John Wachen

How I-BEST Works: Findings from a Field Study of Washington State's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program.

Acknowledgments Funding for this research was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The authors wish to thank the administrators, staff, and faculty interviewed at Washingtons community and technical colleges for their time and insights. They also wish to thank the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges for supporting this research and reviewing earlier drafts of the report, Wendy Schwartz for her expert editing and formatting of the manuscript, and Doug Slater for managing the publication process. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the authors. John Wachen is a senior research assistant at CCRC. He is involved in research on developmental education summer bridge programs, community college performance funding policies, developmental education assessment and placement practices, and the Achieving the Dream initiative. He holds a B.S. from Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. from the University of Maryland. focus of his work is finding ways to strengthen the capacity of community colleges and other public postsecondary institutions to educate economically and educationally disadvantaged individuals for gainful employment in a knowledge economy. He holds a doctorate in public policy analysis from Carnegie Mellon University. Michelle Van Noy is a research associate at CCRC. She conducts research on the workforce development role of community colleges. She holds an M.S. in public policy from Rutgers University. She is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology and education at Columbia University. at MPR. is the leading independent authority on the nations 1,200 two-year colleges. CCRCs mission is to conduct research on the major issues affecting community colleges in the United States and to contribute to the development of practice and policy that expands access to higher education and promotes success for all students. Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) is an innovative program and strategy developed by the Washington (WA) State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) in conjunction with the states 29 community colleges and five technical colleges. Its goal is to increase the rate at which adult basic education and English-as-a-second-language students advance to college-level occupational programs and complete postsecondary credentials in fields offering good wages and career advancement. The promising results from preliminary analyses of I-BEST have generated interest in replication of the I-BEST model. Nationally, over 2.5 million students take adult basic skills courses at community colleges, high schools, and community organizations; only a fraction of these go on to pursue and earn college credentials. …

Washington State Student Achievement Initiative Policy Study: Final Report

In 2007, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) launched a performance reporting and funding policy called the Student Achievement Initiative (SAI) both to improve public accountability by more accurately describing what students achieve from enrolling in community colleges and to provide incentives to colleges through financial rewards for increasing student success. This report presents findings from a three-year evaluation of the initiative that was designed to assess how and to what extent the SAI model of performance funding encourages colleges to track trends in student achievement and improve student outcomes. The quantitative component of the evaluation was an analysis of “achievement point” accumulation by colleges over the period 2007 to 2011. The qualitative component was based on a synthesis of approximately 250 interviews with faculty, staff, and administrators at 20 of Washington State’s 34 community and technical colleges that took place in spring 2012. Key broad findings include: • The SAI is viewed as one force among others pushing the colleges to improve student success. The funding is not a significant factor motivating the colleges, largely because the amount (less than one percent of the system’s total operating budget) is too small to have much impact. • On average, the colleges increased their point total by 31 percent between 2007 and 2011, with the relative positions of the colleges remaining stable. Although there was evidence of some gains in momentum (i.e., forward progress) for students who were already accumulating credits and making progress, overall student momentum does not seem to have changed much during the period in which the SAI has been in effect, even as aggregate achievement points have increased. • While larger colleges earn more awards than smaller colleges, there is little evidence that colleges serving more at-risk, low-income students are penalized by the SAI awards method. Consistent with the SAI’s goals, the basic skills metric appears to have encouraged enrollment from traditionally underserved groups. • The intermediate milestone framework is viewed as a helpful way to focus collective efforts on student progression and publicly account for college performance. In order to understand the impact of strategies for improving student outcomes, however, colleges have found they need to use longitudinal cohort data in conjunction with the cross-sectional SAI metrics. The funding mechanism has proved problematic and unpopular, as SAI funding has come from reallocated base funds rather than as additional funds as originally intended.

The Determinants of Father Involvement and Connections to Children's Literacy and Language Outcomes: Review of the Literature

This review synthesizes findings from the literature about the impact of father involvement on childrens literacy and language outcomes. Various proximal and distal factors influence levels of fathers’ involvement in literacy activities and fathers’ contributions to language development. Fathers’ education, income level, residence status, and relationship with the childs mother were indirect factors associated with childrens literacy and language outcomes. Fathers also made unique, direct contributions to their childrens literacy and language outcomes through the use of complex language, engagement in reading and writing activities, and responsive parenting behaviors. This review concludes by identifying gaps in the literature about other important contextual factors that may influence father involvement and about specific types of literacy activities that fathers engage in with their children.

Structure in Community College Career-Technical Programs: A Qualitative Analysis

Using data obtained from interviews and program websites at Washington community and technical colleges, the authors of this study examine the structure of community college career-technical programs in allied health, business and marketing, computer and information studies, and mechanics and repair. A framework for structure with four dimensions—program alignment, program prescription, information quality, and active program advising and support—is used to evaluate the practices of relatively highand low-performing colleges within each field of study. The authors reviewed the websites of all programs at highand low-performing colleges in each of these fields of study and conducted case studies on individual programs from these fields, interviewing faculty, administrators, and counselors to learn more about the dimensions of structure in the programs. The allied health, computer and information science, and mechanics and repair programs were all found to be highly structured; the business and marketing programs were found to have a moderate level of structure. Overall, given that all of the programs were at least moderately structured, there was limited evidence of a connection between program structure and program performance. Table of

Data Use as Instructional Reform: Exploring Educators’ Reports of Classroom Practice

ABSTRACT Through policies like No Child Left Behind, the federal government incentivized the use of student performance data as a core strategy for improving student achievement. The assumption behind these efforts is that data will be used to guide teacher practice and promote high-quality instruction. This study examined how teachers describe using data in their instructional practices. Findings reveal that few teachers were able to articulate an ability to bridge the divide between using data to identify students in need of help and using data to modify instruction. We discuss factors that supported or impeded educators’ use of data.

Guided Pathways to Careers Four Dimensions of Structure in Community College Career-Technical Programs

Objective: Some have hypothesized that community college programs are not sufficiently structured to support student success and that students would benefit from more highly structured programs. This study examines the specific ways that structure is expressed in policy and practice at representative community colleges. Method: Using data obtained from interviews and program websites at Washington State community and technical colleges, we examine the structure of community college career-technical programs along four dimensions: program prescription, program alignment, access to information, and active advising and support. Results: We find high levels of structure on all dimensions in the allied health, computer and information science, and mechanics and repair programs. There are moderate levels of structure in the business and marketing programs. Contributions: This study documents the specific ways that community college career-technical programs are structured to support student success, and it provides a framework for examining structure to inform practice and guide future research efforts.

Building College Readiness Exploring the Effectiveness of the UNC Academic Summer Bridge Program

Many students enter college without the skills and knowledge needed to successfully perform college-level work. An important leverage point for increasing college readiness is the transition from high school to college. One strategy implemented at postsecondary institutions to ease this transition, boost academic and social readiness, and foster students’ academic momentum is the summer bridge program. The purpose of this study was to examine how summer bridge programs influence student persistence and completion. The study used propensity score analysis to examine the impact of five summer bridge programs operating in the UNC system from 2008 to 2014. The analyses showed a positive association between summer bridge participation and persistence to the second and third years. Participation in the program also increased the likelihood of graduating in 4 years. Additionally, we provide information on the costs of operating these programs.