President's Update | February 2019

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to 2019!  Most colleges have begun or will soon begin their spring term and this letter is intended to update you on behalf of the ASCCC Executive Committee regarding the work we do on behalf of faculty and in service to our students.  As your college determines its resources for professional development and state-wide governance, keep in mind that the April 11-13 Spring Plenary Session in Burlingame will be the 50th anniversary of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges.  Please register and plan to attend this special occasion as we celebrate our golden anniversary and provide a forum for information and dialog that informs the work we do at our colleges to serve our communities.  We have invited system partners, legislators, chancellor’s office staff, and all past members of the Executive Committee to attend and contribute to the dialog with you.

The Executive Committee had an unexpected vacancy for the spring term this year with the resignation of the Area B representative.  We asked Mayra Cruz, a current elected member of the Executive Committee to become the Area B representative for the remainder of this academic year to facilitate the work of area meetings and coordination.  We then emailed an announcement to the field for nominations to fill the At-Large Representative seat until the next election at the spring plenary in accordance with our rules.  We are so pleased with the number of well qualified candidates interested and able to complete applications in early January.  Michelle Bean, academic senate president at Rio Hondo College, was selected for the interim At-Large position and attended the February Executive Committee meeting.

February also marks the ramping up of the Sacramento legislative and budget cycles. The Governor’s proposed state budget summary can be found here and reflects less attention on the community colleges than the past year while still maintaining a healthy budget.  This proposal is the basis for conversations across California and in the Legislature until the May revision is released with more detailed information and more accurate reflections of revenue.  Of significant importance for discussion is the expansion of promise programs to fund the first two years of college and a pause in the performance metric portion of the funding formula at 10%.  The latter piece seems to invite a conversation in the legislature regarding the performance-based funding part of college revenue. 

This update is intended to provide you with information on several items we are working on at the state level and the four areas designated as priorities by the Executive Committee.  Please forward this message to all constituents of your college.  All stakeholder work is interconnected and the system is strongest when we work together and keep each other informed.  As always, academic senate presidents should feel free to contact us at info@asccc.org should you require any assistance or have questions.  We are here to serve the 60,000 faculty and 2.1 million students in all academic and professional matters. 

The Executive Committee looks forward to being of service in the new year.

Respectfully,

        John Stanskas, President

Faculty Diversification

The ASCCC has partnered with the Chancellor’s Office to host the Building Diversity Summit in Los Angeles February 8-9. This represents the transition from dialog and awareness of systemic barriers to racial and ethnic parity among college employees to actionable steps to improvement.  The ASCCC will then hold regional workshops on February 21 at Bakersfield College, February 25 at Yuba College, and February 28 at Norco College designed around identifying institutional bias inherent in all bureaucracies and how we can address them in our processes. More information on the free regional meetings is available here.  We encourage local senate presidents responsible for appointing faculty to hiring committees to insist that appointees attend one of these events in February.  

AB705 Implementation

Colleges have worked hard to implement AB705 by fall 2019 through curricular design, the development of assessment for placement rules, and the creation of student support structures. All colleges should have in place their initial plans for fall 2019 and may be continuing to work on possible improvements for spring 2020.  The California Community College Curriculum Committee, 5C, has developed draft Title 5 regulations to reflect the change in the law that modify five sections: § 55002, 55522, 55003, 55063, and 55500.  Those regulations were presented for consideration at the Chancellor’s Consultation Council on January 10, and were then forwarded to the Board of Governor’s in the usual process for revision of Title 5 sections. The draft regulations are consistent with the law as well as guidance provided by the ASCCC and Chancellor’s Office. Until February 18, the Chancellor’s Office is soliciting comments on the draft regulatory changes through their Legal Department website. This spring, colleges will need to evaluate student support mechanisms in place for the next academic year. Each college should also work to devise a method of evaluating the success of the model the college has selected for fall 2019 and determining how it can improve service to students in spring 2020 and fall 2020 based on that evaluation.  A discussion board with questions the ASCCC receives from the local colleges and the answers provided is available on our AB705 Resource webpage.   

In addition, a series of regional meetings are being scheduled for March to discuss the MIS coding changes in light of AB705 and data collection in fall 2019 to inform improvements in spring and fall 2020.  These regional meetings will result in coding rubrics and suggested data collection for the Spring Plenary Session.  The regional meetings will be updated on our website and the dates and areas are listed below. 

