Nationally Recognized for Developing a Better Way

Three Onondaga Community College colleagues who began working on a project to accelerate developmental education a decade ago are about to have that project recognized with a national award. The OCC English Department will receive the 2024 Diana Hacker Two-Year College English Association Award for Outstanding Programs in English for Two-year Colleges because of the work done by Dean Michael O'Connor, Dr. Matt DelConte, and Dr. Malkiel Choseed. 

Diana Hacker, whom the award was named after, was an American writer and educator who authored several well-known writing manuals. A Writer's Reference, which she co-authored, is one of the top-selling college textbooks.

OCC's entry for the Hacker Award was titled, Integrated Reading and Writing and the Successful Elimination of Developmental Education. "I can't say for sure we are the first, but I can confidently say we are in the vanguard of developmental education reform," said Dr. Choseed. "OCC's English Department is changing the way things are done in higher education while supporting its most vulnerable students."

The success story begins with a problem. Incoming students who didn't score well on their placement exams were being put in developmental, or non-credit courses. They were paying money for classes which wouldn't result in credits earned toward graduation, and there was a stigma which went along with being in those classes. Too many students weren't making it to the credit-bearing courses.

After examining what was being done at other institutions, OCC decided to bring the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) to campus from the Community College of Baltimore County. At the time it was considered the "gold standard" in developmental English instruction. With ALP, students began taking non-credit and credit courses in the same semester, and the rate of success improved.

A few years later, OCC's success with ALP turned it into a leader within the SUNY system. The College was awarded a $600,000 grant from SUNY’s Performance Improvement Plan to support 10 community colleges as each either created or improved its co-requisite model for teaching ALP. Dr. DelConte was named the Project Director.

Despite the success with ALP, there was the belief within OCC's English department that more improvements could be made. The desire to accelerate developmental education was one of the pillars of OCC's Title III Guided Pathways Project, and it's that pillar which Dean O'Connor, Dr. DelConte, and Dr. Choseed focused on. Through countless hours of conversation and study, the decision was made to eliminate placement testing, non-credit support courses, and the stigma which went along with being placed in one. Students of all entering abilities would be in class together.

OCC's first semester without a single section of developmental writing or reading was the fall of 2020, which was also the first fall semester with Covid. There were 312 students with a GPA below 75 who in previous semesters would have been placed in non-credit courses. Combined they saved literally hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus the incalculable benefits to their belief in their own ability to succeed.

Over time, results showed the changes led to greater student success. Completion rates for first-time, full-time students in ENG-103 with a high school grade point average of 75 or below improved annually:

• Fall 2020   36%
• Fall 2021   38%
• Fall 2022   46%   

A problem which sparked conversation and action more than a decade ago led to a solution with potentially life-changing consequences for students.

Next month, the three professors will be recognized at the national Conference on College Composition and Communication. "It's a real honor for our campus, and a testament to the work of our faculty, our staff, and out students," said Dr. DelConte. "It is especially meaningful to have the opportunity to share our model with other colleges and help students across the country reach their college and career goals," added Dean O'Connor.