SPOTLIGHT ON CVHEC: #DualEnrollmentWeek 2024

CVHEC joins dual enrollment partners

in statewide digital campaign

The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium participated in the Digital Dual Enrollment Week social media campaign conducted statewide Feb 26-March 1 by the California Alliance of Dual Enrollment Partnerships (CADEP).

The weeklong campaign followed the 2nd Annual California Dual Enrollment Equity Conference held Feb. 20-23 in Long Beach presented by CADEP, Career Ladders Project, and The Education Trust–West with fiscal agent the Foundation for Los Angeles Community Colleges.

The California Alliance of Dual Enrollment Partnerships is an affiliated chapter of the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP), is a unified coalition committed to the advancement of equity, student success and quality in dual enrollment programs in California.

Its vision is to unite individuals, state agencies and organizations committed to dual enrollment in California to promote and advance quality dual enrollment programming across the state.

For the social media campaign, dual enrollment partners were asked to promote a specific theme each day:

MONDAY – Feb. 26: Celebrate Dual Enrollment Success

TUESDAY – Feb. 27: Dual Enrollment Myth Busting

WEDNESDAY – Feb. 28: Dual Enrollment is an Equity Strategy – Widening the Front Door to College

THURSDAY – Feb. 29: Families, Communities and Dual Enrollment

FRIDAY – March 1: Innovations in Dual Enrollment

“We were able to incorporate several of our projects and dual enrolment student interactions over the past few years into the social media campaign,” said Tom Uribes, CVHEC communications/media coordinator.

CVHEC featured its Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CVDEEP) Projects and outcomes: Master’s Upskilling Project recent graduates; the consortium’s dual enrollment video; the Math Bridge project in collaboration with College Bridge; students who participated in the video and at CVHEC convenings sharing their success stories as well as their families; and visiting the dual enrollment classroom of Jade Martinez, a Sanger West High School English teacher  who completed the innovative Master’s Upskilling Project that qualified her to teach the community college courses at her high school.

CVDEEP is now looking ahead to its annual convening that will be held in the fall this year. Details will be forthcoming in future CVHEC newsletters.

For more info on CVHEC Dual enrollment work please visit. https://cvhec.org/dual-enrollment-in-the-central-valley/

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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  

What the CV-HEC Is Happening Blog: Math Bridge Update

Read more

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:

MEMBER NEWS: WHCCD gets federal grant for RuBICON – rural broadband

$1 million USDA grant awarded to West Hills CCD

for broadband cooperative formation

Project director recruitment underway

 

The West Hills Community College District (WHCCD) has received a $1 million federal grant that will play a pivotal role in establishing the Rural Broadband Initiative Cooperative Network (RuBICON), a project aimed at providing affordable broadband services to rural communities and farms in the Central Valley.

The district, a Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC) institution member, announced the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) award Feb. 21 as well as a search for a project director for RuBICON, which aims to empower local communities by forming a cooperative that delivers reliable and cost-effective broadband access, bridging the digital divide in the rural Central Valley.

The district said this groundbreaking endeavor draws inspiration from the historic electric co-op movement, envisioning equitable change and progress for rural America in the 21st century.

Jeff Seed, WHCCD associate vice chancellor of Information Technology, emphasized the broader impact of this grant, stating, “This is not just about broadband access – it’s about fostering sustainable farming, building robust local economies, and empowering our rural communities for the digital future.”

In a social media post, Chancellor Kristen Clark, who is also CVHEC Board of Directors chair, said, “Excited about this opportunity for the West Hills Community College District to help support high-speed broadband on the Westside of the Central Valley.”

Project RuBICON has garnered support from a diverse coalition of partners committed to assessing and delivering connectivity to rural communities in the Central Valley. The initiative will collect comprehensive data to understand current needs and identify solutions to address connectivity gaps. In addition to infrastructure development, West Hills will offer digital literacy education for local communities and leverage its Farm of the Future to create a framework for agricultural technologists, propelling the community toward Agriculture 4.0.

“This project is designed to facilitate cost-effective broadband deployment, with the goal of serving as a model that can be replicated across the country,” Seed added.

For WHCCD media inquiries, contact Amber Myrick at 559.934.2132 or ambermyrick@whccd.edu.

 

See:

WHCCD press release

Project direction position and application process info 

CVHEC broadband video press release

$1M boost for affordable Internet in the Central Valley – YourCentralValley.com

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

Math Task Force Convening Jan. 26:

‘Central Valley Way To AB1705 Success’

 

With the agenda released this week, over 60 Central Valley math education experts will convene in Fresno Jan. 26 to plan math pathways for student success as they brainstorm within five strands of implementation around Assembly Bill 1705 that goes into effect this summer.

The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium’s “Central Valley Way To AB1705 Success” Convening from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Fresno Convention Center, will bring together community college math educators, administrators and institutional researchers.

Presented by the CVHEC Math Task Force and facilitated by the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin, the convening is free with advance registration and includes lunch.

Discussion for the historic convening — with administrators and IR experts joining in the conversation — will center around five strands that the region’s community college math academicians can undertake for student success when the new law goes into effect July 1:  Validating Prerequisites; Designing Precalculus for 2025; