The Butte College English Department cultivates an appreciation for language and literature. We emphasize critical reading, writing, and thinking to prepare our students for success in college, work, and life.
The English department’s primary focus is the teaching of composition. We teach students to think about language, its implications, and its usages through English 119 and English 118, developed in conjunction with the LEAD department. We also provide rigorous transfer-focused instruction in writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking and communicating through our English 2 which is required for an AA or for transfer. Our English 11 meets the Critical Thinking (CSU A3) GE Requirement for transfer. Per semester, we offer: between 54 and 66 sections of English 2; 13-18 sections of English 11, Critical Thinking; 15-20 sections of English 118 and 7-12 sections of English 119; 12 literature and creative writing sections per semester. As of Fall 2015, the English Department accounted for 7.51% of district FTES, up from 5.17 in Fall of 2010. This increase in FTES is due primarily to the addition of more English 2 sections to accommodate new placement rates; prior to 2010, 23% of new students assessed at the English 2 level. Currently, 48% of students assess at English 2. Ongoing evaluation of the change to placements indicates positive outcomes, including large increases in incoming students' completion of English 2, and a narrowing of equity gaps for students of color in achieving the English 2 outcome. Lower course success rates within English 2 are partially due to an instructor effect, since success rates for teachers who taught both before and after the placement change have gone down by just 2.8%. As a supplement to the critical reading, thinking, and writing skills and practices students acquire in English 118, 119 and 2, we offer a wide range of literature classes, including courses in creative writing. We developed a two-year cycle for offering literature courses to reduce the number of elective class cancellations. In Fall 2011, we revised this cycle which is now based almost exclusively on articulated offerings and offerings that meet Chico State’s U.S. Diversity or Global Cultures requirements (Native American Literature, Cross-Cultural Film and Literature, and Queer Film and Literature), thus providing students and Counseling Services with a consistent schedule and helping to streamline the transfer process. We now offer Queer Film and Literature every year since this is the only current Butte College course focused primarily on issues relevant to the LGBT*Qplus population. In Fall 2012, we began offering an AA-T degree in English--one of the first departments on campus to offer an AA-T. We also offer an AA-T in Journalism, and our courses are part of the Language Arts degree as well. College data show that our English and Language Arts degrees are among the college's most successful degrees. Besides course offerings, the English Department supports and promotes the literary arts by making provocative, diverse, and renowned writers available to students and the community. The Literary Events Committee presents both a year-round reading series and a spring creative writing conference, WordSpring (renamed to this due to a copyright issue). Since the initial online course offering in Fall 2008, the English Department has included an online component to our program. We offer two online English 2 courses so students can obtain an A.A. completely online, and we have also offered English 6 (Creative Writing) online. The Journalism program consists of a newswriting course that has a 35-student cap, along with a series of newspaper production courses responsible for producing the campus newspaper, the Roadrunner.
Full-time faculty
The new full-time faculty has improved our ability to enhance student success.
Our program review recommended that all writing instructors include a focus on critical reading, and that we continue to complete all assessment cycles as planned. We are doing so and expect that our new hire's expertise in assessment will help us to streamline our SLO work, as will the brief reflections in the grade submissions.
Below are improvements outlined in the outcomes assessment report:
ENGL 119 - Additional dialogue will be taking place at the February 2015 meeting, particularly in regards to some of the potential improvement strategies highlighted in the meeting notes attached to this report.
ENGL 2 - One planned improvement is that the department will focus on looking at writing prompts provided to students and how well those prompts elicit in-dept critical analysis of reading materials. The department will undertake this work early in the Spring 2014 semester, and the prompts being examined will focus on English 2 courses, a course that meets the GE Reading Competency requirement. A second improvement that will be made is that the original three year plan will be expanded to a six year plan, allowing an entire year for the assessment of each broad objective. There was concern about lack of time for in depth discussion but also a reassessment to see whether planned improvements actually resulted in improved student performance. The change in the plan will be brought to a department meeting for final approval sometime in the Spring semester.
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College |
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Program |
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Indicator |
Source |
2013-2014 Performance |
Standard |
Five Year Goal |
Fall 2014 Performance |
Standard |
Five Year Goal |
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Course Success |
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- Overall |
PDR |
71.1% |
70% |
73% |
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- Transfer/GE |
PDR |
71.5% |
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73% |
ENGL 67.5% JOUR 61.7% |
ENGL 65% JOUR 60% |
ENGL 70% JOUR 74% |
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- CTE |
PDR |
75% |
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77% |
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- Basic Skills |
PDR |
51.7% |
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55% |
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- Distance Ed (all) |
PDR |
62.5% |
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64% |
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Persistence (Focused). Note: The Persistence (Focused) that is included in the PDR is a different indicator than the three-primary term persistence indicator, from the state Student Success Scorecard, that is used to measure institutional persistence. The Focused Persistence indicator measures the percentage of students that took a second course in a discipline within one year. There is no relationship between the college and program standards in this area. |
PDR |
72.6% (Three-Term) Scorecard |
67% (Three-Term) Scorecard |
75% (Three-Term) Scorecard |
ENGL 39.1% JOUR 13.3% |
ENGL 37% JOUR 13% |
ENGL 40% JOUR 20% |
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Degrees |
PDR |
1,455 |
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1,600 |
ENGL AA: 32 ENGL AA-T: 11 |
ENGL 35 JOUR 1 |
ENGL 50 JOUR 5 |
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Certificates |
PDR |
366 |
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475 |
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Developmental Strand Completion |
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- English |
State |
42% |
35% |
45% |
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- Math |
State |
30.7% |
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33% |
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- ESL |
State |
25% |
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28% |
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Licensure Pass Rates |
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- Registered Nursing |
SC |
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- Licensed Vocational Nursing |
SC |
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- Respiratory Therapy |
SC |
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- Paramedic |
SC |
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- Cosmetology |
SC |
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- Welding |
SC |
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Job Placement Rates |
PIV |
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The department is rigorously focused on increasing student success, completion, and equity (Strategic Initiative #1). See the Program Review section for a more complete description of the department's efforts.
Recommendation #1: Hire more full-time instructors
At the time of our most recent program review, we had 36-41 associate instructors and 8-9 full-time instructors; this is a disproportionately high number of associate faculty which creates substantial challenges for staffing, training, and maintaining consistency among sections and represents an unprecedented imbalance compared to other disciplines. It is the preeminent issue for the English and Journalism department. Our Program Review Team recommended at least three additional full-time hires over the next two years.
We’ve hired two new full-time instructors since then but we were not granted hiring priority this year. We have 11 FT, 34 PT faculty currently and are just three sections shy of being the same size, in section counts, as the math and remedial math departments (math lists 15 FT, 26 PT). 65% of our sections are currently being taught by part-time instructors. We will also be expanding placement into English 2 and offering a co-requisite model.
Recommendation #2: Offer more professional development for consistency.
The lack of alignment between English 119 and English 2 was noted by our Program Review team. Because associate faculty teach the majority of these courses, the team said that the department should continue and extend professional development that taps into the expertise of associate instructors and also expands their expertise.
Our English 118 training program has produced good results, with methods that carry over into English 2. Our 118 success rates are the most consistent of any in our program (the least amount of variability in the success rates by instructor).
We are in the process of replacing a few 119 sections with 118s each semester.
We have funded or procured funding for associate faculty to attend conferences (CCCC, ECCTYC, NADE).
We ran global studies curriculum development groups for ENGL 118 and ENGL 2.
We conducted two years of a composition pedagogy discussion series for full and part time faculty.
Ongoing SLO work is also targeting the inconsistencies. For example, we have developed a departmental best practices statement regarding assignment descriptions.
Recommendation #3: Develop additional support strategies, particularly for students of color where data indicate lower achievement
We are developing a co-requisite course to provide support for students who are placed below college level but could succeed with the additional time and assistance. If we develop a training program for those wishing to teach this course, as we did with English 118, that program could also help with the inconsistencies noted above. We hope that the co-requisite program could include training in culturally responsive curriculum and methods as well, which would make sense since the program’s goal is to increase equity in student completion of English 2.
We are requesting more iPad carts to support digital literacy in E2—digital literacy has been identified as a barrier for OUHSD students in particular.
We are implementing instructional assistants for all sections of English 118 beginning in Fall 2016.
We are bringing Asao Inoue, an expert in anti-racist writing assessment, for a full-day workshop in April, funded by Student Equity. We will also be distributing copies of Dr. Inoue’s book before the workshop. It is expected that many instructors will adopt some of Dr. Inoue’s practices and that these will help to increase success for students of color.
Recommendation #4: Explore strategies to ensure optimal placement of students in composition
We are piloting the state recommend decision rules for multiple measures placement into English courses; the pilot will occur with students from Oroville Union High School District and Paradise High School, for placement into courses in Fall 2016.
According to internal data from our equity research analyst Emelia Michels-Ratcliff, multiple measures placement will result in increased placement into English 2 and decreased placement into all other levels. We’ll also see more students of color placing higher up, and higher than current success rates in the writing sequence. We would like very much for placement to become more equitable and more accurate, and multiple measures is predicted to help us reach that goal.
We discussed the possibility of an open access English 118, which would help to correct for the under-placement shown in the multiple measures retrospective analysis. The English and LEAD department faculty who discussed this option felt that they needed more time to think about whether this would be a good thing to do or not.
Recommendation #5 and Response: All composition instructors should emphasize the development of critical reading skills in their courses
We’ve conducted three semesters of SLO work on this topic.
We’ve added a composition and assessment expert to our FT faculty (Sarah Klotz), whom we expect to help define this work more productively.
Heather Springer has done work in Reading Apprenticeship. She continues to bring RA strategies to the Global Curriculum project and cross-campus workshops for all faculty.
Our training program for English 118 includes some reading instruction, as will our co-requisite training program if implemented.
Our curriculum alignment project with Oroville Union High School District includes discussion of best practices in critical reading instruction.
Recommendation #6: Share student work.
We have not made much progress on this recommendation. Students share their work in our literary journal Inky Squib, which is published by our on-again off-again student literary arts club under Jen White’s leadership. Some of our instructors have their students share their work in the Rough Cut film festival put on by Kelly Candelaria at Chico State.
Recommendation #7: More technology
Digital literacy has been identified as an issue for students from OUHSD in particular, through our curriculum alignment project. We are requesting more iPad carts for use in English 2. Currently, our developmentally placed students have access to in-class use of computers but our college-placed students do not. We hope to rectify this gap with the purchase of more iPad carts.
We need to upgrade computers for Tracy Johnson and Cristina Dahl, who are in year 7 of their current machines.
Recommendation #8: Resources such as a full-time hire or a stipend for the newspaper advisor would aid the program in meeting longer-term expectations. Of paramount need is for the Roadrunner to be published on a regular schedule.
The Journalism instructor is now receiving stipend.
The paper is being published regularly.
Recommendation #9: Completing all needed assessment cycles as planned over the course of the next six years
We are doing this. Our deep dives may need to be adjusted.
Recommendation #10: The department should review the variety of courses within its curriculum and consider streamlining or combining courses where appropriate.
We are considering combining courses for ethnic literature into one or two courses.
We have considered an open access English 118 but were unable to come to consensus on that possibility, which could help to streamline options for students were it to be adopted.
Recommendation #11: The department should pursue pedagogical cap adjustments where research demonstrates a need for such change.
We hope that we’ll be able to provide smaller sections for our co-requisite courses, in a cost-sustainable way. Research demonstrates the benefits of small class sections for co-requisite models, including increased next-year persistence for models in which the sections are small (10-15 students). Of course we understand that it’s a balancing act between pedagogical benefits and cost effectiveness, so we will be sure to propose section sizes that are sustainable given our resources, and we will only propose section sizes that make sense when FTES generation, instructor costs, and persistence increases are all factored into the equation.
Recommendation #12: Professional development opportunities are fundamental to many initiatives . . . . The department should pursue and the college should consider increased institutional support for the professional development of associate and full-time faculty
We are making good use of equity and BSI funds, and 90% of English budget goes to professional development and curriculum sharing work.
Recommendation #13: The English and journalism department secretary should be restored to a full 12-month contract
Done!
1) The department would like to increase equity and completion for students in the writing sequence.
2) We would also like to work on equity and inclusion for part-time faculty.
3) We want to help faculty and staff promote diversity and inclusion campus-wide through the cultrually responsive training sessions developed by Cristina Dahl and Heather Springer.
4) We would like to increase student participation in the literary arts through our WordSpring creative writing conference.
5) We want to make our courses as pedagogically effective as possible so that students transfer and retain what they learn.
6) We want to help our majors be as prepared as possible in terms of actual knowedge and transfer/articulation of units and courses.
Strategy 1 - Office hours for associate faculty
Associate faculty need to receive paid office hours for meeting with students in composition courses.
