PACE Effective Basic Skills Instruction: The Case for Contextualized Developmental Math W. Charle‘slfliseley, Ed.D. Policy Brief 1 1-1 Dr. W. Charles Wiseley has worked in , the California Community College system since 1982. His research and accountability work examines student outcomes and factors involved in student success. He has authored and coauthored numerous reports and articles on the impact of community college eddca‘ition on students such as Post College Earnings efformer Students of California Community , Colleges; Credentials Count: How California: Community Colleges Help Parents Move from Welfare to Self- sufficiency; and From Jobs to Careers. INSTITUTE OF GOVERNMENTAL STUDIES LIBRARY FEB i (Cu UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA POLICY BRIEF ntering the second decade of the 21st century, California faces unprecedented demo— graphic, economic, politi- cal, and social changes. As the state emerges from another recession, jobs that remain and those opening require workers with higher-order skills most often acquired in postsecondary edu— cation. Increasing numbers of adults look to community colleges to learn those skills and to find a way out of a cycle of low paying, unstable jobs. Even workers with years of experience see community colleges as a mechanism to keep their jobs by increasing their skill levels and their appeal to employers. Many if not most of those looking to community colleges are under- prepared for college-level work. To succeed, these students will need reme- diation in one or more areas. Estimates of incoming college students under- prepared for college—level work in all institutions are often around 30-40 percent, but estimates for community colleges run as high as 90 percent. Under-prepared students include new college students; returning students, both employed and unemployed; and first time college students entering after years of employment. Many of these students may not have even completed high school. \ _\ Executive Summary As the state emerges from another recession, jobs that remain and those opening require workers with higher-order skills most often acquired in postsecondary educa- tion. Increasing numbers of adults look to community colleges to learn those skills and to find a way out of a cycle of low paying, unstablejobs. Even workers with years of experi: ence see community colleges as a mechanism to keep theirjobs by increasing their skill levels and their appeal to employers. Recent research on students entering California community colleges found that less than one in ten students who enter at the basic arithmetic or pre-algebra math level successfully complete college-level math. Students entering at the next higher level of math (elementary algebra) are only slightly more likely to succeed in college-level math. Yet, college—level math skills are required for success in nearly all college programs including most occupationally—focused certificate programs. Overall, fewer than 20 percent of remedial math students who do not complete a college- level math course earn a certificate, degree, or transfer to a four-year university within six years. Continued on page 2. POLICY BRIEF PACE Executive Summary (Cont) V Beginning in 2006, California com— munity colleges, through changes in regulations designed to strengthen the core curriculum for the associ~ ate degree, began to eliminate many occupationally-focused and ”contextualized” math courses such as "Business Math” and "Techni- cal Math for Airframe Mechanics.” These integrated courses often focus on the mathematics required , in specific occupations, starting with basic arithmetic or pre-algebra and progressing into intermediate alge- bra topics, and have significantly higher success rates than traditional math courses. Unfortunately, the pressure for traditional academic courses has eliminated many of these contextualized courses, as they no longer meet the require- ments for the associate degree. But the low success rates that are common in remedial math courses in the academic model mean that few students will be able to acquire the occupational skills necessary to complete an advanced occupational course, certificate, or degree. In this policy brief, Charles Wiseley documents both the scarcity and the effectiveness of contextualized developmental math in the 110 public California Community Col- leges (CCC) during the 2006-2007 academic year. Recent research on students entering California community colleges found that less than one in ten students (9 percent) who enter at the basic arith- metic or pre-algebra math level suc- cessfully complete college-level math (Bahr, 2007). Students entering at the next higher level of math (elementary algebra) are only slightly more likely to succeed in college-level math (23 percent). Yet, college-level math skills are required for success in nearly all college programs including most occupationally—focused certificate pro- grams. Overall, fewer than 20 