What the CV-HEC is Happening Blog – December 2024: Year-In-Review

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CVHEC’s Mid-Year Review 2024

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WHAT THE CV-HEC IS HAPPENING BLOG (Summer 2024): Why some colleges are worth it

 

In the “What the CV-HEC is Happening” Blog for our summer 2024 special edition,  Dr. John Spevak presents an observation about the value of a higher education.  Dr. Spevak, who is a vice president-emeritus of Merced College and currently a regional coordinator for CVHEC, coordinates the English and Math Task Forces for the consortium — all champions for student support through such measures as dual enrollment.  Through the consortium task forces, the former English teacher and college administrator continues to work closely with educators in the field for the educational advancement of students.

Higher ed is still a good

investment … and attainable

 

BY DR. JOHN SPEVAK
CVHEC Regional Coordinator
Vice President-Emeritus – Merced College

 

According to the results of a recent poll by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation, Americans are losing faith in the value of a college education.

Overall, according to that poll as reported by the Associated Press, only 36 percent of adults say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education. What’s worse, the poll shows that 32 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in a college education.

That’s both misleading and misguided.

For one thing “college” can mean different things to different people. For another, having a degree from the right college can make a big difference in a person’s opportunity and income.

By “right college,” I don’t mean a prestigious private college.  A right college often means, especially in California, a two-year community college, a state university, or a small private college which provides significant financial aid.

A two-year community college degree or a certificate of completion is indeed “college.” That degree or certificate can be very valuable, especially if it’s a career-technical program that’s in demand and pays well, like nursing or welding.

A four-year degree can be even more valuable, especially in fields like communications, business, health, information technology and engineering– to name a few. Their lifetime earnings are significantly higher than those with a degree.

As the Associated Press article pointed out, “For those who forgo college, it often means lower lifetime earnings, 75 percent less compared with those who get bachelor’s degrees, according to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. And during an economic downturn, those without degrees are more likely to lose jobs.”

One of the reasons many Americans are doubting the  worth of a college education is the debt often incurred in getting one. As one person interviewed in the AP article put it, “You graduate out of college, you’re up to eyeballs in debt, you can’t get a job, then you can’t pay it off.

What’s the point?”

It’s true that many people over the past decades have incurred a significant debt from student loans, which is exacerbated by the exorbitant interest charged for these loans. I know several people who have long ago paid off the principal of their student loans but are still paying and paying the interest.

However — and this had to be noted, known and understood — a person today can get a college degree without going into significant debt. The cost, for example, of attending a California community college these days in terms of tuition (also known as enrollment fees) is often zero.

Many California community colleges are also working at reducing the cost of books by providing what’s called “open educational resources,” essentially free online textbooks, often created by the college’s faculty members.

Attending a California public university or small private college can also be financially available to most Californians, especially if they begin with a two-year associates transfer degree and then follow a plan of courses that get them to the bachelor’s degree in no more than two additional years.

I’m tired of so many Americans of all backgrounds thinking of “college” as only prestigious private institutions that charge $150,000 or much more for a four-year tuition. Those universities often have value for those who can afford it or who receive full scholarships. But the vast majority of people can’t afford that amount and can’t afford to take out loans to pay for it.

“College” for most people should not be an expensive private institution. If it were, I would also wonder if  a college education was worth it.  However, “college,” in California and especially in the Central Valley, is accessible, affordable and worth it.

Instead of young people (and their parents) asking, “Can I afford college,” I wish they would ask, “What are my college options? What are the real costs, not just according to pundits on TV or social media, but according to the colleges themselves.”

College personnel, more than ever, are ready and willing to talk with prospective students of all ages and the parents of younger students about the real cost of a college education. And they are also ready and willing to show prospective students the extensive personal help they will receive to succeed in courses and earn their degree.

Often television and social media pundits who say college is not worth it are people who themselves have benefited from a college education. There’s some hypocrisy in that.

It’s true that there are many hard-working Americans without a college degree who can support themselves and their families, but the odds of most people doing this are long.

In California’s Central Valley, where the median family income is below the national average, it’s especially important to dispel the myth that college is not worth it. A two-year or four-year college degree is one of the best ways to achieve an income that will sustain families — enable them to pay rent or a mortgage, purchase a reliable car, buy clothes and put food on the table.

Central Valley colleges from Stockton to Bakersfield are working harder than ever to show students the value of a college education and to streamline the paths to a degree.

Community colleges in the valley, for example, are offering more dual enrollment courses than ever where students can earn college credits in high school, which reduces their time to a college degree.

These dual enrollment courses can be taken by most high school students, not just those students who in the past were steered into advanced placement (AP) courses. Community colleges are also working harder than ever, in collaboration with their high school partners, to provide the academic support needed to successfully complete dual enrollment courses.

In addition, many Central Valley community colleges, including Merced College, are partnering with the University of California Merced and local California State University campuses to provide user-friendly guides or “maps” to students and their parents. “Pathways Program Mapper” is a tool these colleges have developed that is available to anyone with a cell phone (no login or password required).

