A Study of the Effects of the Implementation of Small Peer Led Collaborative Group Learning on Students in Developmental Mathematics Courses at a Tribal Community College


Book Description

College students needing remediation in mathematics are a problem at nearly all colleges and universities but are immense at community colleges where large numbers of students enroll in developmental mathematics courses. This issue for Native American students at Tribal Community Colleges has an enormous effect on future opportunities in education, employment, politics and society. The overarching research question was: How does the implementation of small peer-led collaborative learning groups affect students in developmental mathematics courses at the Tribal Community College? To answer this question five sub-questions were addressed. What impact will the treatment have on: 1) completion, 2) perseverance, 3) demonstrated procedures of mathematics, 3) personal skills for success, and 4) the leaders' perceptions of the benefits associated with acting as small peer led collaborative group leader? This research study took place at a small Tribal Community College. The quasi-experimental, mixed methods study involved collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. The treatment class consisted of having the students work together on a workshop activity designed to be engaging, challenging and relevant for one class period each week in small peer-led collaborative learning groups. Peer leaders were chosen according to predetermined criteria. The peer leaders were trained to help guide the group in the direction of a solution and to help the group learn how to collaborate to achieve the best results. The control class was given the same workshop activity to work on, but not encouraged to work together nor assisted by a peer leader. Results of this research study show increased completion and perseverance rates. Students participating in the small peer-led collaborative groups were more likely to attempt mathematics. The attitude toward mathematics was the most drastic change; students now look forward to attending their mathematics class and spend more time out of class doing mathematics. Group leaders gained personal, academic and leadership skills. Detailed descriptions of the results are given. In conclusion, implications of the findings and how they may be used are provided for mathematics instructors, administrators and student support personnel are offered. Recommendations for further research are also suggested.




On Indian Ground


Book Description

On Indian Ground: Northwest is the second of ten regionally focused texts that explores American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian education in depth. The text is designed to be used by educators of Native youth and emphasizes best practices found throughout the region. Previous texts on American Indian education make wide-ranging general assumptions that all American Indians are alike. This series promotes specific interventions and relies on Native ways of knowing to highlight place-based educational practices. On Indian Ground: Northwest looks at the history of Indian education across the Pacific Northwest region. Authors also analyze education policy and Tribal education departments to highlight early childhood education, gifted and talented educational practice, parental involvement, language revitalization, counseling, and research. These chapters expose cross-cutting themes of sustainability, historical bias, economic development, health and wellness and cultural competence.




Reaching All by Creating Tribes Learning Communities


Book Description

Reaching All by Creating Tribes Learning Communities blends the fields of group process and cooperative learning; prevention and resiliency; learning theory and school change into a comprehensive, meaningful whole. This readable, useable, wonderful book is not just a set of activities to build community. Jeanne Gibbs and her colleagues incorporate the latest research on teaching and learning. They illustrate specifically how the Tribes process applies to a variety of school and organizational needs. Most importantly, they help the reader to feel hopeful and proud to be working and learning together with children and with each other.




Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Math


Book Description

For students in developmental math, a primary short-term goal of learning communities is to accelerate students' progression through the math sequence and into college-level coursework. A longer-term goal is that enrolling in developmental math learning communities will increase students' ultimate likelihood of earning a credential or transferring to a four-year institution. Queensborough Community College and Houston Community College are two large, urban institutions that have implemented developmental math learning communities with these goals in mind. At each school, cohorts of 20 to 25 students co-enrolled in developmental math and a linked course; at Queensborough, all levels of developmental math were linked primarily with college-level courses, and at Houston, the learning communities linked the lowest level of developmental math with the college's student success course, which is designed to prepare students for the demands of college. These colleges are two of the six participating in the National Center for Postsecondary Research's (NCPR) Learning Communities Demonstration. The demonstration at these colleges was designed to determine whether the programs succeeded in boosting their students' success. A total of 1,034 students at Queensborough and 1,273 students at Houston entered the study between 2007 and 2009. Based on a longer report of the same title, this Brief presents impact findings for Queensborough and Houston's developmental math learning communities. [This brief was written with Rashida Welbeck. For related reports, see "Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Math: Impact Studies at Queensborough and Houston Community Colleges" (ED516646); and "Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Math: Impact Studies at Queensborough and Houston Community Colleges. Executive Summary" (ED516652).].




