Improving Retention through Academic Literacy - A Success Story
The 19th century writer and poet Oscar Wilde once said: "If you cannot write well, you cannot think well; if you cannot think well, others will do your thinking for you." Over 100 years later, the ability to write clearly, concisely, and critically for a wide range of purposes remains an essential indicator not merely for academic success, but also for future personal and professional achievement. In 2007, faced with the growing number of incoming freshman placed in remedial writing courses and the impact of under-prepared students on retention and graduation rates, NEIU applied for a Title V grant available to Hispanic Serving Intuitions through the U.S. Department of Education to improve the writing skills of its students across the curriculum. NEIU's proposal was successful in this highly competitive program and was awarded a 2.8 million dollar grant over five years that began during the fall of 2007.
The proposed grant was ambitious and comprehensive in scope. The initiative's three goals were to: 1) develop and implement writing intensive courses (WIP) for each major; 2) redesign and align English 101; and 3) create a Center for Academic Writing. Dr. Kate Hahn was chosen to lead the project. Under her leadership, the initiative has made significant strides toward reaching its goals.
Three years later, there are now over 20 WIP courses offered on campus, from the Foundations of Special Education in the College of Education to Managing Global Business Organization in the College of Business and Administration and Discrete Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences.
In WIP classes, students hone their writing skills through at least 15 pages of graded assignments that can include: correspondence, proposals, progress reports, research reports, case studies, etc. in the style and norms specific to their disciplines. These assignments constitute at least 50% of the student's grade for the class. One student commented: "I was pretty good at writing at the start of the course, but learning to write the things that are specific to science helped me a lot. For example, a research paper, lab reports, journal articles are all things I did not know how to write properly before this course."
English 101 has been standardized, giving students a common foundation upon which to build. Highlights of this effort include: additional full-time English 101 Instructors allowing more uniform instruction across the sections; a common handbook, Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker, that is now used for all English 101 courses; the establishment of uniform learning outcomes and grading standards; and the creation of "hybrid" sections of English 101 that are taught both in the classroom and on line.
The Center for Academic Writing (CAW) is the heart of the program and is located on the 4th floor of the Ronald Williams Library. At the center, Faculty may attend 10-week workshops that assist in the development of WIP courses that integrate writing with course content. Topics include: learning outcomes, writing to learn, responding to and evaluating writing, and writing across the curriculum. CAW will also be offering shorter, one-time workshops on topics related to writing such as designing writing assignments, responding to student writing, and dealing with grammar issues. The next 10-week long course-design workshop is scheduled for the fall of 2010. Seating is limited, so reserve yours now!
CAW also runs a peer tutoring program. In this program, previous graduates of a particular WIP course are chosen by faculty to assist and mentor their peers currently enrolled in the same class. WIP Peer Tutors receive initial and ongoing training on how to provide guidance, support, and feedback on the writing activities and assignments. Peer tutoring is making a difference. As one student noted: "The tutors were extremely helpful for the writing assignments and for the class course work. I feel that the tutoring services at Northeastern…make all the difference in the students' grades, work performance, and most importantly understanding the course content and improving study skills."
This is the first time that students enrolled in summer WIP classes can receive tutoring from their WIP peers tutors at the Center. Looking forward through the completion of the grant in 2012, CAW will continue to train faculty on best practices in the design and implementation of writing intensive classes and will add roughly an additional 25 courses to the academic catalog.
Although it is too early to measure the full impact of the grant, a NEIU community member is reported to have said that "students are coming to understand the importance of earnestly pursuing their writing and critical thinking skills".
For more information on the grant, faculty workshops, the WIP peer tutor program, and the Center for Academic Writing, please contact Dr. Kate Hahn at mk-hahn@neiu.edu or 773.442.4490. Thanks go out to Dr. Kate Hahn, Dr. Vicki Byard, and a NEIU community member for their help in the preparation of this success story.Previous Success Stories>>>
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