PPM will show a student what degree is needed to enter a particular career (for example, biology, business, engineering, etc.), what range of salaries people in those careers earn and then provide a map of courses from the first semester at a community college to the last semester at a university to attain that degree in the shortest possible time.

So, please, pundits, stop telling people that a college education isn’t worth it. Moreover, I hope readers of this column spread the word that here in the Central Valley a college education is not only worth it, but it’s attainable for anyone willing to pursue it.

John Spevak’s email is john.spevak@gmail.com.

MATH BRIDGE UPDATE- April 2024

The road to Orosi, California typifies the rich rural areas of Central California where CVHEC and College Bridge are reaching
out to provide Math Bridge services that help prepare high school students for college. (Tom Uribes photo)

Math Bridge campaign identifies nearly

1,000 students for college-level math courses

 

BY DR. NICOLE KORGIE
Vice President of Operations – College Bridge

The Central Valley Math Bridge project is off and running as 13 committed high school partners with College Bridge and the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium are completing a student recruitment campaign that has identified nearly 1,000 students ready to take on college math and nearly half of those indicating their interest to participate.

The impact Math Bridge is having on education in the region is seen in one general characteristic of these students: they were likely NOT to have taken an advanced math course, or even math at all, in their senior year.

Now, as more high school students graduate with solid/advanced math skills though Math Bridge, more students will find success in college and career, filling vital local workforce needs.

The participating high schools stretching across the Valley’s nine-county region from Taft to Stockton are partnering with six community college members of CVHEC to offer the math dual enrollment courses at their respective campuses beginning next fall (student breakdown in parenthesis.  The community colleges and their participating feeder schools are::

DELTA COLLEGE: Stagg High School, Weber Academy;

MERCED COLLEGE: Atwater High, Buhach Colony High School, Golden Valley High School, Livingston High School, Mariposa High School;

REEDLEY COLLEGE: Dinuba High School, Orosi High School, Sanger High School, Sanger West High School;

TAFT COLLEGE: Taft High School;

WEST HILLS COLLEGE LEMOORE: Riverdale High School.

 

The campaign: no longer running from math!

The nearly 1,000 Central Valley students from these high schools identified as great prospects to participate in Math Bridge have solid academic GPA’s — between 2.3 – 3.4 — but have struggled in high school math.

Beginning at Taft High School in January, the prospective students were presented with information about Math Bridge and the benefits of participating such as allowing these students to complete a college level math course before they graduate from high school.

While you may think that many if not all students who fear or dislike math would run screaming if presented with the opportunity to take a college level math course, you may now re-think that: of the nearly 1,000 students identified, NEARLY HALF completed a form AFFIRMING their interest in participating in Math Bridge. They expressed a desire to take on the challenge of college level math that the Math Bridge project provides the high school including extensive support to help students pass the course.

For the upcoming academic year, all Math Bridge partner sites will offer a statistics course though their local community college. Math Bridge will be working with the college faculty and high school math teacher at each site to ensure that appropriate support services are provided to the students in the course.

We are currently following up with the 500 students who completed the interest form in the recruitment sessions to ensure that they meet with their school counselor to confirm that Math Bridge is the correct option for them for senior year and their post-secondary goals.

To date, 230 students have signed up. And we’re not done yet as Dinuba and Stagg have yet to begin their student recruitment process so even more students will be given this opportunity by the time we provide a final enrollment number in a future update.

 

Prepping participant high schools for Math Bridge

As this student recruitment campaign wraps up this spring, we now move into the support phase for the educators from the high school participants with a special event May 3 in Fresno to help prepare teachers for the Math Bridge project’s launch in the fall semester.

On that day, College Bridge will host our Math Bridge Instructional Planning Meeting where college and high school math instructors and their support teams (math coaches, chairs, supporting faculty) will collaborate with our project team around the who, how, when, where and what for the Math Bridge courses to be taught in Academic Year 2024-2025.

Activities for the day will include reviewing curriculum, assessments and commonalities between college courses and any necessary local differences. We will also review the requirements for instructors to earn the project stipend as well as calendaring all future planning and collaboration times per college service area.

It is understandable that some feel the slight mention of math is enough to squash any conversation but the groundbreaking role these Central Valley high schools and their community college partners are taking on with College Bridge and CVHEC is a new level of excitement for educators seeking to arm their students for a successful higher education experience.

 

BACKGROUND:  College Bridge’s mission is to identify and eliminate barriers that prevent underrepresented students from progressing to and through college specifically focusing on Black, Latino, low-income and rural students. One of its two objectives is to expand strategic dual enrollment partnerships to serve low-income, rural and Latino students in California’s Central Valley. In December 2022, College Bridge was awarded a five-year $4 million US Department of Education grant for the Dual Enrollment Math Bridge Project so six CVHEC community colleges could provide college-level math classes that will improve and support college readiness for underprepared students in the colleges’ respective service areas. In April 2023, the project received a $1,075,340 award from the California Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program through two Central Valley K-16 programs – the Fresno-Madera K-16 Collaborative and the Tulare-Kings College & Career Collaborative. Then in December 2023,  a $2,196,928 federal grant was awarded for expansion of the College Transition Bridge project that, among other features, will advance collaboration with CVHEC’s Central Valley Transfer Project and its college course-planning software, Program Pathway Mapper, as well as with consortium member colleges.

