Background
The California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) has been developed in response to attempts to improve education by tying high school graduation to a single standardized measure of competency. Students in the Class of 2006 who failed to pass the exam by the end of the 12th grade were the first to be denied diplomas. Controversy ensued. In response, the State Legislature made grants available through the California Community College Chancellor’s Office to local Community Colleges that wanted to serve this population of students. The Butte-Glenn and Lake Tahoe Community College Districts independently applied for grants. Finding they shared a common vision regarding how students should be served, they entered into a partnership, planting the seed that would become the statewide CAHSEE: Stepping Into Your Future initiative.
Introduction
Statewide, approximately 48,000 in the Class of 2006 found themselves unable to get a diploma due to the need to pass one or both portions of the Exit Exam (mathematics and/or English Language Arts). Given limited funds, students in roughly forty counties were not going to be able to be served by grant funded community college programs. Even if sufficient funds were available to offer programs in every county, many 18 and 19 year old students would not be able to participate due to the need to work or meet the needs of young children. That reality drove the Butte-Glenn CCD, the Lake Tahoe CCD and their partners to the conclusion that online opportunities for students were sorely needed.
Delivery model
The CAHSEE Stepping Into Your Future Project entails:
- Online course content built within Moodle, an open source course management system.
- Interactive lessons
- CCC Confer's web based conferencing tool (Elluminate) which allows the Math and English Language Arts instructors, Dr. Larry Green and Dr. Anita Cruz, to interact with students and conduct classes online.
- Video clips created with Camtasia
- Videoconferencing (English language arts only).
- Local instructional support and computer/Internet access through local project partners
Student identification, recruitment and support is provided through local partnerships with other community colleges, high schools, adult schools, and community based partners (i.e. public libraries and community technology centers). County offices of education are stepping forward to support participating teachers.
Student evaluation
The program uses a strength based approach to evaluate student progress at every stage.
- A pre-assessment sets the instructional context by gauging the student's test taking ability, content experiences, and approaches to problem solving, allowing the instructor to guide the student towards course components that meet their specific needs.
- An ongoing formative assessment, tracks answers to questions and progress towards completion. With this information, Instructors can customize the pace of curriculum, increasing it for some, and slowing it for others.
- Finally, a post-assessment demonstrates the progress each student has made and ultimately determines whether they are ready to attempt the CAHSEE or need more review.
To do: 3 min Demo video
MATH Content
The mathematics portion of the CAHSEE Stepping Into Your Future Curriculum includes five discrete math strands with 8 interactive lessons. Each lesson includes three levels of information; each layer building on the next, to ensure our student population retains and is capably of applying math concepts on the exam. As of January, 2008, the Math strands Measurement and Geometry and Algebra and Functions modules, and the ELA strand Being an Active Reader are complete. strands have been completed. The Math strands Statistics, Data Analysis, and Probability and Number Sense, and the ELA strands Being an Active Writer: Writing an Essay and Being an Active Reader: Strategies for Analyzing words With Text, and Being an Active Writer: Writing Strategies an Applications models are anticipated by May, 2008, C dependent on future funding.
In each lesson, concepts are explained in a real world context. For example, a woman's flower bead is transformed into a demonstration of the formula for the area of a square and circle. The narrator's voice, along with live images of a woman's garden gives the students intuitive understandings of the concepts in the Exit Exam. Next the student takes part in an interactive game, applying the concepts just learned in a fun and engaging format. Finally with a strong foundation in place, students are guided through more detailed problems, which allow them to construct and deconstruct the concepts they just learned.
English Content
Developing a model for successful online English Language Arts preparation traditionally has been difficult for educators. The problem solving techniques needed for Mathematics can be clearly put down on paper, while the processes that lead to proficient reading and writing take place inside the students head. Making those 'hidden' pathways visible was a rewarding challenge for our English Language Arts development team.
The English Language Arts portion of CAHSEE Prep takes students through the subject matter of the Exit Exam in a way that challenges them to think actively about reading, writing, and word meaning. In one slide, a young woman discusses reading strategies while the text of an adjacent paragraph is slowly highlighted. In another, a popup journal provides space to reflect and analysis the previous lesson. By the completion of the program, active reading and writing has become second nature. The CAHSEE Stepping Into Your Future Curriculum Includes 4 modules. As of January 2008, the Math strands Measurement and Geometry and Algebra and Functions modules, and the ELA strand Being an Active Reader are complete. The Math strands Statistics, Data Analysis, and Probability and Number Sense, and the ELA strands Being an Active Writer: Writing an Essay and Being an Active Reader: Strategies for Analyzing words With Text, and Being an Active Writer: Writing Strategies an Applications models will be complete by May, 2008.
To do: 3 min Demo video
