Meeting Minutes: Committee on Learning Support and Developmental Studies
Academic Advisory Committee on Learning Support and Developmental Studies
Minutes for April 17 and 18, 1999
Radisson Riverfront Hotel, Augusta, Georgia
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Call to Order and Introductions: Shirley Hall, Chair, called the meeting to order at 2 P.M. Saturday afternoon. After all of the introductions from the Directors of the institutions represented, the meeting continued.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes stand approved from email responses and are on the University System of Georgia web page. Elizabeth Ragsdale requested a change in the October minutes. Change first bulleted paragraph on page three to "At Darton College the remedial reading course supports a number of co-requisite core courses. The reading students have a required reading lab with individualized components to assist all the reading students. For those reading students who are also in core courses, their core course instructors send reading lists and class assignments to the lab for them to work on during the required two hours each week. Only institutionally required students are participating in the co-requisite program." Then in the first paragraph after the bulleted paragraphs on page three, "Dr. Burk then read from the BOR's Policy that the pre-requisite issue only refers to students with System requirements. Dr. Burk urged any institutions wishing to submit co-requisite proposals to submit them to Dr. James Muyskens."
Central Office Reports: Dr. Kathleen Burk distributed the draft of the University System of Georgia 1997-98 Learning Support Annual Report. She clarified the following designations in the report:
S = System required (student is in Learning Support at all institutions)
I = Institutionally required (student is below institution scores but above system)
Everyone should look at the semester enrollment report to see if Table 1 agree with it. If the numbers should be more than is in Table 1, then the institution is not reporting students correctly in SIRS. Updated enrollment information can be found on the web page.
A request was made by Elizabeth Ragsdale that the committee would prefer the designation of traditional/non-traditional students rather than male/female. Angelia Moore requested information by race. The committee agreed that these additional designations would be helpful in planning.
On Table 7 of the report, the Not Enrolled LSP 1998 should be 0. Few felt that the numbers were correct. Not enrolled means that the student simply was not enrolled in L.S. English in Fall 1998. The student could be enrolled in another L.S. course. It does not mean that the student was not enrolled at the institution. This problem occurs with part-time students and at institutions that have programs that do not require Learning Support.
Shirley Hall asked what procedures should we take if there is incorrect data on the report? Dr. Burk replied that we should notify the people at our institutions who are responsible for SIRS so that the errors can be corrected. She reminded us that if Tables 1 and 4 are incorrect in the annual L.S. report, then the information will be wrong in the System Enrollment Report.
Dr. Burk distributed the system 1997-98 Learning Support Feedback Course Summary by institution. These are the grades that students earned in regular credit courses if they began in L.S. courses. All possible courses that an institution offers are on the report. Numbers of students making the various grades are listed. Institutions may want to create reports to monitor this sort of information.
Angelia Moore made a motion that the Executive Committee make a mock table for the pertinent course information that would be valuable for L.S. programs. Elizabeth Ragsdale seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous in favor of this report. The Executive committee met to create the table.
The following information for the new table was presented later in the day . The L.S. Committee would like the following information in a report/table.
Placed in and completed ENGL 0099; how did they do in ENGL 1101?
Placed in and completed MATH 0097/99; how did they do in MATH 1101 or 1111?
Placed in and completed READ 0099; how did they do in HIST 2111 or HIST 2112, and POLS 1101?After much discussion, there was agreement that there needs to be a retention report that compares L.S. students and regularly enrolled students concerning their rates of successful completion of regular credit courses. The outcome was that a motion was made, seconded, and approved unanimously that Dr. Cathie Hudson create a report comparing L.S. and regular students on successful completion of courses, beginning with ENGL 1101, MATH 1101, and MATH 1111.
Dr. Burk informed us of general information from the Board of Regents.
Even though there is a 4% budget increase, redirection of 1% of each institution's monies will return to the state rather than be redirected within the institution.
As of July 1, 1999, 1 sick day is equal to 1 retirement day. At this point, Dr. Burk was not sure what the maximum number of days was that can be used in this manner.
There are possible changes coming to the state's health plan, but there are no specific details yet.
Dr. Burk's last comments were about the enrollment drop at a majority of the institutions, hoping that there would be a rebound in the Fall 1999.
Conference Overview: Bill Dodd gave a short preview for the conference, including information about the banquet speaker and other details such as the location for our door prizes in the registration booth. He answered a few questions.
