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ESL ANNUAL PROGRAM PLAN 2014
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ANNUAL PROGRAM PLAN & REVIEW (INSTRUCTIONAL) 

ASGC ADOPTED SPRING 2011

ESL Department 2014

 

 

Cañada College

 

Mission Statement

It is the mission of Cañada College to ensure that students from diverse backgrounds have the opportunity to achieve their educational goals by providing quality instruction in general, transfer, career, and basic skills education, and activities that foster students’ personal development and academic success. Cañada College places a high priority on supportive faculty/staff/student teaching and learning relationships, responsive support services, and a co-curricular environment that contributes to personal growth and success for students. The College is committed to the students and the community to fulfill this mission.

 

 

 

Vision

Cañada College ensures student success through personalized, flexible, and innovative instruction. The College infuses essential skills and competencies throughout the curriculum and assesses student learning and institutional effectiveness to make continuous improvement. Cañada responds to the changing needs of the people it serves by being involved in and responsive to the community, developing new programs and partnerships and incorporating new technologies and methodologies into its programs and services.

 

 

 

Document Map:

 

0)             Key Findings

1)             Planning group

2)             Authors

3)             Program

4)             Responses to previous Annual Program Plan &Review (APP&R)

5)             Curricular Offerings

6)             Program Level Data

7)             Action Plan

8)             Resource Identification

 

Note: To complete this form, SAVE it on your computer, then send to your Division Dean as an ATTACHMENT to an e-mail message.

Department/Program Title:      ESL Department                   Date submitted: January 29, 2014

                                                                                                                   

0.          Key Findings:

 

1. Planning Group (include PT& FT faculty, staff, stakeholders)

                List of names and positions:

                

Jenny Castello (FT):  faculty

Anniqua Rana (FT): faculty

Katie Schertle (FT): faculty

Jeanne Gross (FT): faculty

Alicia Aguirre (FT):  faculty

 

 

2. Writing Team and Contact Person:

                

Jenny Castello (FT):  faculty

Anniqua Rana (FT): faculty

Katie Schertle (FT): faculty

Jeanne Gross (FT): faculty

Alicia Aguirre (FT):  faculty

 

 

3. Program Information

                

                A. Program Personnel

                         Identify all personnel (faculty, classified, volunteers, and student workers) in the program:      

 FT Faculty:  5  

                

                

PT Faculty:  16

 

PT Classified (hrs/wk): 1

 

 

 

Student Learning Assistants/Campus Ambassadors: 10

 

B. Program mission and vision

        Include the purpose of the program, the ideals the program strives to attain, and whom the program serves. The program mission and vision must align with the college’s mission and goals. (200 word limit)

                 

              The mission of the Cañada College ESL Department  is to help students develop the communicative competence to achieve their academic, professional, and personal goals.

 

          

                

                C. Expected Program Student Learning Outcomes

  Tool:  TracDAT folders in the SLOAC sharepoint. Click on the link below to access your folder and log in with your complete smccd e-mail  account, ex:smithj@smccd.edu and

  password http://sharepoint.smccd.edu/SiteDirectory/CANSLOAC

 

         List expected Program Student Learning Outcomes (PSLOs) (minimum of 3) and assessment  tools for each.

Guideline: List knowledge, skills, abilities, or attitudes upon completion of program or

significant discipline work and list assessment tools. Can be copied from Tracdat.

              

                 Program Level Outcomes:

1.      Students can produce and interpret oral and written English at an advanced level in order to successfully enter academic or career pathways.

2.      Students can use academic skills and study skills to succeed at the transfer level.

3.      Students can use technology skills and information competency skills to succeed at the transfer level

4.      Students will develop a Student Educational Plan by identifying and assessing educational opportunities at Cañada College.

Spring 2013 PLO Assessment

Assessment Team:  Jeanne Gross, Jenny Castello, Anniqua Rana,

Reflection: Students demonstrate an understanding of placing the main idea (thesis statement) in the beginning of the essay.  Some struggle with the level of sophistication in how they accomplish this, sometimes because of their topic choice. The more advanced are taking informed risks in writing, demonstrating language acquisition and mastery.  Mechanical errors continue to be challenge for  the students; however, they are able to communicate their ideas.  