Associate faculty teach the overwhelming majority of our courses. Research shows that access to faculty increases student success, and that the number of courses taken with part-time instructors is negatively correlated with completion of associate degrees and other outcomes, due most likely to the lack of student access to part-time faculty outside of class hours. Access to faculty is particularly crucial for students in writing courses. At Butte, the success rates for sections of English 2 taught by associate faculty is consistently an average of 10 percentage points lower than the success rates for students in sections taught by full-timers. Paid office hours for meeting with students will put a dent in that number. In addition, student/faculty interaction was one of our lowest items on the CCSSE. Paid office hours will provide more opportunity for students to meet with their instructors to discuss grades and assignments, thus increasing our score on the CCSSE. Further, we need associate faculty to have paid office hours in order to maintain the appropriate program and service mix between the main campus and outlying centers. Full-time instructors teach primarily at the main campus, so students who take courses there have access to office hours. Students taking courses from associate faculty members at the outlying centers should have the same access to office hours.
Strategy 2 - iPad carts for use in English 2
We would like to order 4 iPad carts for use in English 2. It is bizarre that students have more access to computer equipment in their basic skills writing courses than they do in English 2. Students at the English 2 level suffer from the same issues of access and need for technological literacy skills as do students in basic skills courses--and they are required to do more with technology at the English 2 level. It is also an equity issue since digital literacy has been identified as a barrier by the curriculum alignment group, funded through the Innovation award.
Increasing students' digital literacy enhances a culture of inclusiveness and works against the digital divide, since many students lack access to this technology in their homes. This project also models sustainability as it would help to reduce the use of paper in the classroom. Student learning and success are also helped by being able to use technology in the classroom, to support their research, reading, and writing.
Strategy 3 - English 118 Instructional Assistants, Equity Proposal
The English and LEAD departments, in conjunction with CAS, will hire 3 instructional assistants (IAs) to support students in English 118. IAs will work for 24 hours per week, scheduled in the classroom and in the CAS Reading and Writing Center. The CAS Coordinator will serve as supervisor, in conjunction with classroom faculty. English 118 is a degree-applicable course, and completion rates for students who begin in English 118 surpass those of students who begin in other pathways, but success rates in 118 are still under 70%, and equity gaps exist in students' rates of success in the course. Each 118 section will have an IA present for two hours a week, and in each section, instructors will require students to attend a CAS workshop or see a CAS tutor early in the semester. IAs will also support the general student body as tutors in the CAS center. IAs will receive the usual training provided to CAS tutors, as well as an additional session on growth mindset feedback and other practices for addressing students' affective needs. English 118 and the CAS reach members of all of the target populations without sending the damaging message that these populations are being singled out for help, thus increasing the potential effectiveness of this intervention.
We anticipate that our proposed intervention will increase English 118 completion rates for some or all of the target populations. Students who need extra support are sometimes the most fearful of going to CAS. By putting CAS tutors in the 118 classrooms as IAs, we will help students to overcome their initial fear so that they continue to seek support from CAS, ensuring greater English 118 success rates for these students. We also anticipate that habituating students to using CAS services for English 118 will increase their use of these services in their future classes as well. Further, this proposal supports the goal of maintaining the approrpriate service mix between the main campus and outlying centers, because these IAs will support sections at all locations to the extent that it is logistically possible for them to do so.
Strategy 4 - Developing a Co-requisite model for English 2
This project is moving forawrd. At the summit meeting about this project, 17 people voted to move ahead, and 4 people voted maybe.
This strategy has the potential for radically reducing equity gaps and increasing overall completion rates in English 2 by substantial numbers. A training program, supported by equity funds or by the new Basic Skills Transformation Act grant if we get it, could help to increase consistency in the program, as recommended by our most recent program review team.
Strategy 5 - Hire new full-time instructors
We have not been approved to do so this year, but we would like to hire new full-time instructors next year. Mark McKinnon will be retiring. Success rates for sections of English 2 taught by part-time instructors are 10% lower than success rates for sections taught by full-time instructors, as of our last analysis of the data.
Full-time hires support student and staff success, enhance a culture of completion and academic achievement, are based on data-informed research on student learning and completion, are resources that don't stop giving to the institution, model sustainability, and send the message that we are a culture of inclusiveness.
Strategy 6 - Replace slow and outdated computers
Many of our faculty members are trying to get by with slow and outdated computers. Tracy Johnson and Cristina Dahl are on year 7 with their machines.
Our faculty will be more productive if their technology is up to date.
Strategy 7 - Fund Word Spring conference
We would like to institutionalize the WordSpring creative writing conference, offered for the fifth consecutive year in 2016, or to fund it out of Innovation. The conference generates revenue sufficient to pay for food, speaker, and materials costs through registration fees and fundraising, and operates as a non-profit event. For the last four years, the English Department has contributed to the conference by paying for all printing costs. Committee members meet at least 9 times in the fall and 17 times in the spring, with a minimum meeting time of 1.5 hours. Many additional hours are devoted to tasks such as fundraising; working with Facilities, CAS, Associated Students, Food Services, the Print Shop, and speakers; maintenance of the WordSpring website; registration; materials; set-up; clean-up; and promotion. We would like to pay the committee members on a yearly basis. We are requesting $750 for the chair and $500 each for five additional committee members, for a total of $3250 requested in additional funding for the department.
