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CORE Five year plan: with Three Scenarios

Freshman Studies Liberal Arts Core and
High School to College Bridge

Outline and Draft 3.0: June 14, 2008

CORE stands for “Celebration of Diversity, Opening Access, Relevance, and Excellence”.  The CORE Mission Statement defines and then institutes a University Studies Liberal Art Core Program and a High School to College Bridge Program in Liberal Arts Studies.  The two programs are then integrated as a seamless opening of access to higher education for underserved student populations.  A web technology-based infrastructure will support recruitment and retention goals.

Justification

National educational policy recognizes the importance of skill remediation services for entering freshman, particularly in analytic reasoning, communication skills and common awareness of political and historic traditions.  

“This Panel, diverse in experience, expertise, and philosophy, agrees broadly that the delivery system in mathematics education—the system that translates mathematical knowledge into value and ability for the next generation—is broken and must be fixed. This is not a conclusion about teachers or school administrators, or textbooks or universities or any other single element of the system. It is about how the many parts do not now work together to achieve a result worthy of this country’s values and ambitions.”    March 2008

It is in the strategic interest of any institution of higher learning to develop a complete solution to the remediation crisis. There is a recognized budgetary need to achieve additional recruitment and retention. There is also relevance to the mission statement of the institution. The central question to be answered with the CORE program has to do with the capacity to solve what is now a perceived as an unsolvable problem by altering the approach made to that problem.

In the United States, the capacity of each institution of higher learning is oriented towards a mission aligned with modernization of programs, such as a renewed focus on liberal education.  Growth industries like health care, pharmaceutical research, decentralization technology all require an increased performance at the freshman level.  However, mathematics performance from entering freshmen presents an unmet challenge.  This challenge is to be met with a comprehensive approach based on experience, system theory and learning theory.

The strategic interest of each institution of higher learning is replicated across the American educational system.  As a consequence each is in a position to take a leadership role in a number of areas.  These areas of leadership may be delineated in the CORE mission statement.  This mission statement delineates positive steps designed to enhance four CORE principles. 

1)    Celebration of Diversity:  Creating increased diversity within the college and university system
2)    Opening Access: Opening of access to all incoming freshman students to a understanding about the nature of mathematics
3)    Relevance: Restoring a sense of relevance by restructuring curriculum and expectations
4)    Excellence: Entering freshman should perceive a personal opportunity to participate in excellence

Our, proposed, CORE mission statement is to be used in initial fund raising and program development sufficient to find national recognition for leadership within the twenty-first century community of colleges and universities.   This program will be developed at one college or university while extending collaboration to more than one other institution.  The five-year plan is detailed in the last section of this paper.

Long-term funding-raising will seek traditional support from private foundations, as well a specific proposal to Congress and the White House.  The final proposal will be advanced as part of a larger consortium of community colleges, colleges and universities. 

 
Next steps

Innovation and purpose are the two hallmarks of leadership.  Purpose is reflected in the College Mission Statement, and in all programs undertaken by the administration and faculty.  The author is seeking a college position where he may provide team leadership in each of several areas.  A Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) that focuses on the freshman experience will further demonstrate CORE leadership.  Funding proposals to NSF and to the Department of Education will seek external funds to build the CORE prototype and demonstrate functional success.  As for the academic year 2008-2009, the author needs some time to develop funding proposals; as well as to produce some advanced research results related to the grounding of the lifting pedagogy and learning theory in natural science.     Planning will focus on the academic year 2009-2010.

Underlying assertion of the CORE Mission Statement

It is proposed that underserved students accommodate a cycle of failure with respect to university studies.  A number of scholars point out that our schools and popular culture reinforces this cycle of failure.  In the proposed Bridge and Freshman Studies Programs, this assertion is taken seriously.  Adequate resources are used directly with the expectation that the cycle of failure may be set aside, in almost all cases.  Given a change in approach, and marked increased in success, the result will be more and better students.

Innovation in pedagogy and curriculum

The author has proposed a specific innovation in pedagogy and curriculum for developmental studies in mathematics.  In his prior work on Quality Enhancement Programs, as Chair of Mathematics at a small HBCU in Alabama, a recommendation was made that a core curriculum be identified for developmental purposes.  He proposed, in part, that a core developmental program should have elements from mathematics, English communication skills, and the humanities.  There is agreement about this part of the proposal. The proposed innovation in pedagogy and actual curriculum is where some work is needed. 