PLO

0

1

2

3

PLO #1: Produce and interpret oral and written English at an advanced level in order to successfully enter academic or career pathways.

Not submitted

Not satisfactory:

weak thesis, inadequate support, global mechanical errors throughout,

incorrect format

Satisfactory:

clear thesis, adequate support, limited mechanical errors,

limited formatting errors

Excellent:

sophisticated thesis, strong support, few mechanical errors,

few formatting errors

Number of students

0

4

4

4

              

Notes for PLO Assessment Spring 2014 and Fall 2014:

In the spring, Professors Gross and Rana will continue to use ePortfolios to evaluate PLO #1 written language production. In addition, planning will take place to begin assessing PLO #1 oral language production in ESL 914 with Professor Aguirre. Planning will include:

 

4. Response to Previous Annual Program Plan & Review

        Tool:  http://sharepoint.smccd.edu/SiteDirectory/canio/ipc (log in with your complete smccd e-mail account, ex: smithj@smccd.edu and password) List any recommendations  for  the program and your responses to  these recommendations based on previous Annual Program Plan and/or CTE Professional Accreditation report. Guideline: Original documents can be linked or attached, as needed.

Recommendations from Spring 2013:  provide more details and/or analysis in these areas:

  1. A plan for curriculum development

Spring 2014:

Fall 2014:

2. Curriculum Offering Cycle

Every Fall and Spring Semester, these ESL courses are offered off campus primarily in the evening:

Every Fall and Spring Semester, these ESL courses are offered on campus day and evening:

These courses are offered in collaboration with the ECE Department:

Other ESL courses:

In response to the comments regarding curriculum development:

  1. Faculty and Staff hiring request

 

5. Curricular Offerings (current state of curriculum and SLOAC)

    All curriculum and SLOAC updates must be completed when planning documents are due. SLOAC = Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Cycle Tools:  TracDAT folders in SLOAC sharepoint http://sharepoint.smccd.edu/SiteDirectory/CANSLOAC Curriculum Committee  http://sharepoint.smccd.edu/SiteDirectory/cancurriculum/

A. Attach the following TracDat and Curriculum data in the appendix:

List courses, SLOs, assessment plans, and results and action plans (attach report from TracDAT folders in SLOAC sharepoint).

 

List courses with COR’s over 6 years old (attach documents from Curriculum Committee)

  Spring 2014:  all ESL CORs are up-to-date        

B. Identify Patterns of Curriculum Offerings

Guidelines: What is the planning group’s 2-year curriculum cycle of course offerings by certificates and degrees? What is the ideal curriculum cycle? Discuss any issues.

Every Fall and Spring Semester, these ESL courses are offered off campus primarily in the evening:

Every Fall and Spring Semester, these ESL courses are offered on campus day and evening:

These courses are offered in collaboration with the ECE Department based on the ECE curricular offering cycle:

Other ESL courses:

Other curricular considerations:  

6.  Program Level Data

A. Data Packets and Analysis from the Office of Planning, Research & Student Success  and  any other relevant data.

 Tool: http://www.canadacollege.edu/inside/research/programreview/info_packet/info_packet.html

Guidelines:  The data is prepared by the Office of Planning, Research & Student Success and is to be attached to this document. Include the following:

          ·   Describe trends in the measured parameters.

          ·   Reflect and analyze causes of trends.

Spring 2014:  Questions about the data:

1.  Is it possible to look at all the students who earn certificates and degrees to see how many of these students took an ESL course in the past?

The ESL Department is very grateful to the Dean of PRIE and the researcher who were able to get this data for the Department very quickly.  According to their research, “about 16.6% of the certificate and degree earners for summer, fall and spring 2013 had taken an ESL course

2.  We would like to have the enrollment data disaggregated by location.

Spring 2013 Reflections on the data in the ESL packet:        

Table 1 Enrollment Patterns and Course Offerings:

Average number of students per section has increased slightly, while the number of sections has been reduced slightly. The number of sections seems to meet the enrollment needs. We need to continue studying the enrollments in Level II courses as we add more ESL offerings in the community. Level II and Level III are the most impacted at this time.

