Joy Smucker is the chair of the Business Division at Highline Community College. She teaches in the paralegal department, the political science department, and the diversity and globalism department. Joy is an advocate for alternative teaching methods that are inclusive and responsive to students of different backgrounds, ages, strengths, and learning styles. She has participated in a variety of integrated learning teaching models, including being a part of at least one coordinated studies class every year for ten years. She has provided training and leadership around the I-BEST (Integrated Basic Education Skills Training) learning communities at Highline through the Highline Summer Institute and the 2007 statewide I-BEST symposium. She coordinates the Highline I-BEST Council, a community representing student services, faculty, registration, and financial aid personnel. Joy created and designed the Community Justice Project, an integrated learning project that brought a service learning component to a legal ethics class.
Conclusions from the 2009 Multivariate Analysis by Davis Jenkins, Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University, show that, I-BESTstudents:
- Were 82% more likely to earn college credit, whereas Non-IBEST
basic skills workforce students (NIB-BWS) were 50%
more likely - Earned 44 more college credits on average (NIB-BWS: 30)
- Earned 40 more vocational credits on average (NIB-BWS: 22)
- Were 19 percent more likely to persist into the subsequent year
(NIB-BWS: 23) - Were 56 percent more likely to earn an award (NIB-BWS: 29)
- Were 18 percent more likely to show a basic skills point gain
(NIB-BWS: 5)