percent of remedial math students Who do not complete a college-level math course earn a certificate, degree, or transfer to a four-year university within six years. A number of potentially effective instructional methods for remediating gaps in foundational skills have been documented over the past few decades (Bailey & Morest, 2006; Boylan & Saxon, 1999; Grubb & Associates, 1999). These include integrated academic and occupational curriculum (with con- textualization of basic skills); learning communities using various configura- tions of cohorts, block scheduling, and team teaching; and paired foundational academic and content courses. There is little research, however, providing evidence of the effectiveness of these innovative approaches. Thomas Bailey points out that, while for-profit colleges often have tied their academic courses to occupational cur- ricula, community colleges have often followed a traditional academic model (Bailey & Morest, 2006). California community colleges are no exception. Beginning in 2006, California com- munity colleges, through changes in regulations designed to strengthen the core curriculum for the associ- ate degree, began to eliminate many EFFECTIVE BASIC SKILLS INSTRUCTION occupationally-focused and “contex- tualized” math courses such as “Busi- ness Math” and “Technical Math for Airframe Mechanics.” These integrated courses often focus on the mathematics required in specific occupations, start- ing with basic arithmetic or pre-algebra and progressing into intermediate alge- bra topics. Unfortunately, the pressure for traditional academic courses has eliminated many of these contextual- ized courses, as they no longer meet the requirements for the associate degree. But the low success rates that are common in remedial math courses in the academic model mean that few students will be able to acquire the occupational skills necessary to com- plete an advanced occupational course, certificate, or degree. Methodology This study documents both the scarcity and the effectiveness of contextual- ized developmental math in the 110 public California Community Colleges (CCC) during the 2006-2007 academic year. To identify contextual courses and examine their effectiveness, a mixed method design using both qualitative and quantitative research was required. With no indicator of contextualization in the course records in the CCC Chan- cellor’s Office MIS database, contextu- alized courses were identified through an elaborate multi-step process. Identifying Cou rses a nd Students The study began with an e-mail survey in the fall of 2006 to identify contextualized basic skills courses offered in the CCC. As QAIVL W9? 10H TABLE 1. Vocationally contextualized credit basic skills courses, reported by area of contextualization in colleges responding to the survey. Colleges ’ Credit. Courses Selected After Courses Curriculum Review Total Responses (Ii-=39) 35 No credit contextual courses reported 25 $110 credit contextuaiMath courses __7 f,’ ' 26 > Credit contextual courses 3 if _,,. 10 16 11 ' Math ' _ 9 13 1o , :1 stifling”: ., 1 1 o Writing, ‘: ” 2 2 1 'Learningj‘co’mmunities ' 0 0 o Note: noncredit and non—vocational courses are not reported in this table. shown in Table 1, 39 responses to the sur- veys came from 35 colleges (34 semester colleges and one quarter system college). To maintain consistency in the compari- son, only colleges on the semester system were included in the data analysis. Only ten of the colleges reported contextualized developmental offerings. Of the ten colleges reporting contextual courses, nine colleges reported contex- tual math for thirteen credit courses. After reviewing curricula, ten of the thir- teen courses were selected for this study, each of which began at the pre-algebra level. Once a course was identified as contextualized through examination hof curricular materials, it was flagged as contextual in the CCC MIS data. As Table 1 clearly shows, a large major- ity (25 of 35) of the responding colleges reported no contextualized credit basic skills courses. More importantly, only two colleges offered a course with more than one section, and sections averaged less than 25 students. Large colleges reported that enrolling a suf- ficient number of students in a basic skills math course contextualized for a specific program area was a challenge. More importantly, contextual basic skills courses were most often found in a single program area at these colleges. Only two of the 35 responding colleges offered a contextual math course in more than one program area. Math was more likely to be contextualized with occupational content than reading or writing. Only three credit courses offered at two colleges were reported with linked occupational and academic content in reading or writing, and only one could provide course materials. A number of noncredit reading and writing courses were reported in the survey but were not included in the study due to comparability problems