Continuing to offer learning communities with Math, CBOT, Library, and other areas as well as contextualizing ESL may help to increase the enrollments per section and better prepare our students for academic and career pathways.        

Table 2 Department Efficiency:

Our load has gone up in the last year, and at 549 we are well above the college average of 479. Additionally, while the college FTES is down, the ESL Department FTES is up.

Table 3 Student Performance Profile:

Our department’s success rate of 66.1 and retention rate of 85.3 are up from last year, as compared to those of the college, which have not changed.

The average term GPA is 0.78, which seems wrong. We checked with the Dean of Planning, Research and Institutional Effectiveness, and it seems that this data is not being collected correctly by the system.  The problem has something to do with the nontransferable marker on ESL courses.  The Dean of PRIE is aware of the problem and is working with IT on a way to fix it.

Table 4 Student Enrollment Status Profile:

There is no significant change to the percentage of first-time, continuing, returning, and concurrent students from last year to this, and our ratios are consistent with those of the college.

In Fall 2013, the ESL Retention Specialist position started, and in Spring 2014, the ESL SLAMmers (Student Learning Assistant Mentor: ESL students supporting classroom instruction and providing mentoring - Please see professional development related to this below.) began working at ESL off-campus sites. It is important that we monitor the impact of these interventions.

Table 5 Student Goal Orientation:

The percentage of students who choose the Educational Development goal has increased while the percentages for the other goals have remained relatively the same. Our new practice of the ESL Coordinator and Retention Specialist visiting all ESL classrooms on- and off-campus may be an intervention that affects student goals. Additionally, we invite counselors and ambassadors to be included in this effort to ensure appropriate instructions are provided for students as they fill out this information on the college application as well as at other points throughout their academic experience. Any available updates through DegreeWorks (SEPs) would be helpful as well.

Table 6 Student Demographic:  Ethnicity

The percentages of Asian and Mixed Race students have increased slightly while the percentage of Hispanic students has decreased slightly.  These changes may be due to the increase in the number of international students taking ESL courses.  The large number of Hispanic students is critical in Cañada maintaining its HSI designation, which has been so useful in obtaining grants.

Table 7 Student Demographics:  Gender and Age

There have been slight shifts in the age and gender of our students, which is quite common in community college student populations.

Table 8 Student Education Attainment Level

There have been some slight shifts in the percentages of students with high school diplomas and foreign secondary degrees.  These increases may be due to the increase in international students.

B.   Analyze evidence of Program performance. Explain how other information may impact

           Program (examples are business and employment needs, new technology, new transfer

           requirements)         

            Tool:  TracDAT folders in SLOAC sharepoint http://sharepoint.smccd.edu/SiteDirectory/CANSLOAC

Guidelines:

          ·   Explain how the assessment plan for Program Student Learning Outcomes (listed on      

               #3c) measures quality and success of each Program.

          ·   Summarize assessment results of Program Student Learning Outcomes.

          ·   Describe and summarize other data that reveals Program performance.

          ·   Explain how changes in community needs, technology, and transfer requirements

                  could affect the Program.

Spring 2014

The ESL Department continues to do PLO Assessment through ePortfolios; at the end of Spring 2014, the PLO Assessment Team will evaluate the e-portfolios of the Fall 2013 ESL 400 students.  

During the Summer and Fall 2013 semesters, ESL faculty teaching off campus participated in a very successful digital literacy project funded by ALLIES through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.  A summary of this project follows.

Strengths of professional development for ePortfolios

One strength of the professional development ePortfolio project is to empower the low-level students by guiding them to successful e-portfolio development. This achievement is significant because many students lacked basic computer proficiency. Encouraging the use of technology is an excellent tool for language learning tool for language learning because students can “publishing” their work, increasing pride and motivation. Developing an e-portfolio template was an asset. Another important strength of the project is that this project is closely connected to the e-portfolio work on the Cañada campus. As the College progresses toward using e-portfolios to assess specific program and institutional outcomes, ESL students will be well-prepared for future academic work. ESL students can be role models for native speaker students whose instructors may be reluctant to utilize what appears to be a complex task for students.

