All About ALP: Co-requisite English Design and Its Benefits to Students

Recently, we have been providing training opportunities for all ENG faculty members regarding the co-requisite model we are implementing in the fall of 2018. 

This change is based upon the Accelerated Learning Program of Baltimore County, in which the Community College of Baltimore County determined to successfully move more students through the English pathway via a revolutionary new approach. Please visit their website for more information about the methodology and success of ALP programs in Baltimore County. You can also read more about the program at the Community College Research Center website.

Here at York Tech, we will implement ALP design for both ENG 101 and ENG 155. Here are a few key points about how ALP will change the way we currently offer the ENG sequence.

• ENG 032 will no longer be offered as a stand-alone course.
• RDG 100 will have very limited section offerings, primarily to target students who are required to take RDG 101. These students are majoring in Health Sciences, more specifically Nursing, Radiology, Dental Hygiene, and Medical Lab Tech. Of course, they only have to take these courses if they test into them on Accuplacer.
• ALP/co-req sections of ENG will be specially labeled in the system for identification by advisors. All ENG 101 ALP sections will be followed by the letter A. All ENG 155 ALP sections will be followed by the letter B. For example, ENG 101 may have ENG 101-003A that corresponds with ENG 032-003A. ENG 155 may have ENG 155-010B that corresponds with ENG 032-010B. 
• ALP sections of ENG 101 and 155 will be divided between students who placed directly into ENG 101 or 155 and students who placed into ENG 032. Only the students who placed into 032 will attend the co-requisite class. For a graphic representation of how this may look, please visit this ALP structure table.
• ENG 032 and RDG 100 will no longer be prerequisites for general education courses. Instead, students can take the ENG ALP course and register for other gen ed classes in the same semester.

The first level of developmental education for our department will remain the same.

• Students who test into RDG 031 or ENG 031 will continue to take those as stand-alone prerequisite courses.

Since this approach is very new to many teachers, here are a few common questions that people in the training sessions have had so far:

• What will grading look like? Grading for ENG 101 and 155 will remain the same. However, many of the assignments for the 032 co-requisite course will simply be completion or participation grades. Each module will include grades for prewriting/preliminary assignments and reflection. The co-requisite course will not have required tests or additional essays.
• What will we do in the co-requisite section? Activities and assignments should reflect the concepts and learning outcomes being taught in the curricular-level course. For example, if you were to consider Module 1 in ENG 101 where the focus is on the summary-critique essay, then in the co-req class you may do prewriting activities and critical reading activities or practice summary, textual support, or audience appeals. You may choose to have students write pieces of their summary-critique or compose lower-stakes pieces that will lead toward a better understanding of the summary-critique. Please remember that numerous activities and assignments for each course and module are located in the ENGFL Instructor Resources SharePoint, which is also linked into the D2L Course Shell for both ENG 101 and ENG 155.
• What if a student passes one course and not the other? If a student passes ENG 101/155 but not the co-requisite 032, then the student will be able to move forward to the next level. However, the student will keep that failing grade on his or her transcript. If the student passes the 032 but not the 101/155, the student will only take the stand-alone 101/155 in the following semester.

We realize that many questions will pop up over the semester as we implement this new model. Please feel free to reach out to anyone on the ENGFL leadership team with questions or concerns.

Thank you all for being a part of our team!