ENGL 91 - Intro to Basic Reading and Writing - Stage 5 - Chante McCormick and Ghislaine Maze
Assessment
| Assessment Methods | Analysis of exam, quiz, or homework items linked to specific SLOs |
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| Assessment Description | All English 91 instructors administered a common reading exam in the final weeks of the Spring 2013 semester. The reading exam focused on comprehension, inferences, and vocabulary. |
| Learning Outcomes | A. Reading outcomes 3. Apply strategies prior to, during, and after reading in order to help improve comprehension. 4. Recognize the structural elements of academic writing including main idea and supporting detail. |
| Number of Sections | ~13 |
| Number of Instructors | 11 |
| Number of Students | ~159 |
Data Analysis
| Data Shared With |
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| Data Sharing Methods |
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| Data Summary | Fall 2012 common reading assessment: 155 students total 57.4% of students received passing scores (7/10 or higher) 77.4% of students received scores of 60% (6/10) or higher |
| Analysis Summary | Problem areas on the reading assessment (questions that were answered incorrectly by 65% or more of students) were those focused on inference and locating the main idea of a reading selection. |
| Next Steps Planned | In the spring we first discussed the validity of the test -- and revised the format of the inference questions based on our understanding that the question format may have thrown students off. We improved our course by sharing best teaching practices for inferences and main ideas. We shared materials in a level meeting and have planned additional workshops in the fall for instructors to share methods for reading instruction. |
| Learning Outcomes | Refer to previous answers. |
Tentative Future Plans
| Term | Fall 2013 |
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| Activities |
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| More Details | In fall 2013 we will review reading assessment data from spring 13, and discuss implications of the spring reading assessment. We will continue to discuss best practices for reading instruction, especially in main ideas and inferences. We will set a new focus for assessment in fall 2013, create a new assessment, and test that assessment in a few sections of Engl 91. The new assessment would then be implemented across 91 sections in spring 2014. |
SLO Details Storage Location
ELECTRONIC COPY - On a department web server or shared document system
Additional Highlights
The reading assessment work of the past 4 semesters has given us insight into our students' reading skills and has also helped us focus on ways to measure the effectiveness of our teaching.We have learned the basics and encountered many of the challenges of creating effective measures of student outcomes. We presented some of our assessment results and our insights into the assessment process at the Northern California College Reading Association conference on April 19th at De Anza College. This proved a good venue for sharing our own methods and lessons, and we were able to learn from colleagues at other community colleges about how they assess their students' reading skills and improve their English program.