Lessons learned from other University Studies Programs

Mathematics remediation is a profound problem. Freshman Studies Programs at several universities actually remove analytic skills from the mission statement of the program.  The phrase “analytic skills” is used, but developmental mathematics and freshman mathematics are still taught by the department of mathematics using traditional methods.  The unsolvable part of the problem is left in the status quo.  A new strategy comes with an innovation in pedagogy and curriculum designed to alter this status quo. 

The school system and the college/university system are not on the same page.  University departments of mathematics are focused in providing a quality presentation of higher mathematics, and in advancing the body of mathematics.  Mathematics education has found a place within the universities but has not as yet found a paradigm that recognizes a solution to the problems of poor and under preparation.  As a result of these considerations I believe that the developmental program should be separated from the departments of mathematics, as a general principle.  It should be clear that the approach I am making requires faculty development and training as well as in-class and web based support materials.  The developmental program should produce students prepared to advance into mathematics and sciences, with renewed interest and capacity.

Opening Access to underserved populations

The second CORE principle is that of opening access to higher education for underserved student populations.  Academic communities agree that English communication skill and the humanities is an essential part of opening access to scholarship in all disciplines.  There is some disagreement, caused by frustration; over whether mathematics, as traditionally taught in the freshman year, is relevant to the current generation of students.  This disagreement is exceedingly complex and should be by-passed through a strategy appeasing both sides of the disagreement.

The author has defined and demonstrated what is called the “lifting pedagogy”.     The lifting pedagogy asserts that an “Acquired Learning Disability” constrains the behavior of entering freshman students and that a full remediation is possible in almost all cases.  The lifting pedagogy has two phases, engagement followed by acceleration. 

As demonstrated in the academic year 2007-2008, the pedagogy and curriculum innovations in the lifting pedagogy may be applied to all entering freshman students who fail to pass the standardized mathematics placement exam.   It was demonstrated that as much as 30% of entering freshman, placed into developmental mathematics, may be moved to standard college liberal arts studies after the first three weeks of class.  During the three weeks, these students can be motivated by the opportunity to test out of developmental mathematics, and be accelerated into the traditional freshman course work.  It is entirely possible that these students have a radically improved chance of completing the freshman year and going on to graduate. 

On the prior experience

We may generalize from the experiences in 2007-2008.  In this academic year, at the small college in Alabama, we had 194 entering freshman, 192 of which did not pass the mathematics entrance exams.  All students in all sections of developmental mathematics as well as in the freshman college mathematics courses were given a specific remediation curriculum, as discussed in “Institutionalizing Developmental Curriculums” (IDC).  A blank paper testing procedure and lecture by topic presentation pedagogy is discussed in IDC.  For three weeks the two-professor department used testing and presentation procedures uniformly.  At the end of this three week period all students earning an A on the blank paper test were encouraged to drop his or her course and add a higher level mathematics course.  Of the 192 students, 63 made this change and went on the make an A or B in the higher-level course. 

The strategy created smaller developmental classes, while adding new sections of the higher lever courses.  Ideally, original enrollment should be caped at 35 students; with the expectation that 10 will move out of this class.  Students interested in the challenge should leave open his or her schedule in alignment with classes that will open only after the first three weeks. 

The traditional retention rate at the small college was 20%.  Over the past decade, 80% of freshman students failed or dropped mathematics.  During the academic year 2007-2008 the retention rate was 85% passing, most with a grade of A or B.  This evidence is applied to the conjecture that Acquired Learning Disability (ALD) can be cured completely in most cases.  Redoing this “experiment” is necessary if outside funding is to be acquired. 

Relationship to the proposed Education Grid

In the five-part thesis “Transforming Mathematics Education” (Prueitt, 2008) the author places the Lifting Pedagogy into the context of supply and demand models for economic, entertainment and educational systems.

“The creation of a not for profit communications grid for educational processes was considered to be a reasonable social domain for deployment of technology consistent with the new communications paradigm.  Funding is the only real issue.  The author developed the position that the application of this new paradigm to the entire educational system might be funded as a single federal program. Because of his work on this technology, the author is able to use the principles developed to advance a learning theory, and supporting web based technology.  This is regarded as a first step in proposing this communications grid, now called the Education Grid. 