Weakness of professional development for ePortfolios

One weakness of the project is that off-campus sites do not have regular access to computer labs.Another weakness of the project is that there are geographic divisions between the on-campus resources and off-campus classrooms. Regular, easy communication between on and off-campus faculty campus was challenging, which slowed and hindered the project.

Future of ePortfolios in ESL Program

This phase of the project has ended because it successfully met its objectives. However, utilizing e-portfolios for assessment within the ESL Department is ongoing and growing. The Department intends to assess student work through e-portfolios and to document student learning. The success of this project makes obtaining additional funding for professional development for faculty more likely.

Similar to 2013, to continue to incorporate the use of e-portfolios in the assessment of ESL PLOs, it is necessary for ESL faculty and students to have access to computers on a regular basis.  The adjunct faculty who are incorporating the creation and/or use of e-portfolios in their ESL classes need laptops, and the students need to be in computerized classrooms where the use of technology can be part of the class on a regular basis.

           

C. Other Considerations

In Fall 2013 the ESL Department started an new intervention for student success with student learning assistants/mentors at all of our off-campus ESL sites.  8 students were recruited, and on January 18, 2014 a workshop was held to train the new ESL SLAMmers (Student Learning Assistant Mentors) and the ESL faculty who would have the SLAMmers in their classes.  The Outreach Department also participated both to train the students as campus ambassadors and to receive more information about the ESL Program, especially the CBET/Off-Campus ESL sites and classes.

7.  Action Plan

                Include details of planning as a result of reflection, analysis and interpretation of data.

Guidelines:

    ·   Describe data and assessment results for Program Student Learning Outcomes. Analyze

             and reflect on assessment results for Program Student Learning Outcomes and other              

             measures of Program performance.

    ·   Analyze and reflect on other evidence described in previous sections. Identify the next         

            steps, including any planned changes to curriculum or pedagogy.

    ·   Identify questions that will serve as a focus of inquiry for next year.

                >   Determine the assessments; set the timeline for tabulating the data and analyzing              

                     results.

                >   Describe what you expect to learn from the assessment efforts.

Spring 2014 Action Plan:

Continue and initiate the following:

8.  Resource Identification

                A. Faculty and Staff hiring requests

 

Guidelines:

        ·   Explain clearly and with supporting data showing how hiring requests will serve  

         Department/Division/College needs.

        ·   Include information from the most recent Comprehensive Program Review or Annual      

            Program Plan, whichever was last year’s document.

Replacement Hire Click on link to read justification presented to Academic Senate and PBC.

Puente Project: See below

                B. Professional Development needs

Guidelines:

    ·   List faculty and staff professional development activities.        

    ·   Describe faculty and staff professional development plans for next year.

    ·   Explain how professional development activities improved student learning outcomes.

 

                C. Classroom & Instructional Equipment requests

 

Guidelines:

    ·   List classroom & instructional equipment requested, including item description, suggested

        vendor, number of items, and total cost.

    ·   Explain how it will serve Department/Program/Division/College needs.

    ·   List the requests (item description, suggested vendor, number of items, and total cost).

    ·   List special facilities and equipment that you currently use and require.

Spring 2014:  Tablets for adjunct faculty; portable projectors for off-campus ESL sites that do not have technology; training to use tablets, portable document cameras, portable projectors;  the ESL Department needs this technology to continue the work with e-portfolios starting at the lowest levels of ESL.

Flashdrives with internet access, portable projector and tablet with keyboard with carrying case and portable screen for off-campus presentations for the ESL Office.

Writing Cafe: see below

D. Office of Planning, Research & Student Success requests

 

Guidelines:

    ·   List data requests for the Office of Planning, Research & Student Success.

    ·   Explain how the requests will serve the Department/Program/Division/College needs

Spring 2014: We are trying to incorporate a number of innovation practices, including combining skills and reducing exit points; learning communities with Math, CBOT, ECE, Library; use of technology; SEP completion; and e-portfolio development.  We need data to assess how well these innovations are working.  It has been a challenge to get appropriate data, which has prevented us from making further data-informed decisions.        