Guided Pathways

The ASCCC Guided Pathways effort continues to support faculty and academic senates as they implement a framework appropriate to their college and community.  Many of the resources from these events that may be of use to colleges are available on our Guided Pathways Resources webpage.  A series of Guided Pathways webinars are also scheduled for spring semester, with the first topic on “Clarifying Pathways with the End in Mind scheduled” for February 13.  The ASCCC is also working to develop information colleges can use to empower all students to make informed choices and improve the student onboarding process in the framework of guided pathways and student journeys. If an academic senate would like to request a local visit, such a request can be made here.   

Strong Workforce Program

The ASCCC and Chancellor’s Office effort to produce a toolkit and professional development activities for local senates and equivalency committees is nearly complete. The toolkit will be available in spring 2019 for further vetting at regional meetings.  The regional meetings will be scheduled late in the spring term to showcase the findings and provide insight to colleges as they evaluate and update their equivalency processes in an effort to expand the pool of qualified applicants with significant industry experience capable of educating our students. 

In addition, the ASCCC continues to work with the Chancellor’s Office to evaluate how best to advise colleges on effectively granting credit for prior learning.  Title 5 regulations are expected through the standard review process and feedback will be solicited at the Spring Plenary Session.  Our goal is to have the regulations ready for first reading by the Board of Governors in May.  The ASCCC is also working on effective practices and policies for local adoption for students with significant military service.

C-ID Update

C-ID continues the development of descriptors and model curriculum in various CTE areas. The Model Curriculum Workgroup is focusing on identifying ways to encourage submission of course outlines of record in CTE areas and will be developing policies related to the use of model curriculum.

C-ID website support is now through the California Community Colleges Technology Center (CCCTC). Previously the ASCCC provided support for both the software itself and on matters involving the overall policy/process of submitting and reviewing courses.  As of January 1, 2019 C-ID support was divided into the areas of technology, and policy/process.  The support@c-id.net email will continue to serve all C-ID support requests, with the CCCTC handling technology related issues and the ASCCC continuing to respond to policy and process related questions.  In addition, the C-ID website underwent a software upgrade on 1/29/19 and is now available for use. News and details regarding website upgrades are posted on the C-ID homepage. 

OERI Update

The ASCCC has formally launched its comprehensive statewide Open Educational Resources Initiative, OERI, this spring 2019. A series of seven webinars are scheduled to inform local colleges about current resources including discipline-specific opportunities for dialog in Political Science, Anthropology, Economics, and Math resources. Additional webinars will be scheduled and all webinars will be archived.  For the rest of the academic year, the OERI will focus on determining gaps in OER availability (text-equivalents, ancillaries, and homework systems), increasing OER awareness, developing a plan to meet the identified OER needs, and supporting local OER efforts. A critical element of the OERI’s work is the identification of an OER Liaison at each of the colleges to ensure that the OERI is both getting information to and receiving information from all of our colleges.  Presently, 84 OER Liaisons have been identified. If your college has not identified a liaison yet, please have your academic senate president send the name and contact information to info@asccc.org with the subject line OER Liaison.  The OERI looks forward to working with all 114 of our colleges.

Upcoming ASCCC Events

• Feb. 21, Faculty Diversification Regional Meeting, Bakersfield College
• Feb. 21-23, Part-Time Faculty Institute, Newport Beach
• Feb. 25, Faculty Diversification Regional Meeting, Yuba College
• Feb. 28, Faculty Diversification Regional Meeting, Norco College
• March 5,  AB705 MIS Re-Coding and Data Regional Meeting, Skyline College
• March 7, AB705 MIS Re-Coding and Data Regional Meeting, Central Valley
• March 13, AB705 MIS Re-Coding and Data Regional Meeting, MiraCosta College
• March 18, AB705 MIS Re-Coding and Data Regional Meeting, College of the Canyons
• March 21, AB705 MIS Re-Coding and Data Regional Meeting, Inland Empire
• Apr. 11-13, Spring Plenary Session, Millbrae
• Apr. 25-27, Career and Noncredit Institute, San Diego
• Apr. 30-May 3, ACCJC Partners in Excellence, Burlingame (cosponsored by the ASCCC)
• June 13-15, Faculty Leadership Institute, Sacramento
• July 10-13, Curriculum Institute, Burlingame

The ASCCC is always happy to provide assistance or guidance on any senate-related topic.  We also make visits to local colleges to connect directly with academic senates or other faculty bodies when appropriate.  Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in these services. More information may be found at www.asccc.org.