6 Results seen at Lake Washington Institute of Technology
This chapter summarizes results seen at Lake Washington (LWTech) after implementing 4 Connections.
Results after One Year at LWTech
Aggregated Pass Rates
The following data includes all courses for 24 of the 28 faculty who participated in the first year of The 4 Connections at LWTech. Four faculty were not included due to being in their first year of teaching at the college (i.e., “before” data was not available).
| Group | Pass Rates 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 | Pass Rates 2016-2017 |
| All Faculty Participants | 91.07% | 94.54% |
| Faculty Participants, FLC | 89.60% | 94.08% |
| Faculty Participants, No FLC | 94.01% | 95.46% |
Of note is the greater change in pass rates among faculty who participated in the FLC.
Pass Rates by Race/Ethnicity
When Odessa College implemented their drop rate improvement program, on which The 4 Connections is based, in class retention increased from 83 percent to 95 percent – REGARDLESS of age, gender, race/ethnicity, and Pell status. Though LWTech did not see elimination of equity gaps within one year of implementation, the gaps did shrink (quite a lot in some cases).
| Race/Ethnicity | Pass Rates 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 | n (duplicated) | Pass Rates 2016-2017 | n (duplicated) |
| African American | 71.17% | 319 | 90.00% | 189 |
| Alaska Native, American Indian, Pacific Islander | 79.00% | 117 | 95.00% | 97 |
| Asian | 92.17% | 941 | 93.33% | 594 |
| Hispanic | 86.33% | 388 | 91.33% | 251 |
| Not Reported, Other | 86.83% | 850 | 89.33% | 508 |
| White | 90.67% | 3764 | 93.67% | 2032 |
Data in this table includes all students enrolled in courses taught by 24 faculty participants in The 4 Connections pilot. Fall, winter, and spring quarters are included.
Results after Two Years at LWTech
Do positive results persist into the second year of practicing the 4 Connections?
As with any initiative, commitment and energy tend to wane in the second year of implementation. Fewer faculty regularly attended 4 Connections FLC meetings, which left me (Sally) wondering if there would be a corresponding decrease in improved pass rates. Thankfully, we did not see that change in the data. While faculty may not have had time to attend the FLC meetings with as great a frequency, they certainly persisted in practicing the 4 Connections with their students.
Pass Rates by Race/Ethnicity
| Race/Ethnicity | Pass Rates 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 | n (duplicated) | Pass Rates 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 | n (duplicated) |
| African American | 71.17% | 319 | 88.00% | 329 |
| Alaska Native, American Indian, Pacific Islander | 79.00% | 117 | 94.67% | 148 |
| Asian | 92.17% | 941 | 94.33% | 1168 |
| Hispanic | 86.33% | 388 | 91.67% | 411 |
| Other | 87.17% | 290 | 88.50% | 482 |
| Not Reported | 86.83% | 549 | 89.50% | 761 |
| White | 90.67% | 3764 | 93.34% | 3817 |
Data in this table includes all students enrolled in courses taught by 24 faculty participants in The 4 Connections pilot. Fall, winter, and spring quarters are included.
Retention and Completion
We have just begun to look at retention and completion data for the cohort of students who took classes from the 24 faculty participants in the pilot group. Following just those who were enrolled in classes in Fall 2016, the first quarter of the 4 Connections at LWTech, we see the following results so far.
Fall-to-Fall Retention
- Students not enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 48%
- Students enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 54%
- Students of color not enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 40%
- Students of color enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 54%
- White students not enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 49%
- White students enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 55%
Completion
- Students not enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 26%
- Students enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 43%
- Students of color not enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 23%
- Students of color enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 40%
- White students not enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 31%
- White students enrolled in classes with the 24 pilot faculty members: 47%
This chapter is from 4 Connections course by Boyoung Chae. It is licensed under “Creative Commons Attribution“.
