Inquiry Projects Archives
The 2004 Summer Institute (SI) focused on examining Student Success issues in the areas of
social justice, leadership, instructional methods and approaches, and transition. Because
student success is such a critical issue, ABE Professional Development Services decided to
follow up the work begun at the Institute by sending out an RFP to all providers to fund
“Inquiry Projects.” Programs could choose from one of the four strands introduced at the
SI to plan their projects areas. Inquiry Projects are designed to explore solutions to a
problem, implement a solution, and examine the results of implementing a change (program,
curriculum, etc.) taken to improve Student Success. Consequently, programs were asked to
consider projects that would examine where less satisfying outcomes are seen how changes
could potentially result in better outcomes for students.
Following you will find a list or providers participating in Inquiry Projects and
brief description of their project:
Edmonds Community College
The Inquiry Project will investigate integrating best practices of ABE teaching methods
and approaches into “lab” classes and compare these innovations with matched “lab”
classes that use their traditional/historical methods.
Click here to view Final Report
Lake Washington Technical College
One of the goals of the basic skills program at Lake Washington Technical College is to
assist students in transitioning through not only the levels of ESL and ABE, but also
into the technical programming. This project will research barriers students face in
transitioning into three specific technical program clusters (health, manufacturing,
and hospitality) and then use this information in preparing for improved student
success in these fields.
Click here to view Final Report
Lower Columbia College
The members of this Inquiry Project will develop and implement strategies in all the ABE
and ESL classes, supported by the best practices and research relating to students with
learning disabilities. This will expand and supplement their AIDDE and LDQI projects,
specifically, making these strategies available to all students through all instructors.
Data collected will demonstrate the results.
Click here to view Final Report
Pierce College Puyallup
Students come to the program with a clear goal in mind: to complete their GED.
Why, then, do some students not complete? How does instruction and program design
help or hinder students completing their GED? These are questions Pierce College
Puyallup ABE/GED faculty will explore, with the goal to improve student success by
focusing on factors over which their program has control.
Click here to view Final Report
Pierce College Fort Steilacoom
The Inquiry Project will include implementing the recruitment and Learner Story
plan developed at 2004 Summer Institute. A plan was formulated to incorporate
Learner Stories into Educational Interviews and strengthen recruitment strategies.
This project would allow members to research current barriers to ABE enrollment
in a high demand area, enabling creation of more effective recruitment strategies.
The outcome would be to realize the goal of increased enrollment and retention and
to incorporate success stories highlighting enhanced student learning into the
interviews and classes.
Click here to view Final Report
St. James ESL Program
The program’s bilingual/bicultural Student Liaisons will be trained to analyze
the context of participants’ lives using community mapping and asset analysis.
Results will be used to inform instruction by tutors. The project will be
evaluated for potential to improve instruction and student outcomes. Evaluation
will be used to make changes to program design, especially intake procedures,
goal setting, and lesson planning.
Click here to view Final Report
Seattle Central Community College
The Inquiry Project will study the program’s effectiveness of transiting its
most advanced levels of ESL and ABE students into our college’s college transfer
and workforce training pathways. It will demonstrate empirically if college services
and counseling purposefully delivered to this student population will enhance their
rates of successful and transit. Research has shown that basic skills students with
college level education earn significantly more than students with only basic skills.
The proposed project dovetails into another study that the program is conducting for
our college’s accreditation process.
Click here to view Final Report
Shoreline Community College
Students who enter ESL levels 1 and 2 who are non-literate in the Roman alphabet,
and who have no previous education, tend to have difficulty completing those levels
and moving on to upper level courses. The Inquiry Project will investigate whether
improving their motor-mechanical skills in writing the Roman alphabet and Arabic
numbers will make it easier for them to learn the actual course content and to
progress more successfully.
Click here to view Final Report
Skagit Valley College
The Inquiry Project will implement the Participatory Problem Posing approach to
demonstrate that this method engages students more effectively. Dr. Auerbach
teaches that student learning improves when education focuses on the student’s
actual needs, within the actual social context. “Ordinary people have extraordinary
knowledge,” she explained, and when adult student issues are the focus of the class,
and students are allowed to draw from the deep well of their own experience to help
each other meet daily challenges, extraordinary learning can take place. Students
become more involved in their learning and become more successful outside the classroom.
If this is true, one could anticipate that students in a PPP-inspired classroom will
report greater satisfaction with their educational experience, and will stay in class longer.
By practicing Auerbach’s approach in an observable way, in a representative cross-section
of ESL classes, the members hope to gather sufficient evidence to make a case for the
adoption of PPP-inspired approaches district-wide.
Click here to view Final Report
Tacoma Community College
The Inquiry Project will be specifically targeted at identifying and addressing those
factors perceived by students in adult basic education programs as barriers to
transition to higher education. It will include development and implementation of
a comprehensive “Transition Information Session” to assist students in adult basic
education programs to successfully transition to postsecondary education or training.
The Information Session will provide students with information on program options,
college resources, college assessment process, and financial aid options. Students
who attend the session may be current ABE and/or GED students who are in the final
stages of GED testing, ESL students, or recent GED graduates.
Click here to view Final Report
Whatcom Community College
The Inquiry project will analyze specific writing characteristics of ABE/ESL students
that have prohibited them from reaching their goal of college entrance. The members
will develop alternative instructional techniques that will appeal to the unique
needs and learning styles of this group, which will be incorporated into the ABE/ESL
class. The outcome desired is to see enough improvement in students writing that
those with academic/job training goals will successfully make the transition to
college-level courses.
Click here to view Final Report
Yakima Valley Community College
The Inquiry Project will involve gathering staff and faculty together to identify
the reasons why ABE/GED students aren’t matriculating to college credit classes, and
brainstorm strategies to increase their likelihood to do so. Faculty, staff, and
students will receive information about career planning and steps in the college
application process.
Click here to view Final Report
Top of page