As an event attended by over 125 registrants last year, 75 of them Butte students and faculty, WordSpring is an impactful event. Research from the RP Group shows that students who participate in campus events and feel connected to the larger campus community are more successful; "Connection" is one of the six student success factors they note in "Student Success Re-Defined." In addition, WordSpring will perform outreach to area high schools by presenting creative writing workshops to students there, and signing up students for the conference on the spot. We do sufficient fundraising that we are able to waive the registration fees for many of these students. Once students and community members do come to WordSpring, they are exposed to the setting of the Center for Academic Success. We hypothesize that this recruitment of high school students has directly led to increased enrollment at Butte, and as outreach is increased, enrollment should continue to increase as well.
WordSpring has also brought in students and speakers from many other academic locations, including seven colleges and universities and five high schools last year. We provided 35 student scholarships, co-sponsored a reception/reading by novelist Pam Houston and a poetry slam for high school and college students, and worked with the Literary Arts Club and Associated Students. This year we are able to begin to expand our focus by providing scholarships for all foster youth and by continuing to bring in dashboard speakers to be more inclusive of marginalized groups.
Strategy 8 - Anti-Racist Writing Assessment
We are bringing an expert in this topic to campus in late April for an all-day workshop.
We anticipate that this workshop will help writing program and other faculty to develop assessment practices that are more fair to students of color and to all students. We expect to see measurable increases in student achievement of course success and writing strang completion as a result.
We would like to request that we are able to get back any rooms we lose due to cancelled English sections resulting from the enrollment decline. We will need the extra room space for co-requisite sections and the increased placement into English 2. We would also like assistance in storing, securing, and managaing iPad carts.
The English Department uses its Butte College budget to ensure that our large and disproprotionate number of associate faculty are able to participate in much-needed professional development and SLO work.
Our Word Spring creative writing conference is largely self-sustaining. We use English department funds for printing costs and have applied for Student Equity Funds to pay for scholarships for Foster Youth to attend the conference. We would like to receive funding to pay associate faculty for their work in organizing and running the conference. Since Word Spring could be used as a high school recruitment and English major completion strategy, we would like to request district or Innovation funds for this.
We have also applied for Equity funds to help defray the costs of bringing diverse writiers for literary readings.
We use GEO funds to support faculty work on shared curriculum development on international themes and to bring diverse writers for literary readings.
We draw on BSI, Student Equity, and Innovation Award funds to support our work in streamlining and maximaizing student success in the writing sequence.
We would also like to re-state our support for Facilities' request for funds for gender-neutral bathrooms. Nobody should have to worry about whether they will be able to find a safe bathroom with private changing areas and mirrors.
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | English | Personnel | $10,342.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Office hours for associate faculty | Students need access to the faculty who teach their courses. Success rates in English 2 are 10 percentage points lower in sections taught by associate faculty than they are for sections taught by full-time instructors. We would like to request 10 paid office hours for each of our 37 associate faculty members, calculated at a rate of $25 per hour plus benefits of 11.809%. |
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| 2 | English | Equipment | $94,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| 4 Mobile carts and classroom set of tablets or notebooks --32GB iPad Air Lab preferred | Increasing students' digital literacy enhances a culture of inclusiveness and works against the digital divide, since many students lack access to this technology in their homes. The curriculum alignment group has identified digital literacy as a barrier to the success of students from the Oroville Union High School District in particular. This project also models sustainability as it would help to reduce the use of paper in the classroom. Student learning and success are also helped by being able to use technology in the classroom, to support their research, reading, and writing. |
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| 3 | English | Operating Expenses | $14,100.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Anti-Racist Writing Assessment Workshop and Books | Training faculty in anti-racist writing assessment will help to increase success rates for dashboard populations and others. It is hoped that this strategy will produce the "Win-Win" equity scenario. |
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| 4 | English | Operating Expenses | $3,250.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Word Spring Creative Writing Conference | This conference serves as a recruitment tool for students from local high schools. It is also a way to support our English and Language Arts majors and includes information on our AA-T degrees and careers for English majors. It is also a method for supporting marginalized students by bringing in diverse writers who speak to their experiences. |
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