Math Task Force continues AB 1705 work with April 19 convening

Secondary education voices invited to join discussion

Discussions to improve calculus pathways for STEM students amidst a pending deadline this summer continues with the third “Central Valley Way to AB1705 Success” Convening set for Friday, April 19 in Fresno that will also bring more secondary education voices to the table and a review of guidance issued by the California Community College Chancellors Office last month.

Registration is now open for the event in Fresno presented by the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Math Task Force with the Charles A. Dana Center (University of Texas at Austin) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Fresno Convention Center, the site of two previous in-person convenings last fall and in January.

The event will re-convene community college math educators, administrators and institutional researchers working since the fall towards compliance with the final stage of AB1705: validation of equitable placement, support and completion practices for STEM programs.

Signed into law by Gov. Newsom in September 2022,  AB 1705 is an amendment to the landmark legislation AB 705 (Irwin, 2017) which transformed placement and developmental education in the California Community Colleges. AB1705 supports full and comprehensive implementation by, among other requirements, specifying that colleges must demonstrate the benefit of transfer-level math preparatory courses for STEM Calculus 1 based on the following conditions:

  • The student is highly unlikely to succeed in the first STEM calculus course without the additional transfer-level preparation.
  • The enrollment will improve the student’s probability of completing the first STEM calculus course.
  • The enrollment will improve the student’s persistence to and completion of the second calculus course in the STEM program, if a second calculus course is required.

From now until July 1, colleges have the opportunity to validate that their preparatory courses meet the aforementioned AB 1705 standards.

Since passage, the state’s community colleges have worked towards compliance of various aspects of AB1705 including 19 Central Valley community college members of CVHEC through representatives serving on the consortium’s Math Task Force consisting of math faculty and administrators.

The task force has held several virtual and in-person work sessions since October designed to collaborate in unity for compliance. At the last convening Jan. 26, more than 82 math and administrative representatives from the community colleges — including several campus research professionals — and one high school principal met with the task force to explore five strands of curriculum planning:

  • Validating Prerequisites;
  • Designing Precalculus for 2025;
  • Math Support Outside and Inside the Classroom;
  • Building an AB 1705 Campus Team; and
  • Guided Self-Placement.

Since the Jan. 26 meeting, the strand leads have been preparing summaries of their breakout discussions held that day, said Dr. John Spevak, CVHEC regional coordinator who oversees the consortium’s Math Task Force.

Member college teams are also preparing summaries of the tentative plans they developed in the afternoon breakout sessions for oral reports. Additionally, the workgroups have been meeting and will report out on their progress in April regarding the strands.

A good portion of the April 19 meeting will be devoted to the data collection underway by CVHEC community college research professionals related to student success in math, part of the valleywide Data Collection Project under development by the consortium, said Spevak, who will again co-facilitate the April event with Dana Center colleague Dr. Tammi Perez-Rice.

 

Secondary ed voices 

This next convening will also include representatives of K-12 school districts, including several high school principals who have already worked with CVHEC through the Central Valley Math Bridge Program.

“It’s important to bring into the conversation high school leaders and our colleagues who care as much about the future math success of students as community college math educators do,” said Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director.

That conversation was begun at the January convening of community college math professors and administrators when Marlena Celaya, principal of Orosi High School and former high school math teacher, told the group that Central Valley high school educators would very much like to participate in future discussions about math success for Central Valley students.

Spevak said this development will also foster additional learning about the high school math landscape as it pertains to college readiness.

Any Central Valley secondary education officials interested in attending the April 19 convening are welcome, he added.  

 

CCC ‘validation memo’

Also up for discussion will be a Feb. 27 validation memorandum by the California Community College Chancellors Office entitled AB 1705 Validation of Equitable Placement, Support and Completion Practices for STEM Programs.

The Chancellor’s Office also presented a webinar March 4 to further discuss the details of this guidance and address questions.

The Dana Center and CVHEC teams are presently reviewing the CCC memo to provide analysis that will help guide the Math Task Force’s five strands committees and will be presenting its memo assessment in the coming weeks, said Joan Zoellner, M.A., who is the lead for the Dana Center’s Launch Years Initiative;

In a preliminary review of the memo, Zoellner noted that while the CCC memo provides direction on the validation process for transfer­ level math placement and enrollment practices for STEM programs, it indicates that no more than one transfer-level prerequisite shall be offered prior to calculus.

“The options for that prerequisite course are limited by the memo and validation options as well,” Zoellner said.

She recommended that consortium community colleges review the chancellor’s office memo and some of the findings presented to determine how it affects their respective campus.