with credit courses. Even with all of the credit and noncredit contextual- ized courses that were reported, however, little contextualization was offered in the fall of 2006 relative to the thousands of courses offered in basic skills areas found at the 35 responding colleges. lG$L ULB With so little reading and writing avail- able for analysis, math was selected as the single focus of the study. Develop- mental math courses at the pre-algebra level in the standard academic model were also identified for comparison purposes at the responding colleges. Those courses were identified using course classifications provided by col- leges in the Chancellor’s oflice data- base. With both the contextual and academic developmental math courses identified, all other courses attempted by the students in those developmental courses were also identified for the same and the subsequent semester. The final sample of 17,152 students were identified as being in one of two groups: students who had enrolled in contextual pre-algebra level math courses and students in conventional pre-algebra courses. The two groups included 392 students in contextual math and 16,760 in standard pre— algebra courses. The demographics of the two groups were similar. Students enrolled in con- textual math courses were slightly older than students in standard courses, with the median ages for the two groups at 23 and 20 respectively. Hispanics dominated both groups, but white students represented 38.5 percent of the contextual group and only 31.5 percent of the standard math group. Over 71 percent of the students in the contextual group were male, while students in the standard math course were predominantly female (61 per- cent). These differences in demograph- ics may be attributable to the higher rates of CTE program participation by EFFECTIVE BASIC SKILLS INSTRUCTION POLICY BRIEF PACE students in the contextual group, since many contextualized math courses are linked to CTE courses. Over 79 percent of the students in the contextual group were enrolled in a CTE course above the introductory level, while only 17 percent of the standard math group were enrolled in such a course. The outcomes examined in this study included not only whether students passed the basic skills course, but also whether students enrolled in and passed college-level and transferable course- work during the same or subsequent semesters. The study examined the effectiveness of contextualized basic- skills math instruction for each of the five major ethnic groups included in the study, as well as for all students. A number of variables describing stu- dent characteristics were used as con— trols, including age, gender, race and ethnicity, vocational status, and two proxies for socioeconomic status (SES): a) the receipt of a Board of Governors Fee Waiver, for students living below 150 percent of the poverty guidelines;1 and b) the amount of any cash grant the student received, where larger grants signify larger financial need. Findings Effectiveness of Contextualized Basic Skills Math: Initial Semester Students in the contextual group passed their developmental math course at much higher rates (86 per- cent vs. 59 percent) than students in TABLE 2. Rates of passing basic skills math courses, and attempting and passing degree-applicable and transferable courses, in the initial term for the two sample groups. ,. _ _ CentextualPre-Algebra _Standarva‘re-Algebra {6013413166. Number V I , Percent, , Number . Percent tmitu=17152r 392 100.0% 16,760 100.0% VBasicSkillsMath ' p 9' ' ' , _ 9655.4 _ 337 86.0% 9,930 59.3% Degreeéapplicable (includes contextual course) , ' f Attempted 13* ‘9’ 390 99.5% 14,137 84.4% 11mm . .g 361 92.6% 10,636 75.2% 'Degree9applicable(contextualcourse notincluded) , . 7 _ 264 67.4% 14,137 84.4% 245 92.8% 10,636 75.2% ‘ 228 58.2% 13,274 79.2% 210 92.1% 9,669 72.8% Notes: Chi—squared tests of independence indicate significant differences (p < 0.001) for the likelihood of success between the contextual group and the standard basic skills group. Students who attempt a transfer course may also have attempted a degree-applicable course. EFFECTlVE BASIC SKILLS iNSTRUCTION the control group, as shown in Table 2. The contextual group also attempted and passed degree-applicable courses at much higher rates. In fall 2006, the first semester of the study, most of the contextual math courses in this study were degree- applicable. Because of this, over 99 percent of the students in the contextual math courses had attempted a degree- applicable course at that time, while just over 84 percent of students enrolled in the standard math courses attempted a degree-applicable course while in their basic skills course. More importantly, however, 93 percent of the students in the contextual course passed their degree-applicable course, while only 75 percent of students in the standard math course passed an additional degree- applicable course. When we look at degree-applicable courses