The CCR Project at South Suburban College

by Marybeth Beno

South Suburban College (SSC) was one of five community colleges selected to participate in Illinois’ College and Career Readiness (CCR) Pilot project. Our initial program was planned in the spring of 2008 and began during the summer of 2008.  This article describes the thought processes that went into formulating the original concept of the CCR program and its implementation in 2008. Lessons learned from the initial trial that are driving the second year of implementation of the pilot program in 2009 are discussed.

SSC, located just south of Chicago in South Holland, IL, serves three high school districts (D205, D215, D228) housing nine area high schools. While the majority of students attending these high schools indicate they are college-bound, upon matriculation many discover that their math, English, and/or reading skills are not adequate for college-level work.  This discovery is disappointing to students and their parents, as remediation adds not only semesters but tuition dollars to their college plans.  In an interview with a senior student at one of our feeder high schools, Jane (not her real name) complained about her academic preparation, stating, “I’ve been led to believe that I’m an honors student – I get all A’s and B’s here and rank near the top of my class, but I scored 19 on my ACT.  What does that mean?”  This student recognized the fact that she had not even achieved the state average ACT composite score of 20.7, and after four years of very hard work, this realization was devastating to her.  Table 1 shows 2008 statistics on 11th grade students from our feeder districts on the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks (CRB).

Table 1:  Percentage of Students Meeting College Readiness Benchmarks (CRB) by District

With this need in mind, SSC created the Academic Intervention for Matriculation, or AIM program.  In the first year, only SSC and High School District 205 participated in the AIM program.  A team was assembled consisting of math and English faculty, counselors, and administrators from three feeder high schools in District 205 and from SSC. We met monthly to brainstorm, compare curricula, and create our model. Tasks were divided between the district and college. For example, District 205 chose potential participants and invited them to a Parent Information Night at SSC, while SSC planned the Parent Information Night agenda and designed the summer program, including pre- and post-testing of AIM participants.  

The summer program included two separate cohorts of skill-building math and English classes.  Both cohorts included sessions with counselors and tutors. The English class was supplemented with reading comprehension, study skills, and career planning sessions. The math class was supplemented with Structured Learning Assistance (SLA), which included tutoring, group work, study skills, and career planning sessions.  As an extra incentive, students who successfully completed the summer program were able to enroll in a general education course free of charge at SSC for the following school year.  In 2008, the two AIM summer courses were Math 100 (Intermediate Algebra) and English 099 (Writer’s Workshop III), developmental courses that serve as prerequisites for Math 115 (General Education Math) and English 101 (Composition and Rhetoric). 

Results from the summer 2008 program showed pre- to post-test gain scores for the English cohort remained the same, while the math cohort increased the pre- to post-test gain scores by almost 10 percentage points.  Out of the 9 total students in the English cohort, 8 passed the course with a “C” or above and 4 of these students went on to enroll in at least one college-level course in the fall of 2008.  All 4 of the students who enrolled in a college-level course passed the course.  Out of the 10 students enrolled in the math cohort, all 10 passed the course with a “C” or above and 7 went on to enroll in a college-level course in the fall of 2008. Out of these 7 students, 4 passed their college-level course. There are 3 students from the math and English cohorts enrolled in a college-level course this spring 2009 semester.

While we were satisfied with the outcomes and enjoyed outstanding student evaluations, we were disappointed with the small number of participants.  We also realized, in hindsight, that students who participated in the AIM Program were probably not from the “at-risk” population that we wanted to reach.  Some identified themselves as an “honor student.”  In an attempt to get the project off the ground quickly, faculty and advisors may have encouraged their best students to participate, rather than focusing on those who were most in need of this type of intervention.  Learning from year one, we are currently in the midst of revising the AIM Program.  After reviewing the data, we concluded that there are three major elements that need to be changed. 

First, we want to include all three high school feeder districts, rather than just one. At the present time, we have accomplished this goal. Each district has assembled a 5-person team whose members have been included in email discussions and attended monthly meetings. Each team has identified a team leader who is responsible for communicating with SSC and carrying out tasks related to the CCR Project. These district teams selected students from all nine of our feeder high schools to be invited to Parent Information Night on March 17, 2009. Criteria for selection includes students who are college-bound, classified as motivated by teachers, and score in the range of 13-17 on their practice ACT test.  We have asked each attendee to fill out an interest survey with personal information, and we plan to enter this information into our database to identify potential candidates. 

Second, we want to dramatically increase the number of participating students. In 2008, we had one cohort of math students and one cohort of English/reading students, totaling 19 students. In 2009, our goal is to run two cohorts of math and two cohorts of English/reading students, totaling a target number of 96 students. Each district has been assigned 32 slots – 16 students to participate in the math cohort, and 16 in the English/reading cohort. The summer program will run eight weeks (June 8 – July 30), Monday through Thursday, from 9:15 am until noon. 

Students participating in the summer program will take a pre-test to determine the level of math or English course into which they will be placed.  We are anticipating offering Beginners and Intermediate Algebra (Math 095/100) and Writer’s Workshop II and III (English 098/099), and we will use the results of the pre-test to determine specific objectives and course content.  The math courses will once again be supplemented with Structured Learning Assistance (SLA) where trained facilitators assist with homework, test preparation, and formation of study groups.  The English courses will be supplemented with reading comprehension classes in which the instructors will work together on lesson plans and assignments.  Similar to 2008, both cohorts will participate in counselor-led sessions that include study skills and career planning. 

Third, we want to do a better job of serving the at-risk student population that has a slim chance of transitioning from high school to college without access to interventions like the AIM program. Attainment of this goal necessitates cooperation from multiple partners in the project. We are working toward this goal by starting the planning process earlier to give optimal time to select and recruit participants. Finally, we are reaching out to serve the at-risk population better by changing the PACT selection range from 16-19 to 13-17.

There are also other incentives attached to our 2009 program.  One is the opportunity for a limited number of AIM students to work part-time at SSC (after lunch from 12:30 – 3:30 pm). We feel that this will attract those students who cite a “need to work” as a potential reason for not participating in the AIM program.  Another opportunity is being offered to students who complete Math 100 or English 099. These students are being given the option to enroll in a college-level class at SSC in the fall of 2009.  Though this is not the main objective of the program, it provides an added incentive to the most motivated high school students. Overall, we are doing our best to learn from our first-year experience and improve upon program organization for year two of the CCR project.