied forms of data and information to systematically diagnose, assess, benchmark, and make decisions.• Data are distributed consistently throughout the institution that reflect the

focus on student success.• Data beyond internal measures are collected to help understand students’

longer-term success—such as labor market outcomes and post-transfer academic success including bachelor’s degree completion.

• Faculty and staff are given structured time and space to meet, analyze, and discuss data on student outcomes.

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Valencia College

• Data are consistently used to focus everyone on common student success challenges that drive reform plans and answer questions about which interventions work.

• Examples of effective data use include:

• At the outset of strategic planning process, reports are presented to faculty and staff about gaps in student success that are relevant across departments and programs.

• Enrollment reports were replaced with course outcome reports to signal shift from emphasis on student enrollment to student success.

• Tenure-track faculty are required to implement new approaches to teaching and learning, measure their results for students, and make presentations on their effectiveness.

Theme 4: Consistent and strategic use of data (example)

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Walla Walla Community College

• Data on labor market trends and completion drive consistent, iterative changes in programs and communications with students.

• Examples of effective data practice include:

• Helping undecided students choose a program of study based on projected jobs and earnings data.

• Closing and opening programs based on rigorous assessment of future labor market needs and analysis of graduates’ employment outcomes and earnings.

• Targeting retention and counseling efforts on predictive analytics (e.g., using early alert system to intervene early in semester when students showed signs of failing).

Theme 4: Consistent and strategic use of data (example)

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Theme 5: Integrated structures with external partners for the benefit of students

Exceptional colleges understand their role in improving students’ lives as one segment of a longer trajectory—from high schools, work, military, or unemployment, and on to jobs or four-year institutions. They build new structures—not just partnerships—to link the college to its community and create seamless experiences for students. For example, they:

• Build strong ties with regional industries to help students get jobs, anticipate growing industries, and design curricula for the jobs that exist.

• Work with K-12 districts to align academic requirements and implement early-warning and college-prep systems to reduce the need for remedial education.

• Work with four-year colleges to develop collaborative programs, guaranteed transfer, and aligned academic requirements for transfer.

• Make the college a vital community asset, building brand recognition and attracting new resources that benefit students.

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Walla Walla Community College

• The college ties its workforce credentials, general education degrees, and assets to specific community needs, building programs that ensure that the college effectively serves multiple parts of the community.

• The college created a very large academic program for prisoners with high rates of success and low rates of post-graduation recidivism.

• Cutting-edge programs in wind energy, water management, and hybrid vehicles reflect a strong commitment to developing a sustainable economy.

• A new center for watershed issues provides learning opportunities to students while helping to resolve longstanding water rights issues and restore local waterways in partnership with local Native American tribes.

• Result: Deep community support and ever-expanding opportunity for a diverse student population and the region at large.

Theme 5: Integrated structures with external partners for the benefit of students (example)

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Santa Barbara City College

• Santa Barbara has developed a model relationship with its primary K-12 feeder system to ensure broad access, prepare students for the rigors of college, and help them develop a plan to complete college.

• The college president and deans meet regularly with the superintendent and principals from the local K-12 school district.

• The college helps deliver and regularly refines a mandatory college-prep curriculum for high school students designed together by high school instructors and college faculty.

• Result: Very strong student success rates, including for the large number of Hispanic students it enrolls from the local K-12 system.

Theme 5: Integrated structures with external partners for the benefit of students (example)

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For more information, contact:

Josh WynerThe Aspen InstituteOne DuPont Circle NW, Suite 700Washington, DC 20036

[email protected](202) 736 – 2286www.aspeninstitute.org/cep

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mailto:[email protected]

http://www.aspeninstitute.org/cep

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Defining Excellence: Lessons from the 2013 Aspen Prize Finalists Presentation at Innovations 2014