other than the contextualized math course, we observe similar differences in pass rates. Nearly 93 percent of students in the contex- tual group passed a degree-applicable course other than their contextualized math course, while only 75 percent of standard math group students passed a degree-applicable course while enrolled in the basic skills math course. The proportion of students attempting transferable courses was lower for stu- dents in integrated courses (58 percent vs. 79 percent). This could be expected since these students are likely to be in Career Technical Education (CTE) programs and many advanced occu- pational courses are not transferable. However, 92 percent of the contextual group of students who did attempt a course transferable to the California State University or University of Cali- fornia systems passed the course. In contrast, only 72.8 percent of the stan- dard math group passed transferable courses that they attempted. Table 2 displays student outcomes without controlling for variables that may affect outcomes. When controls are introduced in a logistic regression analysis,2 the results are even more dramatic. As shown in Table 3, students were over four times (4.27) as likely to pass the contextual math course as students in the standard math course when controlling for the covariates, com- pared to 45 percent more likely in the uncontrolled results shown in Table 2. Students in the contextual group were fifteen times (15.24) as likely to attempt and nearly four times (3.84) as likely to pass a degree-applicable course than their standard math group counterparts. While students in the contextual group were only one-fifth as likely (0.20) as their counterparts to attempt a transfer level course, they were four times (4.00) as likely to pass it. These results make clear that the positive effects of contextualized courses persist, even after controlling for other explanatory variables. Gender, ethnicity, and SES had sig- nificant effects on whether students would pass the basic skills math, degree-applicable, and transferable courses even when controlling for the other covariates, as shown in Table 4. For example, females had a 23 percent greater likelihood (1.23) of successfully TABLE 3. Net likelihood of attempting and passing courses, comparing the contextual and the standard basic skills groups in the initial term, controlling for demographics, vocational status, and SES (controls not shown) V'Outwme , . Odds RatigoiOR) 95% Confidence interval (CI) PaSse‘d 8651c $111115 Math , 4.27 3.18 - 5.74 ‘Degteeapplitable 7’ ‘ Attempted 15.24 ' 3.71 - 62.55 6 Passed 3.84 2.60-5.66 Transfer Coursework P Attempted ‘ 0.20 0.16-0.26 Passed 4.00 2.48 — 6.44 Notes: All comparisons on the dependent variable (DV) are based on Contextual vs. Standard, where the”Standard"group is the comparison category. The ”Attempted”estimates are based on the total cohort (N = 17,152). The "Passed”estimates are calculated based on the number attempted for the category: Attempted degree—applicable N = 14,527; Attempted transfer N = 13,502. TABLE 4. Likelihood of passing basic skills math, degree-applicable, and transferable courses comparing the contextual and the standard basic skills groups in the initial term, controlling for demographics, vocational status, and SES Basic Skills Math Degree-applicable Transferable , (N = 17,152) (N— - 14,527) (N = 13,509) Parameter , g 011 95960 on ) 95%(1' 011 95060 .tont'extuai vs. 52110116111a 4.27 3.18 - 5.74 3.84 2.60 - 5.66 4.00 2.48 - 6.44 fig; _‘ _ 1.03 1.00-1.05 0.97 0.94-1.00 1.00 0.97-1.03 lime-squared . ' 7' 1.00 0.99-1.00 1.00 1.00-1.00 1.00 1.00-1.00 ‘:".P’erna'le"vs“Mal'el . 1.23 1.15-1.31 1.09 1.01-1.18 1.08 1.00-1.17 Ethn1c1ty (vs White) Y _ I ' Asian . _ 1.14 1.01-1.29 0.91 0.78-1.05 0.88 0.76-1.02 ’ 'Bi‘a'citf l _ ’* 0.45 0.41-0.50 0.56 0.49-0.63 0.56 0.49-0.63 ~113111$p$nitfig - 0.69 0.64-0.74 0.76 0.70-0.84 0.76 0.69—0.83 f'othet " " l 0.61 0.51-0.74 0.91 0.72-1.15 0.97 0.77-1.23 Vocational 7 , ‘2 . . i ' llievs,Yes_f-‘-‘, ‘- 1.06 0.98-1.15 0.87 0.78-0.96 0.94 0.85—1.03 SES , . , l ‘ ' ‘ 3:: NGPMWIWEI 1.37 1.27-1.48 1.26 1.15-1.38 1.25 ' 1.14-1.37 ._‘:'6r‘ant;Am67tttit’f_j,:" 1.22 1.17-1.27 1.30 1.22-1.38 1.25 1.18-1.33 Note: OR = odds ratio; CI = confidence interval. 