TCCTA Blog

No Math Required

Wayne State University, in Michigan, has suspended its requirement that all students take a mathematics course, "striking at the heart of a debate over whether math should be a mandatory part of general education," as reported by Maxine Joselow, in Inside Higher Ed. 

The suspension is temporary until each department at the school decides which math course, if any, should be required for each major. It is expected the change won't alter curricula in disciplines that are heavy in quantitative subjects, but it might exempt students who major in the social sciences, fine arts, and humanities, the article reports. 

Please read the piece for reactions involving various professional associations. Most commentary is predictable but is interesting nonetheless. 

Many states, including Texas, do not require algebra for some majors, most recently adopting for certain students a pathway emphasizing statistics instead. Here is a link for background. 

Some authorities think algebra is obsolete for many career fields. Those with long memories may recollect that, many years ago, some majors in Texas (including education) did not require any mathematics, if it was replaced by courses in another category such as foreign languages. 

Wayne State is taking it a step further, or perhaps backward. It is one thing to customize mathematics, and another to eliminate the subject altogether as a general education requirement, if this is what ultimately happens. As one critic observed, we live in a data-driven world now, so you would think mathematics would be more important than ever.

But math is the primary core subject students often don't finish, with a negative effect upon overall graduation rates. This is undoubtedly a principal driver of policy changes. 

New Article and Call for Submissions

A new short article, “Developing a ‘Visual Rhetoric’ for Students on the Spectrum,” by Jack Trammel, has been posted to the Texas Developmental Education Professional Community Online (TX DEPCO) blog:

http://depco.wp.txstate.edu/  

You can also find on the TX DEPCO blog the following recently featured arcticles:

·   “Centering Disability Support in the Learning Center” by Jack Trammell

·   “Beyond Pro and Con: Re-thinking MOOCs” by William J. Barry

 

Call for Submissions

An extension of The Texas Success Initiative (TSI) Professional Development (PD) Program (funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and managed by The Education Institute at Texas State University), the TX DEPCO is excited to receive submissions of short articles highlighting promising practices pertinent to college readiness. Articles must be 300-500 words and relate to the field of developmental education, adult education, or college readiness.

Please visit the TX DEPCO Call for Submissions page for details, or refer to the guidelines below.

The Texas Developmental Education Professional Community Online is excited to receive submissions of short articles highlighting promising practices pertinent to college readiness. Articles must be 300-500 words and relate to the field of developmental education, adult education, or college readiness.

Authors must specify in the article the area of specialty, type of content, and promising practice(s).

Areas of specialty include, but are not limited to, the following:

·   Literacy

·   Numeracy

·   Learning support

·   Learning centers

·   Advising

·   Diversity

·   Administration

·   Policy

·   Professional development.

Promising practices include, but are not limited to, the following:

·   Affective development

·   Beneficial knowledge (e.g. useful in future credit classes or jobs)

·   Critical thinking skills

·   Cognitive self-awareness

·   Supportive learning environment

·   Variety of instructional methods

·   Active learning techniques

·   Learning strategies

·   Integrating technology

Types of content include, but are not limited to, the following:

·   Classroom practices

·   Activities

·   Assignments

·   Infographs

·   Sample syllabi

In addition, we welcome submissions that have been adapted from a previously published article by the author as long as it adheres to the above guidelines and the author notes the original publication, which we will acknowledge upon reprint.

Please include at least 1-3 research- or evidence-based citations according to APA Style, 6th Ed.

Please submit articles and inquiries to [email protected]. Make sure the subject line indicates TX DEPCO.

OER-Based Degrees to Expand

Open Educational Resources (OED) allow students to take classes without having to purchase textbooks. If you need any further evidence that this development is the wave of the future, Achieving the Dream announced recently that it was launching a $9.8 million initiative to develop degree programs at 38 community colleges in 13 states that use OED.

It's covered in a brief unsigned article in Inside Higher Ed. 

Textbooks are estimated to cost $1,300 a year for a full-time community college student, according to the nonprofit organization. Students who don't complete college are more than 50 percent more likely than those who graduate to cite textbook costs as a major financial barrier, according to Public Agenda, a research firm, the article reports. 

