Developmental: Skills or Capabilities?

At a recent conference (MDEC, the Michigan affiliate of NADE), we were having a conversation with Hunter Boylan about developmental education. One of the participants commented that a major concern was that students sometimes leave developmental courses as developmental students.

What did they mean by ‘developmental students’?  I think the basic concern is that students were leaving our courses without the capabilities (not abilities) to handle college academic work.  One of my colleagues who is a ‘reading’ faculty commented that it seems like the developmental course was a collection of discrete skills which did not add up to any additional capabilities.

There is a somewhat different point of view for professionals engaged with NADE or the National Center for Developmental Education (which is directed by Hunter Boylan).  Their framework specifically includes ‘personal growth’, referring to a collection of cognitive and affective factors … which I categorize as ‘capabilities’.    [The “NADE-type” definition of developmental implies that it is not a nicer name for remedial; most of us in the mathematics community equate the two phrases.   As implemented, most developmental math programs are ‘remedial’; I wish they were not.]

In reading, for example, parsing a phrase … vocabulary … decoding … these are groups of skills; however, without additional capabilities, students remain developmental in their functioning — resulting in a higher risk of failure in college courses.  That is, basic literacy skills are not sufficient in a good developmental reading program.

How does a typical developmental math program compare?  Sadly, I think we are the epitome of skill courses that do not impact the capabilities of our students.  A beginning algebra course usually has 8 to 10 chapters of material, with a preponderance of … parsing phrases … vocabulary … procedures; our ‘applications’ are mostly stylized puzzle problems which avoid the need to think deeply about relationships.  In fact, we sometimes take pride in providing rules or tools to cope with word problems so students do not have to analyze them. 

A basic reason behind the New Life project is this:  serving up skills with symbols does not change the capabilities of our students.  Dealing with basic concepts, connections, transfer, analysis … this process changes the capabilities of our students.  It is our belief that good preparation for college work is based on an emphasis on deeper academic work in ‘developmental’ courses.

As you look at the learning outcomes for New Life (or the New Mathways), keep in mind that the model is making a serious attempt to build student capabilities.  Since there is not a linear sequence of basic skills, you will have to work harder to understand what the curriculum is trying to accomplish for our students.

Any course — ‘developmental’ or not — that only seeks to add skills to a student, without a larger focus on capabilities, is a missed opportunity.  When that course is used in a gate-keeper fashion (like mathematics is), we need to move towards a design that truly helps our students.

 
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Implementing MLCS or Mathways or Pathways

If you are drawn towards the new models of developmental mathematics that take a fresh look at the content … and wonder about the “how”, here is some good news.  The Dana Center (University of Texas – Austin) has developed an initial version of an implementation guide.   See http://www.utdanacenter.org/mathways/downloads/new-mathways-project-implementation-feb2012.pdf 

As an example, the implementation guide deals with Examining the culture and capacity of the math department (both developmental and college­‐level math) [page 9], and lists a number of specific questions to help; among them are these:

• How does the math department make a decision about instituting a new program or innovation?

• Are there institutional or departmental policies regarding instruction, assessment, and grading that support or deter implementing Mathways?

• What other innovations are taking place in the math department?

• How does the department view itself in the professional mathematics education landscape?

This implementation guide is VERY thorough; although many items refer to Mathways (the Dana Center project), they all apply to doing a New Life course as well.  The only problem you might have with the guide is that you may think it has too much information … not a bad problem to have.

I encourage you to take a look at this implementation guide.  [And, I thank the hard-working staff at the Dana Center for providing this resource to the profession.]

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Dana Center Mathways Project Webinar April 17

The current models for a complete reform of developmental mathematics are the New Life model and the Carnegie Foundation Pathways (Statway and Quantway).  Strictly speaking, the Carnegie Pathways are a partial reform — since they are designed for specific groups of students (those who need just an intro statistics course and those who need a quantitative reasoning course).  The two models are not competitive; the work has been broadly coordinated with much sharing of basic goals.

Our friends at the Dana Center have announced the New Mathways Project; their Mathways are another alternative with similar goals and concepts to the other models (New Life, Pathways).

Uri Treisman and the Dana Center’s Higher Education team will be hosting a webinar on April 17, 2012 to discuss how we will build on our work and contribute to the developmental math reform landscape. Webinar participants will have an opportunity to submit questions. For more information about the New Mathways Project, please visit http://www.utdanacenter.org/mathways/index.php

Details for accessing the webinar are outlined below and you can also go to this link for updated information on the webinar: www.utdanacenter.org/mathways/webinar

Please note that the webinar has a capacity limit of 100 participants, so if you want to ensure a space, please access the webinar 5 -10 minutes beforehand. If you are unable to attend, a full video of the webinar will be posted on our website shortly afterwards.

Topic: UT Dana Center: The New Mathways Project

Date and Time:   Tuesday, April 17, 2012 11:00 am, Central Daylight Time (Chicago, GMT-05:00) =>  9am Pacific => noon Eastern

Event number: 668 333 825                                      Event password: This event does not require a password.

Event address for attendees: https://danacenter.webex.com/danacenter/onstage/g.php?d=668333825&t=a  (for use on April 17)

I encourage you to consider attending this webinar, and to review the materials at http://www.utdanacenter.org/mathways/index.php.  I believe that the Mathways program incorporates valuable elements of New Life.

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Pathways and New Life presentation

If you would like a ‘quick’ summary and comparison of the Pathways (Statway™ and Quantway™) and New Life model, take a look at this presentation.

  Pathways and New Life session MDEC 2012 final

There is also a ‘handout’ — references for the models, and the current visual for the New Life model.   Here is that handout: References_EmergingModels_March2012

 
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