3’ Contextual Basic Skills Math vs. Standard Pre—Algebra. EFFECTIVE BASIC SKILLS INSTRUCTION POLICY BRIEF PACE completing a basic skills math course than males, but only a small advan- tage in passing degree—applicable (9 percent) and transferable (8 percent) courses. Students in lower SES groups were less likely to pass their courses. Students who did not receive a fee waiver were 37 percent more likely to pass the math course, 26 percent more likely to pass a degree-applicable course and 25 percent more likely to pass a transferable course than those who received a fee waiver. The analysis also indicates that the effects of SES can be ameliorated up to a certain point. With increases of grant amounts up to $3,203, there was an increased likelihood of passing a basic skills math course, compared with students who did not receive a grant. As grant amounts increased beyond $3,203, however, the likelihood of passing the math course decreased, suggesting that the beneficial effects of a higher grant are outweighed by the negative effects of very low income. Vocational status alone (i.e., enrolling in a vocational course above the intro- ductory level) while controlling for other covariates, did not provide any significant advantage or disadvantage in passing basic skills math, degree- applicable or transferable courses. The increased motivation of occupational students to pass the math required for their occupational choice was not TABLE 5. Net effects of contextualization on passing basic skills math for each of five ethnic groups controlling for age, gender, vocational status, and SES (controls not shown). Ethnicity Coefficient Difference t - statistic Odds Ratio Basic Skills Math 3 , l 7 5311.166; ‘ I I 7‘ -0.124*** -12.102*** 0.88 ~ “f..‘,/.Biaiclf> i 0.968*** 18.935*** 2.63 -’>‘iii$pa’nic~ff 0.238*** 13.139*** 1.27 V4. ‘Otli‘er’ 1. ' _ 0.286*** 6.562*** 1.33 Whtte i -0.068 -1.168 0.94 Degree—applicable ‘ p 3 Man -0.036** -3.209** 0.96 V, V slack" . , 0.861*** 13.242*** 2.36 ‘ mm"? 5;: 0.471*** 24.101*** 1.60 other 0.205*** 13.642*** 1.23 '3 75: White if: , 0.205** 2.770** 1.23 Note: Coefficient differences are the coefficient for contextual, minus the coefficient for non—contextual within each ethnic group. Original coefficients are calculated using the white non—contextual reference group. ”Asian"inc|udes Asians, Filipinos, and students from Pacific Island nations. “Other"includes Native American and other non-white. * p < 0.05,- **p < 0.01,- ***p < 0.001. E EFFECTIVE BASIC SKILLS INSTRUCTION sufficient to increase the likelihood of passing any of the courses when controlling for all the other variables. White students were more than twice as likely as black students and 46 per- cent more likely than Hispanic students to pass the math course with the other covariates controlled. Table 5 displays the effects of contextual math within ethnic groups. Black stu- dents in contextual courses were more than twice as likely to pass the basic skills math course as black students in the standard math course. Likewise, Hispanic students and students in the “Other” category were 27 percent and 33 percent more likely to pass a contextual math course than the standard math course. There was no significant differ- ence in the likelihood for white students of passing the contextual math course and the standard math course. Students in the contextualized math course were nearly four times more likely than their counterparts to pass a degree-applicable course in the same semester, as shown in Tables 3 and 4. In addition, the likelihood of success in degree-applicable courses increased for students in each ethnic group, except Asians, When they took a contextual basic skills math course rather than a standard basic skills course. The effects were particularly large for black and Hispanic students taking a contex- tualized math course. Black students were nearly 2.4 times as likely and Hispanic students 1.6 times as likely to pass a degree-applicable course if they were simultaneously enrolled in' the contextual math course rather than in the standard basic skills math course. In contrast, the likelihood of passing a degree-applicable course was only 23 percent greater for students in the other and white categories if they were also enrolled in a contextual math course. Effectiveness of Contextualized Basic Skills Math: Progress in Subsequent Semesters Progress toward program completion requires that students re-enroll and pass courses in subsequent terms. The study therefore examined pass rates in the subsequent term to determine whether student engagement persisted beyond the initial terms in which they took the basic skills math course. Table 6 shows the rates of attempting and passing courses in the subsequent semester for the students passing the basic skills math course, without any control variables. Students who passed the contextual and standard basic skills math courses in the initial term enrolled in credit courses in the subsequent term at similar rates (81.9 percent and 85.1 percent respec- tively). A slightly higher proportion of the students in the contextual group (89.1 percent) passed degree-applicable courses than students in the standard group (82.2 percent). Students in the contextual group enrolled in transfer- able courses at much lower rates than students in the standard group, but students in the contextual group were more likely to complete those courses. When controlling for demographics, vocational status, and SES, as shown in Table 7, students who passed math TABLE 6. Rates of attempting and passing courses in the subsequent term for those who passed the basic skills math course in the initial term. Contextual