Texas community colleges involved in the project include Odessa College and the Texas Consortium, consisting of: Alamo Colleges (Northeast Lakeview College, Northwest Vista College, Palo Alto College, San Antonio College, St. Philip’s College), Austin Community College, San Jacinto College, and El Paso Community College, according to the press release. Please see the release for details. 

What is Critical Thinking?

If you check the mission statement of your college, the school is probably charged with instilling "critical thinking" skills in students. The reason for this addition during the last generation is partly due to the advent of the Internet, with its ability to provide instant information on almost any subject. If you don't know much about the Bay of Pigs, for instance, a quick search online provides more facts than you likely want to know. Let Google handle it. 

Hence, the reasoning goes, we must get beyond mere knowledge and teach students how to think more critically. 

Well, don't tell anyone, but there is a debate going on over what critical thinking even means. For a comprehensive treatment of the subject, please have a look at this article by professor John Schlueter, in Inside Higher Ed. 

Some authorities argue that critical thinking is that which can be transferred to virtually any discipline. So we offer intro courses in critical thinking, presumably to get students to transcend rote memorization as they tackle college. Other authorities, however, argue that all thinking must involve context first. Please read the entire article for this important debate, which includes links to empirical data. The writer argues that, since we have placed our bets on critical thinking as a goal, we should teach ourselves what it is. It's a valid recommendation, assuming what's already expected of us. (By the way, it's likely that the author's definitions will not be your own, underscoring the confusion.)

In fact the big takeaway from the piece is the startling lack of consensus on what critical thinking entails. It's easy to see, for instance, how a kid in elementary school will learn what a "bay" and "pig" are. Then, later, the student will learn where the site is located (Cuba). Then he or she will examine the history (a botched CIA-led insurrection against Castro). Then, (finally?) a more advanced student will learn of the event's significance, perhaps symbolizing a misguided decision by policy makers, thereby teaching us a cautionary lesson about hubris—a concept from ancient Greece.

Lots of thinking going on there, but each of these steps can be memorized. Students do it every day. 

In fields involving quantification, the leap across disciplines can be seen between, say, calculus, and computer programming, or between economics and biology. But it's still difficult to take learning out of disciplinary context. That's the crux of the debate. 

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once famously wrote, on the subject of pornography, in a Freedom of Speech case, "I can't define it. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." His comment is not as ridiculous as it sounds. Someone must decide. Human impressions are inevitable.

When it comes to critical thinking, why not trust the teacher? We probably know it when we see it. At the very least, perhaps we should think more critically about critical thinking. 

Fulbright Program Offers Opportunities

The following is a message from the Fulbright Scholar program, which includes opportunities to study in Russia for community college educators.

Links are also provided regarding application for all Fulbright programs and other helpful details.  

Opportunities for Community College Faculty and Administrators in Russia
I am writing to you today with information about two exciting awards in Russia through the 2017-2018 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, and it is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and the people of other countries. Please feel free to forward this message to interested colleagues and share with appropriate associations and listservs.

Community College Faculty Award

This award provides the opportunity for academics at community colleges to teach at any appropriate institution in Russia for one or two semesters. This award is open to community college faculty with an MA and a minimum of five years college-level teaching experience after completion of the degree. Applications are sought in all appropriate disciplines, but applications in the following disciplines are preferred: Business Administration, Computer Science, Education, Information Sciences, Public Administration, Public/Global Health, Social Work, TEFL.

Community College Administrators Seminar

This award is open to community college administrators, including presidents, vice presidents, provosts, deans and other individuals with institutional authority for program development and international outreach. The overall objective of the two-week seminar is to prepare U.S. and Russian institutions to internationalize their campuses, broaden the scope of their programs and provide mobility opportunities. A PhD is not required, and applicants must have a minimum of five years experience in community college administration.

Complete award information can be found through the links above. For a complete list of Fulbright awards, please visit our Catalog of Awards.

