Framework for a Learning Community Sequence

During the semester in which we initiated LINK, we began to see our pilot programs (STARS, LINK, and CLOUT) as a three-part Learning Community. In the past the district has noted that students do not translate skills learned in developmental education courses to a successful mastery of college level courses. The reason (and perhaps the rough beginning of a possible solution) began to come clear. Developmental education students are often viewed as needing more nurturing, support, guidance and structure than are college level students. College level students are given more responsibility for time management than are developmental education students; figure 9 shows this sharp contrast in expectations. Students doing well in developmental environments often failed to transfer their reading and writing skills to the more difficult college level curriculum. After teaching the three learning communities, we more clearly saw our role in preparing the developmental education student for college level. Because we had, in LINK, been teaching a fairly difficult content course (PSY 101) to a group of students scoring into both developmental reading and English, we realized that it is this upper developmental level which bears most of the weight of the transition. Figure 6 shows this transition. Once we were able to "see" this framework we used it as a guide for our instructional strategies and explained it to students as a motivational tool.