Student Success in College


Book Description

Student Success in College describes policies, programs, and practices that a diverse set of institutions have used to enhance student achievement. This book clearly shows the benefits of student learning and educational effectiveness that can be realized when these conditions are present. Based on the Documenting Effective Educational Practice (DEEP) project from the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University, this book provides concrete examples from twenty institutions that other colleges and universities can learn from and adapt to help create a success-oriented campus culture and learning environment.




Handbook of Research on Student Engagement


Book Description

For more than two decades, the concept of student engagement has grown from simple attention in class to a construct comprised of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components that embody and further develop motivation for learning. Similarly, the goals of student engagement have evolved from dropout prevention to improved outcomes for lifelong learning. This robust expansion has led to numerous lines of research across disciplines and are brought together clearly and comprehensively in the Handbook of Research on Student Engagement. The Handbook guides readers through the field’s rich history, sorts out its component constructs, and identifies knowledge gaps to be filled by future research. Grounding data in real-world learning situations, contributors analyze indicators and facilitators of student engagement, link engagement to motivation, and gauge the impact of family, peers, and teachers on engagement in elementary and secondary grades. Findings on the effectiveness of classroom interventions are discussed in detail. And because assessing engagement is still a relatively new endeavor, chapters on measurement methods and issues round out this important resource. Topical areas addressed in the Handbook include: Engagement across developmental stages. Self-efficacy in the engaged learner. Parental and social influences on engagement and achievement motivation. The engaging nature of teaching for competency development. The relationship between engagement and high-risk behavior in adolescents. Comparing methods for measuring student engagement. An essential guide to the expanding knowledge base, the Handbook of Research on Student Engagement serves as a valuable resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in such varied fields as clinical child and school psychology, educational psychology, public health, teaching and teacher education, social work, and educational policy.




Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Math: Impact Studiesat Queensborough and Houston Community Colleges. Executive Summary


Book Description

Queensborough Community College and Houston Community College are two large, urban institutions that offer learning communities for their developmental math students, with the goals of accelerating students' progress through the math sequence and of helping them to perform better in college and ultimately earn degrees or certificates. They are two of six colleges participating in the National Center for Postsecondary Research's Learning Communities Demonstration, in which random assignment evaluations are being used to determine the effects of learning communities. At Queensborough, classes in all levels of developmental math were linked primarily with college-level classes, and at Houston, the lowest level of developmental math was linked with the college's student success class, designed to prepare students for the demands of college. A total of 1,034 students at Queensborough and 1,273 students at Houston entered the study between 2007 and 2009. The key findings presented in this report are: (1) Both Queensborough and Houston began by implementing a basic model of a one-semester developmental math learning community; (2) Learning community students attempted and passed their developmental math class at higher rates at both colleges; (3) In the semesters following students' participation in the program, impacts on developmental math progress were far less evident; and (4) On average, neither college's learning communities program had an impact on persistence in college or cumulative credits earned. With these results, a pattern is beginning to emerge in the experimental research on learning communities: Linked classes can have an impact on students' achievement during the program semester, but this effect diminishes over time. However, a fuller understanding will be gained as findings are released from the remaining three colleges in the demonstration. A final project synthesis report, including further follow-up, will be published in 2012. (Contains 2 figures and 2 footnotes.) [This paper was written with Rashida Welbeck. For the main report, see ed516646.].