For further information about specific awards, please contact program staff listed in the award description. You may also wish to register for one of our webinars or join our online community, My Fulbright, a resource center for applicants interested in the program.

Helpful Links

 Eligibility Guidelines

 Europe-Eurasia webpage

 Application Guidelines

 Review Guidelines

 

"The Fulbright experience changed my life. The process of completely immersing yourself into a new environment, both culturally and professionally, is something I would recommend everyone do at least once in their life. As it is difficult to articulate the value of such an action, perhaps the best way to evaluate the experience is to look at how many changes will remain after the award period is over. Professionally, this equates to two new science courses that will now be offered at my home institution, over 50 foreign students who now hold an open invitation to come to New York to further their career in academic science, a long-lasting collaboration with at least three labs that perform complementary work in Paris, and even the chance of bringing a Institut-Pasteur satellite to New York City "

~ Fulbright U.S. Scholar, 2014-15

  "When we are placed within entirely different societies through programs like the Fulbright, the opportunities and challenges for mutual understanding multiply and surprise us, demanding that we grow as individuals and as Americans, and that we negotiate difference in the service of a more perfect global community."

~ Fulbright U.S. Scholar, 2014-15

Regards,

Can Community Colleges Ban Handguns?

A Texas state representative has asked Attorney General Ken Paxton to determine whether community colleges offering classes for minors may prohibit concealed weapons when the "campus carry" law takes effect in 2017. The story is covered by Khorri Atkinson, in the Texas Tribune. 

Many community colleges across the state offer programs that allow students to take college credit courses on campus while in high school. Even though one program, known as Early College High School, is sometimes housed in separate buildings, the lawmaker, State Rep. Abel Herrero (D-Robstown), said students have full access to college classrooms and campus facilities, the article reports. Dual credit students are also a prominent and increasing presence at all community colleges. 

From the piece:

“This integration makes it practically impossible to limit their physical access to College buildings, service areas and classrooms,” the Robstown lawmaker wrote to Paxton in a letter released this week. “In short, dual credit students attend classes in campus classrooms along with college students. After all, this is a major part of the [Early College High School] design, which is to foster a college-going culture among students who may otherwise not be prepared socially and academically for college.”

Herrero's request comes in response to an opinion Paxton released in December, which said that concealed handguns in certain types of classrooms may spark safety concerns because state law prohibits the carrying of a firearm on the physical premises of grade schools.

This is an interesting development. Rep Herrero is the Democratic chair of the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, and "broke party lines last year and sided with Republicans in supporting the politically charged campus carry measure," the article states. 

Please read the entire piece for the competing points of view. 

TCCTA has asked consistently that community colleges be allowed to decide locally whether guns should be allowed in campus buildings. This new aspect of the issue underscores the variety of two-year colleges in their scope and mission. Public policy should accommodate such differences. 

 

Advanced High School Courses and Ethnicity

Calculus, algebra II, physics, and chemistry are examples of advanced high school courses offering an opportunity for strong students to prepare for STEM majors in college. However, a surprising number of high schools don't offer these courses. The issue is covered nicely in an article by Emily Duruy, in The Atlantic. It's worth a look. 

We know that course offerings have always been more limited in rural areas, but schools with a high proportion of ethnic minorities, perhaps in urban areas, are also institutions that often don't offer such classes. One can argue that supply and demand is at work, and that schools would offer advanced instruction if they had enough students to fill the classes, but it's still a very unfortunate phenomenon. The picture is brighter for high school girls, the article reports. 

The article doesn't get into it, but it's probably also the case that advanced literature classes, for instance, are also less likely to be found in the same schools. 

Here in Texas, with Early College High School, such courses can still be accessed for many students. And certainly online instruction is available, assuming the technology can be covered financially. However, as we all know, personal instruction has distinct advantages. 

It's probably not practical to urge lawmakers to require calculus in all schools. On the other hand, now that algebra II is no longer required for all students, it can't help but exacerbate the situation described in the article. 