“If possible, work with your IR department to confirm those numbers and results prior to the April 19 convening,” Zoellner advises.

 

For more info: centralvalleyhec@gmail.com

For media inquiries: Tom Uribes – cvheccommunications@mail.fresnostate.edu (or text 559.348.3278).

 

See also: 

 

 

MATH TASK FORCE: ‘Something extraordinary’ (Jan. 26 wrap)

Modesto Junior College math professor Tina Akers-Porter discusses her strand group’s deliberations at “The Central Valley Way to AB1705 Success” Convening Jan. 26 where a call for a “principals task force” by Orosi High School Principal Marlena Celaya would bring more secondary education voices to the table.

‘Something extraordinary is happening in math in California’s Central Valley’

Math Task Force latest AB1705 session leads to calls

for more data, high school input, re-convene April 19

BY TOM URIBES
CVHEC Media/Communications Coordinator

Realizing that state guidance surrounding Assembly Bill 1705 remains elusive, valley community college math educators and officials forged ahead at “The Central Valley Way to AB1705 Success” convening Jan. 26 in Fresno with a determined and unified mindset to develop implementation plans that will serve the best interests of their students including a follow-up session set for April.

In addition, the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC) Math Task Force discussion centered around five strands of curriculum planning for implementation before the law goes into effect July 1, two aspects emerged at the lively day-long work session: the increased participation of institutional researchers for pertinent data-collecting and a call for a “principal’s task force” to bring upper secondary education voices to the table.

Presented by CVHEC, the convening — the latest in a series of deliberations since fall — was attended by 82 representatives from the consortium’s 19-member community colleges, one high school principal and campus research professionals.

They agreed to reconvene April 19 for reports on follow-up work that will occur as a result of this most recent event. Registration for that event will open next month with additional details forthcoming.

Facilitated by the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin, the session last month reviewed five strands of curriculum planning: Validating Prerequisites; Designing Precalculus for 2025; Math Support Outside and Inside the Classroom; Building an AB 1705 Campus Team; and Guided Self-Placement.

“With tensions high and little guidance surrounding AB1705, the 19 community colleges and districts that comprise the CVHEC nine-county region are rolling up their sleeves and getting to work on this math movement the ‘Central Valley Way’,” summarized Tammi Perez-Rice of the Dana Center.

Perez-Rice, who co-facilitated the event, said the convening was solely dedicated to working and planning at a regional and institutional level in two parts. The first part was dedicated to expanding the five work groups that emerged from the Nov. 17 webinar and creating a plan to move forward.  The second half of the convening was devoted to institutional planning.

“The fruits produced from these convenings are already being felt around the region,” Perez-Rice said.  “The plans and implementations emerging from these convenings are more than just a response to AB705 and AB1705; they cultivate systemic reforms that will benefit all students in the CVHEC region and beyond.”

John Spevak, CVHEC regional coordinator who oversees the consortium’s Math Task Force and co-facilitator of the Jan. 26 gathering, said in the short-term, the five strands work groups will continue to communicate and provide updates in preparation for the April 19 convening. The strand leads are preparing summaries of their Jan. 26 breakout discussions and member college teams are preparing summaries of the tentative plans they developed in the afternoon breakout sessions for oral reports in April.

“In the longer term, our Math Task Force will continue to monitor what the California Community College Chancellor’s Office says, while mainly going forward with our own Central Valley approach to the five strands.”

That “Central Valley Way” stems from the work undertaken by the CVHEC Math task Force, first formed in 2019, in the past year that was intensified with four work sessions beginning Oct. 6 in a virtual convening with CCC vice-chancellor Eric Cooper. The first in-person session followed Oct. 13 in Fresno and another virtual session was held in two parts Nov. 17 before the Jan. 26 session.

These sessions may represent the only concerted effort by a region’s community college math community actively meeting to collaborate across campus boundaries for ways to unite as one voice and determine a curriculum course of action that meets the law’s intent, Spevak said.

“We at CVHEC, along with the Dana Center representatives and our College Bridge partners in the Math Bridge Program, feel that something extraordinary is happening in math in the Central Valley of California,” Spevak said.

After the Jan. 26 session ended, Perez-Rice reiterated a point she made the first time she visited Fresno for the first in-person convening last fall:

“This collaboration today was amazing. As I travel and talk to math faculty all over the country, what I see pulsating from the CVHEC community here in Central California is just compassion; caring about their students; putting their students first; understanding what their students need; and more importantly collaborating with each other working across institutions to make things happen.”

Inviting secondary ed voices to ‘align syllabi’

A key development of the convening was the assertion and agreement that a crucial next step is “to involve high schools in the discussion and determine how to breakdown barriers between systems for a cohesive collaborative effort to put students first across the state of California,” a message delivered by Marlena Celaya, principal of Orosi High School who was the only secondary education official in attendance.

Celaya’s comments, first in a strand session and later in general comments before the assembled group, resonated with the community college professionals as she offered to lead a task force of principals/administrators who would unify with the CVHEC community college math educators for implementation strategy — to listen and hear what the needs are and how to meet those needs.