                

                E. Facilities requests

               

Guidelines:

·   List facilities requests.

·   Explain how the requests will serve the Department/Program/Division/College needs.

Spring 2014:  None        

 

 

The complete HSI Proposal

The Writing Café:

Supporting Student Writing Across the Curriculum and Beyond

Mission:  to support student writing development needs by creating a welcoming (nurturing), directed, focused, connected, and helpful place in which to hold workshops, meet with students, coordinate student writing groups, and otherwise encourage student writing

Components:  a dedicated space with dedicated staff; computers for student use; quiet room(s) for small group or independent writing; larger areas for collaboration and presentations; food and beverages

The Writing Café will:

1.           Develop a sense of community

2.           Support student creative writing (workshops, readings, collaboration)

3.           Support student academic writing for courses in all fields (faculty tutors)

4.           Support other writing needs (personal statements, scholarship and transfer essays)

5.           Follow model of STEM center, which has math instructional aide + several other employees

6.           Contain a drop-in computer lab with instructional support

7.           Include space for both quiet and collective work

8.           Break down illusion that writing is an isolated activity.

9.           Showcase student work

a.           publish and promote  Blueprint (Cañada’s current online magazine)

b.           post writing in art gallery or elsewhere on campus

10.   Provide flexibility: mentors hang out; anyone can go; no appointment necessary

 The Writing Café will be staffed by faculty, instructional aides, and tutors who:

1.           offer feedback and support for all writing, such as transfer application essays

2.           train and supervise writing tutors;

3.           develop programs to encourage repeat visits

4.           create more Word Jams, reaching more students and helping more of them catch up quickly on remedial work

5.           coordinate supplemental writing instruction (tutoring, coordination of workshops, faculty leadership of student groups)

6.           offer computer literacy training and helps students organize online study groups

7.           offer presentations, speakers, and films related to the writing process and special topics

8.           offer other student resources such as bulletin boards for selling used textbooks and advertising scholarships and transfer opportunities

Appendix: Puente Project

Background Information:  During the fall semester of 2013, I presented the Puente Program to Cañada College’s Student Equity Committee as a strategy to improve the retention and success rate of Hispanic students.  I believe that Cañada College, as a Hispanic Serving Institution, can better serve this large student body, which makes up 36% of our student population (but 39% of students who intend to transfer), by having Puente on campus.  Puente has had much recorded success with this population for 30 years.  The Student Equity Committee and I invited Ann Romero, the UC Berkeley Puente representative, to do a Puente presentation for faculty, staff, other administrative leaders and potential mentors.  After the presentation, I received very strong support for Puente from all full-time English faculty, some adjunct English faculty, Student Equity Committee members, counselors, and potential mentors on campus.         

Mission of Puente:  The main mission of Puente at the community college level is to improve the retention of Hispanic students and increase their transfer rates to four-year colleges and universities.  Puente has made this their mission because Hispanics are underrepresented at these four-year institutions.  A second goal of the program is to have Puente graduates return to their communities as professionals and contribute to their communities.  

Relevance to Cañada College: According to the Cañada College Student Performance and Equity Dashboard, the retention rate and success rate for Hispanics at Cañada College is one of the lowest when compared to other groups on campus.  In 2011-2012, the fall-to-spring persistence rate for first-time Hispanic students was 54.4%, the fall-to-fall persistence rates for first-time Hispanic students was 41.4%, and the college success rate for first-time Hispanic students was 58.8%.  According to the Student Success Scorecard, the percentage of degree and/or transfer-seeking Hispanic students tracked for six years through 2011-2012 who completed a degree, certificate or transfer-related outcomes was 35.6%.  The “transfer cohort” data shows that Cañada College’s transfer rate to CSUs, UCs or private colleges for Hispanic students is 30% while it is 31.5% statewide for the same Hispanic population.  This data also shows that the overall transfer rate for all of Cañada College’s students is 48% while it is 41.01% statewide.         

