Monday October 3, 2011

SB 1143 Student Success Task Force

On Friday you received the draft recommendations from the SB 1143 Student Success Task Force (SSTF). The recommendations and further information about the SSTF can be found on the Chancellor’s Office website on the Task Force on Student Success page. The Academic Senate Executive Committee is in the process of drafting resolutions for discussion at the Fall Plenary Session in order to establish our response to the recommendations. The recommendations and possible Academic Senate responses to them will be discussed extensively at our Fall Plenary.

I encourage you to share the recommendations with your faculty and to engage in a local dialog to further develop an understanding of what the proposed changes would mean to your community. While a principal aspect of the SSTF’s original purpose was to examine the possibilities of performance-based funding, the draft recommendations do not include a move to such a funding system. However, other components of the draft recommendations may be of concern, while the report also includes elements that we are likely to support. Proposed positions on various components of the recommendations will be contained in the resolutions for discussion at the upcoming Area Meetings.

Where we do not have positions on topics addressed in the recommendations, we need to establish positions that are more than just a reaction to the specific wording and content of this document. As the recommendations are currently in draft form and may change in response to input from the field, it is critical that our positions be based on principles rather than mere reactions to proposed changes that might be further modified. Once the resolutions for the Area Meetings are available, I encourage you to review them with your faculty.

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New Limits on Repetition

As you know, the revised limits on repetition of courses for a substandard grade and withdrawal will take effect in Spring 2012. Students will be limited to three repetitions of any course they have not completed successfully, whether those attempts end in a substandard grade or a transcripted withdrawal from the course. The revised regulations allow for no “grandfathering,” so some students may already have reached their limit on repetitions for some courses. Colleges and faculty must begin to inform students of these limits.

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Repeatability

At our upcoming Fall Plenary Session, proposals for changes to repeatability (i.e., for courses that have been designated as repeatable) will be considered. The Academic Senate has been working with discipline faculty and other groups throughout this year to determine where repeatable courses are truly a necessity and where other curricular options might achieve the same purpose in serving out students. The Board of Governors has expressed its interest in seeing new limits imposed, so it is critical that the faculty establish an academically sound approach to any new limits. Absent a tenable position and proposal developed by the faculty, changes may be imposed without our input.

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C-ID DIG Meetings

October 14, 2011 – Southern California (LAX Westin)
October 28, 2011 – Northern California (San Jose Doubletree)

It’s not too late to sign up for the upcoming Discipline Input Group meetings. The following disciplines are being convened: Radio/Television/Film, Engineering (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical), Journalism, Anthropology, Information Systems, Spanish, Philosophy, and Geography, Nursing, and Social Work (community college courses that are articulated as meeting social work requirements at the CSU are typically sociology or human services courses). Faculty in the indicated disciplines, counseling faculty, and articulation officers are all invited to attend. Complete information is available here.

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Area Meetings

October 21, 2011 – Areas A and B
October 22, 2011 – Areas C and D

Be sure to attend your Area Meeting in preparation for our Fall Plenary. Find out when and where your Area is meeting here.

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Fall Plenary: For the Common Good

November 3-5, 2011

Our Fall Plenary will be held at the San Diego Sheraton Hotel and Marina. Our group rate for the hotel is available through October 17th, so make your arrangements today. Click here for more information.

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