“I’m willing to lead this work because I don’t want people to go through the wars I went through teaching algebra and volunteering all my time,” said Celaya, a former math teacher at Dinuba High School. “We would want to  hear from community colleges and say to them ‘what do you need?’

“We heard something from you today: ‘I want to know what courses are offered at the high school and what does that course description look like?’ Aligning syllabi is what I’d like to do,” Celaya said. “Mathematics is my passion.”

Perez-Rice said the April 19 convening promises more high school representation, with over twelve principals who are part of the Math Bridge Program by CVHEC and College Bridge being invited. Other secondary education officials from throughout the valley are welcome she said.  

Participant feedback: ‘great to see we’re not alone in this …’

After the event, several participants shared their assessment of the Jan. 26 convening.

“The conversations were amazing and we really appreciated being here,” said Joshua Lewis, chair of the Bakersfield College Mathematics Dept.

“There have been so many legislative changes and so many unknowns it’s nice to see the work that other campuses are doing and realize that we’re not alone, that we have shared values; that we have shared emphasis on student learning and really care about doing right by all of our students,” he added.

Nathan Cahoon, Taft college math professor, felt that the efforts of CVHEC’s Math Task Force as exhibited at the convening is strengthening the voice of the valley’s math community which will have an impact.

“It was amazing to work with incredible professionals who have some really amazing ideas,” he said. “I know I took many good notes about ideas to implement at our college.  The connections we are building here with each other will be powerful down the road as we build a cohesive effort to get some good research together that we can send to the state as one voice from all the colleges.”

Modesto Junior College math professor Marina Hernandez said coming together within the region is relished because when attending other statewide or national conferences, the focus is not as localized.

“It was very helpful to learn what other colleges in the Central Valley are doing because we share similar student population and resources characteristics and their best practices are applicable to us here in our region,” Hernandez said.

Tina Akers-Porter, Modesto Junior College math professor, said the Math Task Force work has helped her better understand what AB1705 is and what it means for her students.

“I feel like I have a better understanding of some of the challenges of the legislation and what others are worried about,” she said.  “We share some of those worries but it’s great to hear different points of view on that. A byproduct of this is we are seeing how we need to support underprepared students more, inside and outside the classroom, and sharing ideas to do that.”

Shelly Getty, Taft college math faculty and a strand leader, echoed Akers-Porter: “We left knowing we are going to start some specific tutoring and targeting students for tutoring. We will try to advertise it better and recruit so students get more access to the services we already provide which will greatly impact them.  We shared some good ideas on how to do that effectively.”

Marissa Martinez, Taft college math professor, said, “We have our work cut out for us. There’s a lot of things that we have to address with a lot of moving parts. Everything keeps changing but it was great to be able to see that we’re not alone in this, that we’re working together to better serve our students.”

She said this intercollegial collaboration and the feedback from the colleges helps “so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel — what worked, what didn’t work.”

Next steps? Data research

“I would say the next step is collecting our data to see how the numbers show where we are so we can prove that these courses are important for our student success,” Martinez said.

This data aspect was also a key part of the convening as institutional research professionals were invited and directly participated such as Arooj Rizvi, research analyst in the Office of Institutional research and Effectiveness at San Joaquin Delta College.

“Researchers have a monumental role in the implementation of AB 1705 because policymakers are going to depend a lot on what we are able to produce as a group or even as an institution,” Rizvi said. “Being a part of these conversations helps us to see the bigger picture, the context and the requirements of what exactly it is that we are looking for in the data.”

She said it was exciting to hear at the convening what area colleges are going through.

“I realized how similar our challenges are from institution to institution, “she said.  “Working through that together and being solution-oriented is something that’s going to take all of us towards a beneficial direction. Seeing us all here today was a defining moment in history.”

Owynn Lancaster, vice president of academic strategy for CVHEC partner College Bridge, said the event was “a huge success seeing folks come together from math to talk about math and really pool their resources to address actual challenges.

“The most powerful focus of change in education is always the educator,” Lancaster said. “I know everything’s heaped on them but in a lot of ways they have the greatest power of the greatest agency for this.”

For more info: centralvalleyhec@gmail.com

For CVHEC media inquiries: Tom Uribes – cvheccommunications@mail.fresnostate.edu (or text 559.348.3278).

See also:

Math Task Force

https://bit.ly/MTFconveneKSEE24

Valley’s math ed experts unite to address AB 1705 challenge for student success

The CVHEC Way to Math Success — Implementing AB1705

Math Task Force begins discussion of AB1705 implementation – Nov. 17 next
CVHEC Math Task Force meets in-person Oct. 13 for AB 1705 follow-up

NEWS RELEASE – CVHEC Math Task Force: Impactful legislation (AB 1705) Convenings Oct. 6 & 13

CVHEC Website Feature: Math Task Force Page

PHOTO GALLERY  

Central Valley Transfer Project: valley’s four-year colleges collaborating

Fresno State, a founding CVHEC member, joined CVHEC’s historic Central Valley Transfer Project in January with (from left): Dr. Kent Willis, vice president of Fresno State Student Affairs and Enrollment Management; University President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval; Dr. Benjamin Duran, CVHEC executive director; Tom Burke, CVHEC regional coordinator; and Dr. Sergio La Porta, associate dean of the Fresno State College of Arts and Humanities.