Committee Reports: Angelia Moore reported that the committee concerned with admissions' criteria and the impact of that criteria had compiled questions and sent them to Cathie Hudson who perhaps will be sending out a questionnaire to superintendents throughout the state to gather some of this information. The committee wanted to add the following questions to the proposed questionnaire: 1) Do superintendents know about the admissions criteria? 2) Do they see fewer students from their school systems deciding on other avenues rather than post-secondary education? 3)Are there fewer students at the marginal SAT levels because they are going out of state where they don't have to worry about taking Learning Support classes or private in-state institutions that do not have the same requirements as state institutions? Other questions to Cathie Hudson from the committee are - How many students were denied admission for the 1998-99 academic year to the colleges to which they applied? Has there been a change in the racial make-up of the freshman population for this year compared to the previous year? Kathleen Burk said that make-up of class is on the system web site. Dr. Burk also stated that Cathie Hudson would like to work with the committee if she could get together with them sometime.
Rick Reynolds reported on the survey that his committee sent out that concerned teacher loads, effects of the semester system on student performance, administration support, organizational status of Learning Support at the institutions, and titles of the institution's Learning Support leadership. He sent copies of the questionnaire results to all institutions via email. Evidently everyone did not receive a copy.
There will be an updated list of email addresses with the minutes of this meeting. Jim Head brought up the possibility of using the current DEVSTU-1 listserv that he maintains to post information rather than having to continually update email addresses. There seems to be a problem for some people in subscribing to this listserv, so Jim will check with OIT.
Year of Technology Action Items: The following are proposed action items for the Year of Technology. The committee reviewed, discussed, and recommended items that were sent to the Board of Regents immediately since the BOR wanted the input immediately.
- Most institutions that requested technology fees were turned down. The committee recommends that institutions should be permitted to add technology fees to tuition.
- We support A.1. "The University System will develop strategies to minimize student cost barriers associated with technology access or purchase."
- We questioned A.2.a. "Students who lack skills will have access to training and competency assessment before enrollment in courses requiring technology expertise." Will competency tests become prerequisites? Who will pay for the expense of this testing?
- We support B.1.d." "All undergraduate students be required to demonstrate competence in using the computer for composition by passing the Regents' Testing Program Essay Test administered through the computer."
2000 Conference Recommendations: Carol Pinson presented the Clarion Buccaneer Resort on Jekyll Island for the 2000 conference for April 9 - 11. The resort is not charging anything extra for meeting rooms, tables, etc. The rate for all rooms is $89 per night. 75 deluxe rooms with kitchenettes are the same price. Bennigan's Restaurant is at the Clarion now. There is a possibility of Trolley Tours on St. Simons for Sunday afternoon and perhaps having a reception in one of the cottages in the Millionaires' Village on Jekyll. There will be 25 rooms for Friday night and 60 rooms on Saturday night with the conference rates. A motion was made and seconded to go to Jekyll Island for the Spring 2000 conference. Carol Pinson will send the phone numbers for reservations with the designated reservation name as quickly as the Clarion staff sets up the conference.
There was a suggestion that the Directors' meeting be condensed to one day. All but two directors wanted to keep the two-day format.
Learning Support Related Items:
- DTAE - transfer of credit issues: There are agreements in place with some of the technical institutions to accept a block of credits. Inquire at your individual institutions if any agreements may affect students in your area.
- CPC requirements: Applied composition and literature courses will not be acceptable for 11th and 12thgrade English courses to meet CPC requirements for college admission. Applied Math 1 and 2 will be accepted as one year of algebra if algebra II and geometry are taken. The BOR agreed to this math with the BOE since this math sequence would begin in the 9th grade.
- COMPASS - Testing is moving to a Windows based administration, which will allow calculator usage. Dr. Burk will tell us when we are to switch to the new software. We will wait until other institutions have used the Windows version before we convert our testing. She suggested that we may need to re- examine our cut-off scores for all areas.
- BANNER - There was a discussion of registration programs, web based registration, and phone registration. Macon College, Georgia State, Georgia Perimeter College, Georgia College, Augusta State, and Gainesville College have online registration.