Exploring Best Practices in Developmental Mathematics


Book Description

Currently, many community colleges are struggling with poor student success rates in developmental math. Therefore, this qualitative study focused on employing best practices in developmental mathematics at an urban community college in Dayton, Ohio. Guiding the study were the following research questions: What are the best practices utilized by a group of developmental mathematics instructors at an urban community college? How do these instructors employ such practices to enhance student learning? Participants consisted of 20 developmental mathematics instructors from Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio who had taught at least six developmental math classes over a two-year period and who self-reported success rates of at least 60% during that time. This study employed a pre-interview document and a face-to-face interview as the primary research instruments. Using the constant comparison method (Merriam, 2002a), the researcher constructed findings from both approaches regarding best practices in developmental math. Such practices included communication with students, the art of organization, collaborative learning, frequent low stake assessments, technology supplements, the use of mnemonics and memorable wording, and manipulatives, visuals and real-life applications. When addressing the topic of acceleration, the participants reported that this strategy is a proper fit for some students but not all. The following conclusions were based on the findings from this study. Effective communication should be established between developmental math instructors and students as well as among developmental math instructors. Developmental math faculty ought to work with their students in developing their organizational skills. Developmental math instructors should couple the implementation of frequent low stake assessments with student outreach. Collaborative learning can be beneficial to some developmental math students, but instructors must take into account the composition of the class as well their own comfort level with collaborative learning. It is also important for developmental math instructors to employ some creativity in their classes. Accelerated instruction should be reserved for higher ability developmental math students with a strong work ethic. Lastly, college administrators must recognize and respect instructor comfort level. The findings from this dissertation will assist both new and veteran developmental math instructors with implementing practices that will enhance student success in their classes. The findings are also intended to aid community college leaders in gaining an understanding of the culture of developmental math and assist these leaders in the implementation of policy and practice regarding developmental math.




The Impact of Implementing Tribes Learning Communities on Student Behavior and Classroom Management in a Fourth Grade Classroom


Book Description

The purpose of the study was to determine whether the implementation of Tribes Learning Communities would have a positive impact on students' behavior, and consequently, classroom management overall. Tribes' curriculum enlists the use of community-building activities, collaborative class discussion, long-term student groups of no more than four, and the understanding of four tribe agreements. Explicit strategies and plans, developed specifically for classrooms with Tribes Learning Communities, were used to maximize the effectiveness of the small group design. A rate scale survey was administered as a pretest / posttest to gather initial and final student perceptions regarding group work. In a large group, as well as small cooperative learning groups, subjects were involved in daily community building instruction and activities. Weekly assessments (surveys) were administered to monitor progress of the implementation. This quasi- experimental one group study was implemented in a general education, grade four classroom of 16 students. Subjects' overall impression and performance within a collaborative classroom environment of student tribe groups were gauged through three assessments. Of those assessment pieces, two were student rate scale surveys, and one was a teacher-created behavioral referral form. An anecdotal journal was logged throughout the study to note observations, track individual and group performance, and monitor students' perceptions of the study. For a period of nine weeks. observations were documented and analyzed to monitor group progress. Findings from the study show an increase in effective group perception as well as a decrease in problematic student behavior. It can be inferred that the results are in direct correlation with the implementation of Tribes, as an initiative to promote cooperative learning skills and positive behavior within student groups.




Minority Serving Institutions


Book Description

There are over 20 million young people of color in the United States whose representation in STEM education pathways and in the STEM workforce is still far below their numbers in the general population. Their participation could help re-establish the United States' preeminence in STEM innovation and productivity, while also increasing the number of well-educated STEM workers. There are nearly 700 minority-serving institutions (MSIs) that provide pathways to STEM educational success and workforce readiness for millions of students of colorâ€"and do so in a mission-driven and intentional manner. They vary substantially in their origins, missions, student demographics, and levels of institutional selectivity. But in general, their service to the nation provides a gateway to higher education and the workforce, particularly for underrepresented students of color and those from low-income and first-generation to college backgrounds. The challenge for the nation is how to capitalize on the unique strengths and attributes of these institutions and to equip them with the resources, exceptional faculty talent, and vital infrastructure needed to educate and train an increasingly critical portion of current and future generations of scientists, engineers, and health professionals. Minority Serving Institutions examines the nation's MSIs and identifies promising programs and effective strategies that have the highest potential return on investment for the nation by increasing the quantity and quality MSI STEM graduates. This study also provides critical information and perspective about the importance of MSIs to other stakeholders in the nation's system of higher education and the organizations that support them.