Fresno State joins in transfer ‘centerpiece’ with

11 CVHEC community colleges, 3 CSUs, UCMerced

 The Central Valley Transfer Project is now partnered with the region’s three California State University campuses after Fresno State signed on in January joining Bakersfield and Stanislaus in the historic Central Valley Higher Education Consortium initiative designed to open new doors for students’ successful transfer from community college.

Along with founding partner University of California, Merced, this means the valley’s four public institutions of higher education are working in unison with 8 community colleges currently through CVHEC’s project using the groundbreaking Program Pathways Mapper software. The project has also gained the full support of the California Community College Chancellor’s Office.

The community colleges already in the CVTP, with several more expected to sign on this year, are: Bakersfield College, Clovis Community College, Madera Community College, Merced College, Porterville College, Reedley College, West Hills College-Coalinga and West Hills College-Lemoore.

The Transfer Project is also expanding participation in the north end of the Central Valley with Modesto Junior College, Columbia College and San Joaquin Delta College scheduled to begin onboard this spring for a total of 11 community college partners said Stan Carrizosa, CVHEC regional coordinator and consortium lead for the project.

All Transfer Project partners are members of the consortium with their respective chancellors and presidents serving on the CVHEC Board of Directors.

“The Transfer Project is now a centerpiece for students to both enter and transfer from community college to their four-year universities,” said Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director. “We are excited to share this latest progress of the project which has been featured statewide and nationally at conferences such as the Community College League of California and Complete College America.”

He added, “This innovative approach is the only one in the state that includes a University of California campus collaborating with partner California State University and community colleges in establishing transfer pathways for Central Valley students to get them to and through college in a timely manner.”

Dr. Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, Fresno State president and CVHEC board member, said,  “I’m proud that Fresno State will be a dynamic partner in the Central Valley Transfer Project, as this pathway will empower community college students to become visionary Bulldogs.”

The Fresno State agreement was finalized Jan. 17 between Durán and President Jiménez-Sandoval, with Tom Burke, CVHEC regional coordinator and Transfer Project team member; Dr. Kent Willis, vice president of Enrollment Services; and Dr. Sergio LaPorta, associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities.

At CVHEC’s Higher Education Summit last fall, CCC Chancellor Sonya Christian announced that the statewide system has designated the Transfer Project as a demonstration project as set forth in her Vision 2030 for all California community colleges. The Transfer Project’s participating community colleges are serving as the pilot campuses with plans to implement statewide.

Carrizosa said the state budget continues to support and fund the onboarding costs for all community colleges to subscribe to the Program Pathways Mapper.

Established in 2021 with UC Merced, Merced College and Bakersfield College, the project is designed to open new doors for students to successfully transfer from community college with its Program Pathways Mapper, Carrizosa said.

He said the Program Pathways Mapper — a public facing, internet-based app that can be downloaded and accessed by the public software platform — provides unprecedented ease of access for students, counselors, advisors and parents much more so than other existing platforms.

“There are no typical requirements for access to PPM such as other internal college systems like Degree Works, Assist.Org and the CSU Transfer Planner,” he said. “These are all course tracking systems but in order to use them, students need to be successfully enrolled in college and have a student email address or other form of login to try and plan. Through PPM students simply upload the public PPM app to their devices and have immediate access.”

Carrizosa said the PPM helps simplify the transfer planning process which can be the most difficult task for many students.

“In much of our Central Valley region, as many as seven out of 10 incoming college freshmen will be first generation students to attend college,” he said. “Research shows that the most difficult task for them is often the application process itself and completing the required steps for enrollment. Systems like Degree Works and others do nothing to remove this common barrier because these systems cannot be accessed until a student successfully enrolls.”

He explained that a high school student can start the Transfer Project journey as a junior or senior by enrolling in college dual enrollment courses enabling them to complete their transfer level English and Math courses while still in high school. These units roll up with them as they enter community college and track the completion of their lower division requirements for their Associate Degree for Transfer in their chosen major via PPM.

“Students can easily select a community college they wish to attend and a major they want to pursue and the lower division courses required are sequentially laid out for them through the Program Pathways Mapper software.”

In addition, the PPM then links those lower division courses to an upper division institution of the student’s choice and shows a clear sequence of upper division courses needed to complete the degree, Carrizosa added.

“The PPM contains clear and accurate information directly from course catalogues from all participating colleges,” Carrizosa said.  “The Central Valley Transfer Project is becoming an alternative continuum of courses to the traditional high school A-G or Career Technical Education continuums and is unprecedented in the state’s community college system. We call it ‘The Central Valley Way!’”

