Summary of 2009 Report on Placement and Retention

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At the beginning of 2009, the Department of English at CSULA initiated a statistical review of its developmental writing program (i.e. “remedial” writing courses). The need for this review was suggested by several factors, including “high” pass rates for ENGL 095 and ENGL 096, little data on the effectiveness of ENGL 100, and questions about the efficacy of the EPT in placing students in their first writing course.

The high pass rates in ENGL 095 and ENGL 096 can be interpreted in a variety of ways. For example, the current placement mechanism might be placing students too low. Such a downward shift of the placement criteria appeals to the extreme budget environment of 2009.

The findings of this study, however, disproved this and other assumptions. While the pass rates in ENGL 095 and ENGL 096 might be “high” (bearing in mind that “high” and “low” are relative terms based on no known standard), short-term and long-term measures of student performance suggest that the current placement mechanism effectively places developmental students, that these students are effectively “remediated,” and that this “remedial” population not only performs at levels comparable to the non-remedial population but is more likely to stay at the university.

The purpose of the developmental writing courses (ENGL 095, ENGL 096, and ENGL 100) is to prepare students to be successful in ENGL 101. Ultimately, of course, the goal is larger, the aim of all writing courses being to help students succeed at the university. Student performance in ENGL 101 provides an appropriate measure of the first goal, and student two-year retention provides a measure of the second goal. By both measures the developmental writing program has been successful.
First, developmental writing courses are effectively preparing students for success in ENGL 101. Students placed in ENGL 095 eventually earn grades in ENGL 101 that are comparable to the grades earned by students placed directly into ENGL 101. Students placed in ENGL 096 eventually earn grades in ENGL 101 that are slightly below the average for the course. In general, these two findings suggest that grades earned in ENGL 101 directly correlates to time spent in developmental writing courses.

Second, students enrolled in developmental writing courses are more likely to stay at the university than students not enrolled in such courses. Some possible explanations include the smaller class size of developmental writing courses, which foster greater student engagement, as well as the connection between developmental writing courses and academic support services such as the University Writing Center.
Furthermore, ENGL 100 not only effectively helps developmental students bypass developmental writing courses, but appears also to have a significant effect on student retention. Students enrolled in ENGL 100 are 12% more likely to stay at the university regardless of their performance in ENGL 101.

In short, the developmental writing program effectively prepares students for success at the university. Our goal for this and upcoming years is to build on these successes.

The entire report can be downloaded from
http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/Report-CompProgram2009-Rev-090905.pdf

The slides from a Powerpoint presentation of this report made to the composition faculty at CSULA (September 25, 2009) can be downloaded from
http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/Report-CompProgram2009-Powerpoint.pdf

Data Highlights

Average (Eventual) Grade in ENGL 101 for Students Placed

Directly in 101	2.95
in ENGL 101 with ENGL 100	2.70
in ENGL 096	2.51
in ENGL 095	2.80

Percentage of Students Still Enrolled at the University after Two Years (2-yr Retention) (based on 2005-2006 data) Placed

in ENGL 101 and earned B or higher	70%
in ENGL 101 and earned B- or lower	38%
in ENGL 096 and earned a CR	70%
in ENGL 096 and earned an NC	26%
in ENGL 095 and earned a CR	68%
in ENGL 095 and earned an NC	33%

Percentage of Students Still Enrolled at the University after Two Years (2-yr Retention) (based on 2005-2006 data)

All Students	61%
Exempt from EPT	57%
Placed in ENGL 101	58%
Placed in ENGL 101/100	66%
Placed in ENGL 096	60%
Placed in ENGL 095	62%

To Diagnose Or Not To Diagnose

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Diagnostic essays are common in composition classrooms and programs. The idea behind them is simple: identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual writers as early as possible and use that knowledge to provide meaningful individual instruction and to shape the pace and curriculum of the course. Generally, diagnostic essay topics are brief and “content-free,” allowing students to generate text without any prior knowledge or specific experience. Some instructors have students write for as little as 20 minutes while others might devote an entire class period to the activity.

Experienced instructors know that early information about individual students is key to providing instruction that will help students develop into mature and effective writers. They also know that in the short-term (i.e. from quarter to quarter or even from year to year) those strengths and weaknesses are relatively easy to predict. Many students will have difficulty balancing the competing demands of focus and development. Some will write short, focused essays that seem to say in one paragraph everything the writer thinks needs to be said. Others will write with striking detail but little control over the coherence of a paragraph, or well-developed paragraphs that are ineffectively tied together into a discourse-level whole. Many will come hobbled with the “crutches” of what Buddy Roberts has called “meatball writing instruction” (c.f. the television series M*A*S*H)—quick-fixes like the five-paragraph essay, or “power writing” or the “hamburger paragraph.” And yes, there really is something called the hamburger paragraph—look it up if you don’t believe me. Often the instructor already knows the “diagnoses” that a diagnostic essay might provide.

Also, some instructors find the very idea of “diagnosis” anathema to education. While the word itself might have benign roots, its modern use is almost wholly associated with identifying problems, whether it be locating the source of an elevated T cell count or pinpointing a misfiring spark plug. This emphasis on unhealthiness and malfunction connects our diagnoses as writing instructors to the deficit model of education—students come to us to be fixed, purged of their bad habits and bad ideas, faulty thinking and comma splices. Besides philosophical squeamishness, however, there is the very real problem of what is being measured by a timed writing exercise. All writing courses in the composition program at CSULA emphasize the process of writing, specifically the importance of planning, drafting, and meaningful revision. Students are not merely given the opportunity to revise, they are required to revise, and assessment recognizes that these revised products are works in progress. Given this focus, what exactly is being diagnosed by a brief “content-free” on-demand essay?

Each instructor needs to consider his or her needs in deciding whether to have students write a diagnostic essay. Ultimately, whether one calls it a diagnostic essay or not, what the instructor needs is a sense of where the students are, and what each student needs is early and meaningful feedback.

Thinking about using a diagnostic essay? Consider these suggestions:

1. Give students a choice of topics—the purpose of a diagnostic is to determine what students can and cannot do.
2. Provide topics that connect to the reading, theme, or other topics in the course.
3. Include with the topics a brief outline of your expectations.
4. Allow students enough time to plan and draft their response.
5. Consider providing time at the end for students to reflect on their response. Ask them to read their drafts and then explain briefly what they might do differently or, if they had more time, what they might do to improve their essays.
6. Consider allowing students to revise the draft as one of the assignments in the course.
7. As the above list makes clear, it is best to make the diagnostic essay part of the course.