Texas Association for Developmental Education

Your current TADE Board is pleased to present your incoming President Elect and Treasurer. We know you join us in thanking them for agreeing to serve. They will be installed in November at the CRLA/CASP Conference.

I am a native Texan, and I have been living in the San Antonio area since I was a young child. My mother is a retired Computer Lab Specialist from the Brownsville, Texas Independent School District. She also volunteered for most of my primary years at the Children’s State Hospital in San Antonio. She has such a passion for children; this influence played a large impact on my desire to become a public school teacher. I attended both public and private schooling in San Antonio before pursuing higher education at the University of Texas at San Antonio. I majored in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Early Childhood, and continued with my Graduation degree in Educational Leadership. I was hired during my last semester of graduate school as a fifth grade teacher in the San Antonio Independent School District. My expertise was in curriculum development and literacy intervention programs. I served as a lead classroom teacher and staff development leader to facilitate training and realigned of curriculum to support state standards. In addition, I assisted teachers in the selection, administration, and analysis of benchmarks assessments in all levels of instruction K-5.

After ten years in primary education, I chose to return to the University of Texas at San Antonio again to pursue a second Master’s Degree in Education with a focus on Curriculum and Instruction. While completing my graduate coursework, I began adjuncting for the Alamo Community Colleges, St. Philip’s College and Northeast Lakeview College, eventually obtaining my current full-time position as Assistant Professor of Reading at Northeast Lakeview College. In this capacity, I frequently present on topics ranging from contextualized learning, accelerated learning, and curriculum development at NISOD and CASP Conferences. I also chair a system-wide Developmental Strategy Committee, as well as participate in numerous committees with a specific focus on Developmental Education. I continue to advance my teaching and learning through professional development by engaging in workshops and conferences that focus on Developmental Education such as local conferences sponsored by universities, community colleges, and state conferences.

Arlene Ready has been teaching developmental reading students for 12 years and is currently serving as a Co-Director of Learning Enrichment. She has participated in and presented at various local, state, and national conferences. She recently received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Literacy Studies. Her research focus has been on the literacy experiences of developmental reading from both sides of the border.

Texas Steers Institutions Toward Innovative Remedial Instruction

Texas lawmakers are tightening the reins on assessments that place students in remedial courses and steering the delivery of developmental instruction into whole new territory at postsecondary institutions. House Bill 1244, enacted in 2011, revises the Texas Success Initiative and is intended to improve results for remedial students – many of whom do not graduate in a timely manner or at all.

Under the legislation, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board must set a single standard or set of standards for the four approved placement assessments. Previously, institutions could use higher cut scores than the minimum scores established by the Board. The new standards must measure student readiness as demonstrated by research and will send a more consistent message about postsecondary expectations across the Lone Star state.

More importantly, institutions will have to offer a range of remedial delivery options, including online courses, or instructional support that includes the integration of technology to address individual student needs. The coursework must be based on research and best practices and include the following components:

Assessment

Differentiated placement and Instruction

Faculty development

Support services

Program evaluation

Integration of technology with an emphasis on instructional support programs

Non-course based developmental education interventions

Course pairing of remedial classes with credit-bearing courses.

Notably, the legislation places special emphasis on faculty professional development focused on differentiated instruction and program evaluation to answer questions about the effectiveness and cost efficiency of remedial courses, interventions and policies. Institutions also must use learning outcomes developed by the Board to determine when students are ready to perform college-level work.

Lastly, institutions were given more leeway with funding and tuition payments for students who participate in non-semester length remedial courses. Texas legislators seemed to recognize that this flexibility was necessary given the new coursework requirements. And whether intended or not, lawmakers also created an incentive — or at least the option — for institutions to tie remedial intervention decisions to students’ specific needs rather than to a funding system that rewards enrollment in semester-long courses.

House Bill 1244 complements another 2011 measure, Senate Bill 162, that requires a statewide developmental education plan that must include alternative instructional approaches, diagnostic assessments and program evaluation.

It also would be worth your while to check out the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s statewide plan to overhaul developmental education and the accompanying innovation grants that support five demonstration projects.

Keep an eye on Texas. It is one of the few states that is leading all institutions toward more innovative and effective remedial instruction and practices that could result in significantly better results for students.

1) Please consider joining the new CASP Forum listserv. With the listserv, we can send out one email when an opportunity comes up and reach many interested (and potentially effected) individuals involved in developmental education in the state of Texas.

To subscribe, click on this link (or copy and paste it into the address bar of your web browser):

You’ll see step-by-step directions on that page. Once you submit your email address, you will get a confirmation email automatically sent to you (if you don’t see the confirmation email within about five or ten minutes, check your “spam folder”).

TADE will be hosting the NADE conference in Texas in 2014. If you are interested in volunteering, email Laura at Laura.Villarreal@utb.edu.

A conference planning meeting will be held during the CASP 2011 conference in Austin.