“Through the use of PPM, students complete exactly what is required of them to successfully transfer to their four-year university and they follow PPM through their last two years to degree/certificate completion,” Carrizosa said.

Baseline data results also demonstrate the promise that PPM delivers in the Transfer Project.

In a sample of 5,000 incoming freshmen to Bakersfield College in 2022 the students using the PPM increased their “percentage of on-path course completion” to over 80 percent which also closed the equity gap in this statistic for ethnic minority students when compared to their white counterparts, Carrizosa said.

“The same sample showed students using the PPM reduced the ‘number of units-to-degree’ from an average of 87 down to 67,” he added.

The project is now gearing up to expand the partnership with the College Bridge Math Project and to onboard community colleges from the northern region of the Central Valley.

For more information about the CVTP, contact Carrizosa at centralvalleyhec@gmail.com.

 

CVHEC media inquiries: Tom Uribes – cvheccommunications@mail.fresnostate.edu or text 559.348.3278.

Fresno State media inquiries: PIO Lisa Bell – lbell@csufresno.edu.

See:

·  Pilot CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Project improves process for students  

·  CVHEC Web Site Feature: Transfer Project

·  Historic Transfer Project spurs statewide movement to increase transfer rates

·  WHAT THE CV-HEC IS HAPPENING BLOG (January 2024): CVHEC 2023 — surging forward for Central Valley students

·  HIGHER ED NEWS: College Bridge to expand Math Bridge; CVHEC Transfer Project

•  A-G

·   Career Technical Education

Kern Master’s Upskilling Program: 2nd cohort graduates – next cohort recruitment underway

Two cohorts from the Kern Master’s Upskilling Program (MA English) are eligible to participate and walk in the 2024 National University Commencement May 18 at Petco Park in San Diego. The program’s high school teacher participants are now qualified to teach English dual enrollment community college courses on their respective campuses. A third English cohort and the first Kern math cohort graduate in June.

Kern Master’s Upskilling Program

reaches another milestone

Second English cohort graduation – recruitment underway for a fall math cohort

The Kern Master’s Upskilling Program for high school teachers seeking a master’s degree in English or Math that qualifies them to teach dual enrollment courses at their respective campuses reached its second milestone last month when 11 participants completed post-baccalaureate requirements in English through National University.

Formally known as the Dual Enrollment Teacher Upskilling Pathway for English and Mathematics, the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium initiative is in partnership with the Kern Regional K-16 Education Collaborative that was funded as part of an $18 million statewide competitive grant in June 2022 to improve student progress from high school to postsecondary education and ultimately into the workforce.

The program also announced recruitment is underway for a third math cohort of 21 students to begin this fall for completion in spring 2026 though Fresno Pacific University in concert with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS), which serves as the administrative agent for the Kern K-16 Collaborative.

Informational meetings are set for March 21 and April 11 at 4:30 p.m.

A potential fourth English cohort pilot through CSU, Bakersfield with seven students is also in the works said Tom Burke, CVHEC’s Kern Masters Upskilling Program lead who reports that the program progress “has been very good” since it was funded two years ago.

“With the first two cohorts of English graduates to be joined by our first cohort of math graduates this summer, we are well on the way to significantly increasing the number of faculty in Kern County eligible to teach dual enrollment or community college courses in math and English,” Burke said.

The January graduation follows the first cohort of 11 English students who graduated in September for the innovative state-funded CVHEC initiative that helps reduce the cost of tuition for high school teachers to pursue a master’s degree, a state requirement to teach community college dual enrollment courses.

Each NU cohort group of students is eligible to participate and walk in the 2024 Commencement services set for Saturday, May 18, at Petco Park in San Diego, said Jessica Gladney, senior director for Partnership Development/ Workforce Education Solutions for National University,

The first Kern Master’s Upskilling Program cohort — MA, English with a specialization in Rhetoric — began in January 2023 with 13 out of 15 students completing their program in November 2023 (nine of the 13 will graduate with honors with a grade point average of 3.85 and above).

The two remaining students are currently in the process of completing their capstone, which is the culminating course of the master’s program, Gladney  said.

The second Kern Master’s Upskilling Program cohort of MA, English with a specialization in Rhetoric, began in March 2023, and 10 out of 15 students completed their program in January 2024. The remaining students are currently in the process of completing their capstone course, Gladney reports.

She said each NU cohort group of students is eligible to participate and walk in the 2024 Commencement services set for Saturday, May 18, at Petco Park in San Diego.

“We are proud of these candidates and we are excited to assist with building a qualified candidate pool of eligible dual-enrollment English teachers to meet the workforce demands in the Central Valley,” Gladney said.

CVHEC, made up of 28 institutions of higher education in the valley’s nine-county region from San Joaquin to Kern counties, is one of several partners in the Kern Collaborative.

South Valley CVHEC members include California State University, Bakersfield; Kern Community College District; Bakersfield College; Cerro Coso College; Taft College; Porterville College; Fresno Pacific University; and National University.

