program design & management

Evidence-based Strategies - Examples, Research and Tools

Strategy g: Solicit and use student feedback to make improvements in instruction, counseling, and program structures and processes.

Examples

Data Analysis for Decision-Making: Hawthorne Family Literacy Program
ProLiteracy Worldwide
The establishment of a parent advisory committee was one key strategy among many that helped this program make improvements that led to an increase in its attendance rate from 55% to 85%, and a comparable increase from 55% to 85% in the CASAS benchmark learning gains rate.  The parent advisory committee was established to promote student empowerment and ownership of the program, and is composed of two representatives from each of their three sites elected by their classmates to serve one-year terms.

Research

Managed Enrollment: A Process, Not a Product
Sylvia Ramirez
This ESOL program’s four-year process of adopting managed enrollment began with student surveys and led to program changes that included managed enrollment, developing priority outcomes for its seven levels of classes, shorter terms, a new attendance policy, and other learning options such as a computer lab and distance learning.  Every persistence indicator – attendance, level completion, percentage of students staying beyond 12 hours, and learning gains - improved dramatically and consistently.

Moving from Open Enrollment to Managed Enrollment
Kate Hyzer
Focus groups and student surveys prompted this adult education program to institute managed enrollment. They experienced immediate success: the percentage of students staying 12 hours or longer increased from 62% to 91%.