Repost: The Accelerated Learning Program: Throwing Open the Gates

In “The Accelerated LearningProgram: Throwing Open the Gates”, Peter Adams et al. discuss in depth the development of ALP, what events led to its inception and what features form to create ALP. Furthering his investigation on the statistical results that reflected the passing rates in the developmental course ENGL 052 and first-year composition ENGL 101, Peter Adams discovered that hidden in those statistics was the fact that “the problem was not that basic writers were attempting first-year composition and failing; the problem was that they were giving up before they ever reached that course” (305). This was a discovery he decided to share with the attendees in the Conference of Basic Writing in 1992. Adams’s topic focused on the idea of “mainstreaming” basic writers into first-year composition to improve their success rates and to have them move beyond developmental writing courses to first-year composition. Even the keynote speaker at the conference, David Bartholomae, discussed a similar topic by introducing  “The Tidy House: Basic Writing in the American Curriculum” which discussed the creation of the “other” (referring to basic writers) through the formation of developmental writing courses.

The conference struck a chord with institutions, with some of them creating programs geared at mainstreaming basic writers into first-year composition. It wasn’t until 2007 that the Community College of Baltimore County piloted its first mainstreaming program known as the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP). Students who tested into developmental writing courses would have the option to volunteer and register for ALP, and if they did, they were placed in ENGL 101 with seven other developmental writing students. Adams et al. emphasize the importance of placing students in the same course with higher level writers because not only will they be surrounded by role models of higher-level writing but it will also “avoid the sometimes stigmatizing and often demoralizing effects of segregating basic writers into sections…(309). In addition to the ENGL 101 course, they would have to attend a second course or a “companion course” with the same basic writing students and instructor from their ENGL 101 course. Adams compared the success rates results from both the traditional English courses (052 & 101) and ALP, taken between the fall of 2007 through the spring of 2009, which showed ALP had higher success rates and a lower drop out rates. This data illustrated the success and benefits students experienced through the mainstreaming approach.

In this article, Adams et al. break down the reasons why ALP works:

Mainstreaming: They make a note to emphasize the “powerful psychological effects” mainstreaming has on students. When they are placed directly in first-year composition, it helps to not shine a negative spotlight on them in terms of not being ready for college because of their writing, which reduces the stigma.

Cohort Learning: Through the concept of learning community, ALP places eight basic writers in the same ENGL 101 course with the goal that students build a community and develop to where “the students begin to look out for each other in a variety of ways” (313).

Contextual Learning: Through meaning context, the students are already applying their writing to the course rather than being in a basic writing course working on material that will be useful in a first-year composition course.

Acceleration: CCBC developed the acceleration part of ALP. With traditional courses, the amount of time it took the students to take the basic writing course, many not passing it the first time, and then the first-year composition many students would “leak” out. By having basic writers take the developmental course at the same time as the first-year composition, ALP shortens the “pipeline” reducing the number of students who drop out.

Heterogeneous Grouping: Mixing the basic writers with higher-level writers, ALP allows for higher-level writers to serve as role models and also reduce the stigma of being placed in a separate developmental course.

Attention to Behavioral Issues: This part of ALP shifts the attention to the behavioral issues the students might be displaying that affect their success in the course, such as too many hours at work or too many courses. Other behavioral issues they are aware of is the “high school attitude” which makes learning not seem “cool” and the use of social media in the class, not buying the necessary textbooks, or just falling asleep. The ALP faculty pays close attention to these issues, which is made possible with the small class size.

Attention to Life Problems: ALP faculty also pays close attention to what is happening to the students outside the classrooms, “they frequently refer students to sources of outside support for such concerns as financial aid, health issues, family problems, and legal problems” (315).

            The biggest issue many of these programs face is the cost it takes to have the program running. They tend to be expensive compared to the traditional courses but as Adams et al. show, in the long run, ALP is more cost effective than traditional courses because it is not only important to look at cost but also to take into account the success rates of students in the program. Taking all those into account, the program becomes more appealing to the administrators since “(i)n sum, for basic writers, ALP doubles the success rate, halves the attrition rate, does it in half the time and costs slightly less per successful student” (316).

            Now that the features are broken down to show how each one works in forming ALP as a whole, Adams et al. conclude the article by looking towards the future of ALP. Since their statistics for the two years showed improvement in the success rates, their concern is to make sure that the demographic was adequately represented by developmental writers and that no favorable biases were shown by the instructors towards the students. By looking into these concerns, Adams et al. make sure that their results truly show the benefits ALP have for basic writers. In addition, they are also focusing on the success rates of the students in other courses, their completion of the program, and transfers to four-year institutions. However, these aren’t the final results they will focus on, they will continue to gather feedback to make sure ALP is beneficial in every sense to the student’s academic life, “there is an even more important reason for continuing to improve the effectiveness: the success of our programs is of life-changing importance to our students” (319). 

Works Cited

Adams, Peter, Sarah Gearhart, Robert Miller, and Anne Roberts. "The Accelerated Learning Program: Throwing Open the Gates." Ed. Hunter R. Boylan and Barbara S. Bonham.  Developmental Education: Readings on Its Past, Present, and Future. New York: Bedford St. Martin's, 2014. 303-320. Print.