The project also includes the CVHEC Mentor Program that pairs the master’s candidates with a community college mentor to support them along the way and help them navigate the process to becoming an adjunct community college faculty member.

Under coordinators Dr. Liz Rozell (math) and Dr. Vikash Lakhani (English), the program is still accepting community college professors to serve as mentors, Burke said.

For more details about the fall 2024 math cohort through Fresno Pacific, potential students can contact:

  • Manjula Joseph, program director – manjula.joseph@fresno.edu or 559.453.2096
  • Nathan Lyness, senior Outreach & Admissions representative – nathan.lyness@fresno.edu or 559.453.7183

See:

CVHEC SPOTLIGHT: Consortium at national DREAM Conference with CVCF

Ángel Ramírez (right) represented CVHEC in the Central Valley Community Foundation delegation of area leaders attending the Achieving the Dream Conference in Orlando Feb. 19-22 (from left): Carlos Castillo; Phong Yang; Estefania Avalos Chavez; Vianey Barraza Chavez; Julie Vue;  Ángel. Not in picture: SCCCD Chancellor Carole Goldsmith.

The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium is participating this week in the 20th anniversary convening of DREAM, which brings together thousands of practitioners from hundreds of colleges “to exchange evidence-based approaches to accelerating student success in a manner that champions equity and drives economic vibrancy.”

Ángel Ramírez, director of operations and finance, is representing CVHEC in the Central Valley Community Foundation delegation of area leaders led by Julie Vue, CVCF senior program officer, attending the four-day event in Orlando, Florida

Other CVCF delegation representatives are Carlos Castillo, chief of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Fresno Unified School District; Phong Yang, associate vice president for Strategic Enrollment Management at Fresno State; Estefania Avalos Chavez, board member, Higher Education For All; Vianey Barraza Chavez, director of Education Programs and Special Projects for the Education and Leadership Foundation; and Dr. Carole Goldsmith, State Center Community College District chancellor who also led a SCCCD delegation to the conference.

The conference is presented by Achieving the Dream, a national organization of  more than 300 community colleges across the country partnering to build customized growth plans to address the unique challenges each institution faces.

It embodies Achieving the Dream’s longstanding belief in advancing community colleges as accessible hubs of learning, credentialing and social mobility that eliminate inequities in students’ educational and workforce outcomes.

Through plenary sessions with critically acclaimed scholars, educators, and activists and breakout sessions with higher education thought leaders at the Orlando gathering, a nationwide network of colleagues are sharing 20 years’ worth of lessons learned in the student success field and promoting a vision of higher education as an engine for equity and a catalyst for community transformation.

The Central Valley Community Foundation, the only accredited community foundation in the region, drives strategic investments and offers best-in-class charitable tools to connect donors to the causes they care most about with $140 Million in assets under management.

CVHEC BOARD NEWS: Retirement of WHCCD Chancellor Clark – STATEMENT

The West Hills Community College District (WHCCD), announced today the retirement of Chancellor Dr. Kristin Clark  effective July 2024. For the past two years, Chancellor Clark has served as chair of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Board of Directors, which is made up of the chancellors, presidents and campus directors of 28 institutions of higher education in the region’s nine-county area. She also served on the board during her term as president of West Hills College Lemoore prior to the WHCCD chancellorship. The West Hills Community College District will soon initiate a search for a new chancellor. Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director, issued the following statement.

Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director,  and WHCCD Chancellor Kristin Clark at the Central Valley Higher Education Summit October 19, 2023 where she delivered the welcome address.

UPDATE July 26, 2024: Chancellor Clark honored at farewell reception (see photo gallery below).

STATEMENT

Chancellor Clark: a champion

of higher education for all

We at the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium along with so many others in the region and the state, are experiencing mixed feelings with Chancellor Kristin Clark’s announcement of her retirement effective the end of this academic year.

We are happy for Chancellor Clark as she completes a stellar academic career this spring in preparation for her retirement but at the same time we are saddened that the Central Valley region is losing a leader of her caliber.   As the chair of the 28-member CVHEC Board of Directors the last two years, Chancellor Clark has been a champion of higher education for all and certainly for the initiatives and projects the Consortium has undertaken. She has been instrumental in building our network of Central Valley college and university leaders to speak in a single voice on higher education policy issues.

Additionally, Chancellor Clark is recognized throughout the state as the leader of one of the most innovative and student-centered multi-college districts in rural California.  The West Hills Community College District and the communities it serves have been fortunate to receive her professional and personal leadership.

Please join us in wishing Dr. Clark all the best, as she gets ready to explore the next phase of her life. Well done, Kristin!

Benjamín Durán, Ed.D.
Executive Director – The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium  
President-emeritus – Merced College

See the WHCCD  retirement  announcement press release.

Bio – Chancellor Kristin Clark

Chancellor Clark Farewell Reception – CVHEC photo gallery:

Contact Us

  • cvhecinfo@mail.fresnostate.edu

  • 559.278.0576

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