- 20 hour L.S. Rule - People are having some problems with this rule. It penalizes the L.S. students who spend three semesters in L.S. Math, for instance, who also take 12 academic hours each during the first two semesters. By the beginning of the third semester, these students have earned 24 hours and can take only the L.S. Math. This situation creates a hardship for families who now have to make special arrangements for insurance for their college students who are now classified as part-time. Dr. Burk says that at this time there are no exceptions to this 20 hour rule.
- Web based courses - Darton College is developing a Regents' Remediation course for Fall semester that is a combination of WebCt and GSAMS that will be offered one day per week at Liberty Center. For Fall, Floyd College will be offering GSAMS Regents' Remediation. Darton College will have an online reading course. Kennesaw State will be offering a full array of online remediation courses.
The Saturday meeting was dismissed for the Directors' dinner.
Shirley Hall reconvened the meeting Sunday morning at 10.Other Discussion:
- There was a discussion about Nelson-Denny reading levels and the fact that COMPASS does not include reading levels. Dr. Burk explained that the required placement and exit for reading courses are the set scores on the CPE and COMPASS.
- Carol Pinson reported that there are 8 system institutions that are not represented at our meeting and asked for names of those absent if anyone knew that information. Shirley Hall and others discussed the problems that these absences may indicate.
- There was an extended discussion about how the administrative set up of different institutions in the system is changing in a variety of ways. The BOR policy is still that Learning Support must have a separate department, but there seem to be various ways of fulfilling that mandate, and exceptions have been made.
- LaVerne Cooper of Coastal Community College will be retiring this year. There was much discussion about how she will be missed for her insight, guidance, and laughter.
Shirley Hall, Chair, adjourned the yearly Directors' meeting at 1:15 P.M.
Carol J. Pinson
Secretary
ATTENDANCE ROSTER
**Carol Adams*, Chair.............................................................................. Bainbridge College
**Tabitha Barnette, Chair............................................................................Georgia Institute of Technology
Kathleen Burk ........................................................................................... Regents' Central Office
**Pat Burns, Chair..................................................................................... Valdosta State University
Carol Callahan, Chair................................................................................. Floyd College
Rebecca Casey, Chair................................................................................ Kennesaw State
LaVerne B. Cooper, Chair......................................................................... Coastal Georgia Community College
**Kay Colbert, Chair................................................................................. North Georgia College & State University
Cindy Craig................................................................................................ Augusta State University
Beverly Davis, Chair................................................................................... University College of Columbus State University
Bill Dodd*, Chair........................................................................................ Augusta State University
Pat Dwinell.................................................................................................. University of Georgia
Valerie L. Epps, Chair................................................................................. Atlanta Metropolitan College
Laurence W. Fennelly, Chair........................................................................ Macon State College
Judy Forbes................................................................................................. Gainesville College
Rutha Frazier............................................................................................... (Morehouse College)
Cyndee Geoffroy, Chair............................................................................... Armstrong Atlantic State University
**Sheryl Gowen, Chair............................................................................... Georgia State University
Bari Haskins-Jackson*, Chair...................................................................... Georgia Perimeter College
Shirley Hall*, Chair...................................................................................... Middle Georgia College
Jim Head, Chair.............................................................................................Dalton State College
**Jason Horn, Chair.................................................................................... Gordon College
Rosalyn T Jones*, Chair.............................................................................. Albany State University
Sherry Jones, Chair...................................................................................... Georgia College & State University
Betsy Kidwell............................................................................................... Georgia Institute of Technology
Beatrice L. Logan......................................................................................... Georgia State University
Joan Maynor, Chair...................................................................................... Savannah State College
Carl McDonald, Chair.................................................................................. South Georgia College
Angelia Moore*, Chair................................................................................. Georgia Southwestern State University
Jaynie Nesmith............................................................................................. University College of Columbus State University
Sherrie Nist, Chair........................................................................................ University of Georgia
Janet O'Brien*, Chair.................................................................................... Georgia Southern University
Rosie W. Petties, Chair................................................................................. Fort Valley State University
Carol Pinson*, Chair.................................................................................... Gainesville College
Elizabeth Ragsdale, Chair.............................................................................. Darton College
Rick Reynolds*, Chair.................................................................................. Clayton College & State University
Beth Saxon, Chair......................................................................................... Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
**Sarah Selby, Chair.................................................................................... Waycross College
**Sandra Sharman, Chair.............................................................................. East Georgia College
Francesca B. Taylor, Chair............................................................................ State University of West Georgia
* Executive Committee
** Not in Attendance
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