Standard Course type , Number Percent Number . Percent totali’f f , 17' 337 100.0% 9,930 100.0% 16666666681: 276 81.9% 8,448 85.1% Degree—applicable ‘ . ilAttembted; 276 100.0% 8,212 97.2% ”VPassed» '_ " 246 89.1% 6,749 82.2% Transferable fAttémpted‘ _ 165 59.8% 7,344 86.9% ' Passed ’ 1 ' ' ' 150 90.9% 5,866 79.9% Note: Students in the”Attempted Credit”category are those who returned the following semester and enrolled in a credit course. Students may enroll in either a degree—applicable or transferable course or both course types. The percent “Attempted" is calculated based on the number for the"Attempted Credit"category. The percent"Passed"is calculated based on the number of attempted for the category. TABLE 7. Net likelihood of attempting and passing courses in the subsequent term for students who passed the basic skills math course in the initial term, controlling for demographics, vocational status, and SES (controls not shown). Outcome . , OR 95% (I, x2 Attempiéd‘Credit b 0.86 0.63-1.17 0.914 Degree-applicable I ' Passed... . ‘ 1.67 1.12-2.50 6.317* Transferable I / Attempted ‘ V g 0.21 0.16-0.28 104.711*** Passed“ . 7 " ' 2.28 1.32-3.92 8.790** Note: Students in the "Attempted Credit" category returned in the subsequent semester and enrolled in credit courses.All ofthe students in the contextual group attempted a degree—applicable course. *p<.05;**p<.Ol;***p<.OOl. in the contextual group were nearly 1.7 times as likely to pass a degree-applica- ble course in their subsequent semester as were students in the standard math course group. Additionally, students in the contextual group were more than twice as likely as students in the stan- dard math group to pass a transferable course in the subsequent term. For those students returning in the semester after passing their basic skills math course, only black students and students receiving a fee waiver were EFFECTIVE BASlC SKILLS lNSTRUCTlON POLICY BRIEF PACE significantly less likely to pass a degree- applicable course when controlling for the contextualization of the math course and all other variables. With the other variables controlled, black students were only three-fourths (0.75) as likely to pass the course as white students, and students not receiving a fee waiver were 25 percent more likely to pass (1.25) than students receiving the fee waiver. Similarly, black students were only 73 percent as likely and BOG fee waiver recipients only 79 percent as likely to pass a transferable course when controlling for all other variables. In summary, math courses With rich occupational content provided an envi- ronment where students stayed and passed subsequent courses in much higher percentages than those taking standard math courses. Controlling for demographics, vocational status, and SES, students in contextual basic skills math courses were more likely to pass those courses than students in standard basic skills math courses. Contextual basic skills math participants were also more likely to attempt and pass degree-applicable, as well as transfer- able coursework in the same semester as their basic skills math course. Stu- dents passing contextual math courses were also more likely than students passing standard basic skills math, to pass degree-applicable and transferable courses in the subsequent semester. Discussion Given the positive evidence about con- textual math in this study, institutional efforts to increase contextual basic skills courses should be supported both politically and financially. Several initiatives in California have supported efforts to increase contextualized instruction. Despite these efforts, very little contextualized basic skills instruction was found in the colleges. Furthermore, most faculty have never experienced any form of integrated CTE, cooperative, or problem-based learning during their educational or teaching careers, and there is currently little professional development avail- able that focuses on integrating CTE content and basic skills instruction. A number of state policies create disin- centives to integrate academic and CTE content. Recent Title 5 policy changes3 designed to increase the skills of asso- ciate degree recipients inadvertently reduced the likelihood of integrated math course offerings. The changes required that as of Fall 2009 the AA/ AS degree math requirement be increased from elementary algebra to interme- diate algebra or higher. Additionally, only intermediate algebra level math courses that had at least a prerequisite of elementary algebra, or the equiva- lent, could meet the new mathematics requirement. The new regulations focused on the prerequisite required for the AA/AS degree math course rather than the learning outcomes of the course. While some of the contextual courses in this study have learning outcomes similar to those in intermediate alge- bra, they often have relaxed require- ments for entry that allow enroll- ments of students with mixed skill levels. Regardless of the effectiveness