Research shows that at California community colleges where Puente is operational, persistence and transfer rates for Puente students were much higher.  In 2008-2009, the fall-to-fall persistence rate for Hispanic Puente students was 81%.  From 2005 to 2009, the overall transfer rate for Hispanic students was 56%; the transfer rate to the CSU system was 60%, to the UC system 16%, and to private and out-of-state universities 23%.  The university graduation rates for the 2005 Puente transfers at the CSUs was 68% and at the UCs it was 85%.

This data suggests that Cañada College can eventually increase fall-to-fall persistence rates of Hispanics by at least 39% and increase transfer rates of Hispanics by 26% through the Puente Program. The Puente staff at UC Berkeley is currently gathering more recent data; this data shows that the Puente persistence levels appear to be increasing.         

Three Major Components of Puente:  The three major components of Puente are integrated instruction, counseling and mentorship.  An English professor teaches an integrated reading and composition course one level below English 100 (college-level English) and English 100 within two consecutive semesters, and a faculty member from the Counseling Department teaches a linked year-long career class.  The Mentorship Program is coordinated by the English professor, Counseling professor and an office assistant hired to work 10 hours a week.

The English professor and Counseling professor will be trained at UC Berkeley during the summer for 10 days to learn how to better meet the needs of Hispanic community college students, many of whom are first-generation college students.  For example, the English professor will learn how to re-design parts his/her reading and English curriculum to make it more relevant and motivational through Hispanic themes and Hispanic writers.  The counselor, for example, will be trained in how to continuously update Student Educational Plans for Puente students when they are enrolled in the program and after they finish the program to better assure their transfer to a four-year college or university.

The UC Berkeley Puente staff will train the mentors on our campus so that they are ready to meet their students by mid semester in the fall.  Each student will have a mentor, which means we would have 30 mentors for a cohort of 30 students.  Additional cohorts of students would require additional mentors.  These mentors would come from our campus and the broader community.  The mentors would serve as professional role models and use their own college experience to advise their mentees.  The mentors would also participate in group activities with the Puente Team from UC Berkeley and Cañada College and all 30 students.  Noches de Familia (family nights) is an example of one of these activities; activity goals range from building family literacy about college expectations to building relationships between parents and mentors.  Building trusting relationships between parents, mentors and professors is especially important for the female Hispanic students, who need extra encouragement to join their classmates in field trips to universities and other educational events.

In addition to the training of professors and mentors, the Puente Team at UC Berkeley will be constantly evaluating the program and collecting and analyzing data to assure the retention and success of Puente students.

Cañada College’s Investment in Puente:  In order for the three major components to work effectively, Cañada College would need to support the program by giving a full-time English instructor 20% release time and a full-time counselor 50% release time, by funding a 10-hour/week office assistant with strong administrative skills and by allotting a $5,000 activities budget for a cohort of 30 students.

In addition to recruiting for and sustaining the mentorship program, the English professor, counselor and office assistant will attend all the activities that students will be encouraged to attend, many of which are held after class hours.  Release time and an office assistant are needed to make these time commitments possible.  The UC Berkeley Puente model recommends that the English professor and counselor be full-time so they can attend activities and field trip that take place during different times of the day.  Full-time Puente faculty members are also more available to students and to each other when coordinating the program.

Furthermore, Sandra Mendez and Yolanda Valenzuela have submitted their Hispanic-Serving-Institution (HSI) Grant proposal for Puente to Cañada College’s Vice President of Instruction.  In this HSI proposal they describe their plan to increase the size of the cohort of students in the course of five years.  In the first year they would start with 30 students, in the second year they would double the cohort to 60 students, in the third year they would triple the cohort to 90 students, in the fourth year they would quadruple the cohort to 120 students and in the fifth year they would stabilize the cohort to 120 students.  If they do receive the H.S.I. Grant for Puente, they will be able to expand this very effective program very quickly and serve a great deal of students.           

 

Puente Graduates at Cañada College:  We are fortunate to have two Puente graduates in Cañada College’s Counseling Department: Sandra Mendez and Nadya Sigona.  Sandra Mendez is very interested in being the first counselor for Puente.  Based on her experience as a Puente community college student, she thinks that linking Career 137: Life and Career Planning to the reading/ English course would be ideal.  Nadya Sigona is currently our Basic Skills counselor but can also be a wonderful asset to our Puente students.