“There is no under-estimation of the difficulties.  What we have is a principled plan that starts with the development of a web based support system for the bridge between high school and college.  This bridge will not use the software paradigm discussed below and is thus not dependant on market forces finding the necessary capitalization.  The bridge will be designed programmatically.”  

Funding for a commercial enterprise whose focus is back-plate technology is a task that faces a number of barriers.  The author’s five-year plan for developing the bridge program between high school and college does not depend on such a commercial enterprise.  The author is an advisor to those who are most likely to create this enterprise, but his work stands on its own merit.  The use of architectural principles in the web component of the bridge program will illustrate the back-plate principles, but only as an approximation.

Tentative Benchmarks for the Bridge Program

The author is considering three positions for the academic year 2008-2009 and beyond.  Three plan of action and management scenarios are developed based on the three contexts.  The first appointment would be at a progressive community college already looking forward to the task of curriculum and mission modification as community colleges continue to fulfill an historic role in liberal education and preparation of the work force.  The appointment would be as Director of the Mathematics and Sciences Division. The second appointment would be as an Associate Professor at a rural university having demographics similar to the small black college in Alabama where the author was chair for one year.  The third appointment would be as Director of Developmental Mathematics Studies at a quality community college close to Oklahoma City. 

Scenario I: Director of Developmental Studies in Mathematics at a quality community college.  This position is the ideal position for the next step in developing the bridge program prototype at a single institution.  The college has recognized that developmental studies requires an administrator having sole responsibility for addressing the learning challenges facing 75% of an entering freshman class of over 1400 students.  A program has been established and existing personal hired.  As Director of this program, I will be responsible for administration of the existing program during the academic year 2008-2009, and for designing a 2009-2010 developmental program with web based support.  External funding will be needed to produce the bridge program software infrastructure and to hire sufficient and qualified faculty to teach using the lifting pedagogy.  This funding should be in place for the 2009-2010 academic year.  The academic years 2010 – 2011 and 2011-2012 will see the program mature.  Recruitment and retention metrics will support the development of a high quality transfer program where some of the community college’s graduates will enter into four-year programs.  The Director will begin an evangelization process involving conference presentations and publication of textbook materials.  At the end of the five year period, the program will have been fully established and will serve recruiting and retention objectives.  The lifting pedagogy will be shown during the academic year 2008-2009 in a series of three week mini-courses while existing faculty are consulted. 

Scenario II: Associate Professor at a small rural university.  This rural university is a quality historical black university, and thus extends my effort to produce a national bridge program designed specifically for underserved student populations.  Many of the same issues exist as exist at the two small HBCUs I served in academic years 1993-1994 and 2007-2008.  However, the physical structure and rural placement of the university is personally comfortable, as is the opportunity to teach advanced undergraduate courses, and graduate courses in mathematics education and computing science.  Research opportunities exists that would support my work on semantic extraction from natural language, distributed computing, and formal models of biological processes (using stochastic theory along with switching networks and artificial neural networks).  Finding external funding would be facilitated.  As an Associate Professor I will depend on the Chair for assignments this next academic year, and would focus on basic research elements to be used to justify my call for external funding starting in academic year 2009-2010.  Depending on the interests of the entire faculty and administration, I would work to build the bridge program as an interdisciplinary recruitment and retention tool for the university.  My goal would be to create the position of Academic Vice President for Developmental Studies and to serve in this position until retirement. 

Scenario III: Division Director Mathematics and Science at a quality community college outside a small city in the mid west.  This position would bring me to an administrative position where issues are related to change theory, leadership models, meeting with unions, faculty development and hiring.  The key issue here is the willingness of the existing faculty to look seriously at the lifting pedagogy.  The Division has all of the hard sciences as well as a few other technology and trade programs.  The support from mathematics and computing science of these programs would be more deeply justified, as would proposed-changes in the liberal arts core requirements.  The bridge program would be designed to support community college specific programs, and to extend to a transfer program designed to move some students into four-year institutions after the Associates Degree.  A web based student management system would be developed and linked to a Blackboard system.  The most exciting aspect of this opportunity would be in researching best practices related to the services that academic vice presidents, deans and chairman are expected to support.  A model of interactions involving administrative functions would be lifted to web based process models, and generalized as part of the author’s long time interests in the emerging service standard for educational processes. 



                                Dr Paul S Prueitt