ACE Publishes Brief on Overtime Rule

Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor released its long-anticipated final rule on overtime pay, which will have a significant impact on colleges and universities nationwide. With the assistance of the law firm Ballard Spahr LLP, American Council on Education (ACE) vice president and general counsel Peter McDonough has drafted an issue brief on the new rule to help institutions prepare, before it goes into effect on Dec. 1.

Here is the document in pdf format. 

The new rule raises the salary threshold to $47,476 from its current level of $23,660, which will turn many lower level, salaried employees into hourly workers eligible for overtime pay. Among those workers likely to be impacted are a wide array of non-faculty employees, including athletic coaches and trainers, admissions recruiters and student affairs officers.

At community colleges, especially those with support staff employees who earn low salaries, the effect could be significant. 

The brief summarizes the new overtime rule and how it will impact campuses, offers perspective on how to comply with the new regulation and answers some of the questions presidents and other senior campus leaders may immediately be asking.

The issue brief is intended as general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice, according to the official announcement. 

Register Now for Live ACE Webcast on the Overtime Rule

Meanwhile, ACE is also conducting a live webcast on June 17 featuring a panel of experts discussing the potential challenges campuses will face in implementing the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime pay regulation.

The 90-minute webcast, which begins at 1 pm (EDT), will provide insights and context into the ramifications of the new overtime rule for senior leaders from campus function areas such as human resources, student affairs and business offices.

Click here for more information and to register for the webcast.

Placement Should Include GPA

It's becoming increasingly clear that standardized tests alone are not the best strategy in the placement of students into developmental classes. 

As reported by Jill Barshay, in the respected Hechinger Report, a new study in Alaska indicates that high school Grade Point Average should be included as well. As pointed out here often, GPA has its own set of problems, as the writer acknowledges:

Still, most colleges still rely on tests for remedial course placement. And it’s easy to sympathize with college administrators who want to use an objective test. After all, students attend different high schools and take different classes. Some are rigorous. Some aren’t. Some teachers give easy A’s. Others are tough graders. Why would it be fair to let the student who took easy classes waltz into a college course, while the student who struggled under a demanding teacher is dispatched to a remedial class? Wouldn’t be better to figure out exactly what students know?

In theory, yes. But in practice, often students haven’t taken a math class in more than a year, and so the material isn’t fresh in their minds when they take the placement test. Or they haven’t reviewed the material just before the exam. But once they’re immersed in math classes again, it comes back to them, and they don’t really need to repeat an entire year of algebra.

Ms. Barshay includes references to other studies besides the report from Alaska, which is obviously not a typical state. 

Notwithstanding the deficiencies of high school GPA regarding academic readiness, perhaps this particular metric at least tells us something about the student's resiliency, or grit. For background on an interesting discussion on this subject see this article by Daniel Engber, in Slate. 

A kid who gets good grades in high school may not be up to par in, say, algebra, but is apparently dependable, ready to work and hang in there. (That's the way most of us became successful if we are honest about it—not because of raging intellects.)

If information on GPA is available, it ought to be part of the mix when we decide if a student needs remediation. Obviously this is going on right now, but the point needs to be emphasized. 

Transfer to Two-Year Schools Succeeds

We often think of transfer students as those who move on to a university from a community college. However, it can work the other way—and does more frequently than we realize. 

A report from the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment at the Community College Research Center at Columbia University finds that this reverse transfer benefits struggling students. It's reported by Ashley A. Smith, in Inside Higher Ed. Please have a look. 

According to the National Student Clearinghouse, about 237,000 students in 2006 completed a four-to-two-year transfer compared to about 260,000 students who completed a traditional transfer from a community college to a university, the article reports. That's a significant proportion. Apparently the year is the most recent period for which data is available. 

Figuring out why students decide to go to a community college after attending a university is tricky. It may be for economic reasons, homesickness, or shifting family or personal situations. And, of course, some students get away from home and can't resist the siren call that accompanies a new lack of supervision at a big university. As one such student put it, he spent too much time with Professor Budweiser. 

Whatever the reasons, though, it's good to know that the "reverse" path should not be viewed as a step backward.