Reading and English Basic Skills Tracking Studies

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Reading and English Basic Skills Tracking Studies
Presented to Basic Skills Workgroup March 15,
2007 By Institutional Research and
Planning Michelle Barton Presenter Dick Borden
Research Analyst
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Purpose Overview

• Initial sharing of data as part of our discussion
  about our Basic Skills students.
• Information presented will be at the general
  level.

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Purpose Overview

• Cohort study of students who enter into the
  reading and English curriculum at the basic
  skills level
• Demographics
• Course Flow (progress)
• Term-to-term persistence

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Before we get started Cohort Tracking

• Cohort
• A group of students who share a common
  characteristic (e.g., enrolled in a specific
  Basic Skills course)
• Cohorts are discipline specific
• Reading
• English
• ESL
• Math
• Tracked over four years (twelve semesters)

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Before we get started Cohort Tracking

• For each discipline, students are placed into a
  cohort based on two factors
• Term of first attempt in a course
• Level of first course (i.e., Basic Skills (0-49),
  AA Degree Applicable (50-99), Transfer Level
  (100)
• Therefore, we are looking at entry cohorts
• Cohorts 1995-96 through 2002-2003, then combined
  them.

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Before we get started Cohort Tracking

• What did we look at?
• Demographics
• Progress
• Success/NonSuccess
• Flow through levels within the Discipline
• Courses taken outside of the discipline
• Term-to-term Persistence

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And Finally

• All information is descriptive
• Not intended to draw conclusions about cause and
  effect

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Reading
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What is the demographic profile of our students
who enter into the reading curriculum at the
basic skills level?
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Reading Basic Skills Cohort

• Demographics
• Tables.ppt

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Reading Basic Skills Cohort Summary
Demographics

• Gender
• A few more females
• Ethnicity
• Very diverse 1/3 Hispanic
• Age
• Also diverse 2/3 younger than 25, 1/5 older than
  34
• FT-PT status
• Almost 1/3 full-time in first semester
• Financial Aid status
• Almost 1/3 on financial aid their first semester

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Do our reading students progress through the
reading course sequence (or levels)?
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Reading Basic Skills Cohort Course Flow
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Reading Basic Skills CohortCourse Flow
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Reading Basic Skills CohortCourse Flow
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Reading Basic Skills CohortCourse Flow

• Summary
• 64 passed a Basic Skills reading course
• 13 passed an AA level reading course
• 10 passed a Transfer level reading course
• Average terms to successful completion of
  transfer course 3.11.

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What other types of courses did they take?
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Reading Basic Skills CohortEnrollment in Other
Courses
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Reading Basic Skills CohortEnrollment in Other
Courses
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Reading Basic Skills CohortEnrollment in Other
Courses
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Reading Basic Skills Cohort Enrollment in Other
Courses

• Summary
• Generally, students in basic skills reading
  cohort did not enroll in ESL courses.
• Some enrollments in basic skills English, basic
  skills math and AA math
• Many enrolled in Other Transfer On average
  successful students earned over 16 units

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Reading Basic Skills Cohort Enrollment in Other
Courses

• What if we looked at just those that passed their
  Basic Skills reading course?

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Reading Basic Skills CohortEnrollment in Other
Courses

• What if we looked at just those that never passed
  their Basic Skills reading course?

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Did students in the reading basic skills cohort
persist from term-to-term?
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Reading Basic Skills CohortTerm-to-Term
Persistence
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Reading Basic Skills CohortSummary

• Demographics
• Slightly more female than male
• Diverse
• 2/3 younger than 25 1/5 older than 34
• Course Flow over four years
• 13 passed AA level Math
• 10 passed transfer level
• Average one year to complete transfer level (if
  attempting and completing)

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Reading Basic Skills CohortSummary

• In general, students in the reading basic skills
  cohort did not enroll in ESL courses
• They did enroll in English, Math and Other
  subjects

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English
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What is the demographic profile of our students
who enter into the English curriculum at the
basic skills level?
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English Basic Skills CohortDemographic Profile

• Demographics
• Tables.ppt

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English Basic Skills CohortDemographic Profile
Summary

• Gender
• Evenly split (until transfer level English)
• Ethnicity
• Basic skills cohorts are diverse
• Age
• Over three quarters of students starting out in
  basic skills English students are under 25
• FT-PT status
• Half are full-time in first semester
• Financial Aid status
• Almost one quarter on financial aid their first
  semester

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Do students who enter the English curriculum at
the basic skills level progress through the
English course sequence?
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English Basic Skills Cohort Course Flow

• Summary
• 64 passed a basic skills English course
• 35 passed an AA level English course
• 24 passed a transfer level English course
• Average terms to successful completion of
  transfer course 5.7.

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What other types of courses did they take?
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English Basic Skills Cohort Enrollment in Other
Courses
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English Basic Skills Cohort Enrollment in Other
Courses
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English Basic Skills Cohort Enrollment in Other
Courses
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English Basic Skills Cohort Enrollment in Other
Courses

• Summary
• Generally, English Basic Skills students did not
  enroll in reading or ESL courses.
• Some enrollments in Math courses at the basic
  skills and AA levels
• Most enrolled in other transfer level courses
  Those successful in these courses earned on
  average 22 units.

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English Basic Skills Cohort Enrollment in Other
Courses

• What if we looked at just those that passed their
  Basic Skills English course?

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English Basic Skills Cohort Enrollment in Other
Courses

• What if we looked at just those that never passed
  their Basic Skills English course?

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Do students who enter into the English curriculum
at the basic skills level persist from
term-to-term?
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English Basic Skills CohortTerm-to-Term
Persistence
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English Basic Skills CohortSummary

• Demographics
• Even split between female and male
• Diverse
• Younger than 25
• Course flow over four years
• 35 passed AA level English
• 24 passed transfer level English
• Average 5 semesters (incl. summer) to complete
  transfer level

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English Basic Skills CohortSummary

• Other courses
• In general, English Basic Skills students did not
  enroll in reading or ESL courses
• They did enroll in Math and Other subjects
• Success in Basic Skills English
• Complete more units than non-successful
• Persist from term-to-term