I! EFFECTIVE BASIC SKILLS INSTRUCTION or learning outcomes of the courses, the courses could no longer meet the new math degree requirement because they did not have an elementary alge- bra prerequisite. Without the ability to meet the requirement, students were, and continue to be, counseled away from the contextualized courses, effectively reducing the number of contextualized offerings. Policies about degree applicability should be deter- mined by learning outcomes, rather than by incoming student skill levels that ignore the accelerated yet deep learning produced by the integrated engaging active learning pedagogies of contextual instruction. Policies on course transferability also inhibit contextualization. An academic math course such as “Introduction to Contemporary Math,” which has inter- mediate algebra as a prerequisite and is designed for the liberal arts major, is transferable to the California State University (CSU) system, but a math course that covers math topics sup- porting job skills such as “Mathematics for Wastewater Management” is not transferable because the main focus of the course is considered job skills, even though the course includes some more advanced math topics. When CCCs identify a course as advanced occupational, because it includes specific job skills, they put at risk the transferability of the course. Current transfer practice also does not allow a transferable community college course to have an applied course as a prerequisite. Current CSU IGETC policy states that transferable courses meeting the “mathematical concepts and quantitative reasoning” area crite- ria (IGETC 2A) “must have an explicit prerequisite of Intermediate Algebra.” Community college faculty, then, are concerned about allowing applied prerequisites for transferable courses. Given evidence of the ability of stu- dents in contextual courses to transfer skills from one content area to another, policy should be implemented that allows contextual and applied courses as prerequisites, providing better incentives to offer contextual courses. Given the current crisis in basic skills and its negative impact on college completion, increasing the availability of contextual math and English courses would make the most efficient use of the resources for basic skills while also enhancing courses that meet degree require- ments. Rather than eliminating funds for instructional improvement, or the Basic Skills Initiative, policymakers and college decision-makers might target resources in the Basic Skills Initiative to strengthen basic skills through the expansion of contextual- ized instruction. References Bahr, P. R. (2007). “Double Jeopardy: Testing the Effects of Multiple Basic Skill Deficiencies on Successful Remediation.” Research in Higher Edu- cation, Vol. 48, No. 6. 695-725. Bailey, T., & Morest, V. S. (eds.) (2006). Defending the Community College Equity Agenda. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 2006. Boylan, H. R., & Saxon, D. P. (1999). What Works in Remediation: Lessons from 30 Years of Research. Unpublished report. Retrieved October 14, 2006 from http://www.ncde.appstate.edu/reserve_read— ing/what_works.htm Grubb, W. N., 81 Associates (1999). Honored, But Invisible: An Inside Look at Teaching in Community Colleges. New York: Routledge. Endnotes 1 The poverty guidelines are based upon those set by the US Department of Health and Human Services. 2 In studies where the outcomes are dichotomous, such as “passed a course” or “did not pass,” a logistic regression is particularly useful. Most important, a logistic regression produces a statistic known as the “odds ratio,” which allows us to estimate how much more or less likely students in one group are to pass a course, compared to students in another group. 3 CCR, Title 5, Div. 6, Chapter 6, Article 6, § 55063. EFFECTIVE BASIC SKILLS INSTRUCTION POLICY BRIEF PACE EFFECTIVE BASIC SKILLS INSTRUCTION U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES lllllllllllll C113700363 EFFECTIVE BASIC SKILLS INSTRUCTION A POLICY BRIEF PACE School of Education, Stanford University 520 Galvez Mall CERAS Rm. 401 Stanford, CA 94305—3084 (650) 724-2832 http://www.edpoiicyinca.org We would like to thank the James Irvine Foundation for financial support for the publication of this policy brief. The views expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of PACE or its funders. Recent PACE Publications Douglas N. Harris. Value—Added Measures of Education Performance: Clearing Away the Smoke and Mirrors. Policy Brief 10-4, October 2010. Jennifer L. Steele, Richard J. Murnane and John B. Willett. Do Financial Incentives Draw Promising Teachers to Low-Performing Schools? Policy Brief 10—3, May 2010. Martin Carnoy. Californias Impending College Graduate Crisis and What Needs To Be Done About It. Policy Brief 10-2, April 2010. Reforming Education in California: A Guide for Citizens and Candidates. April 2010. 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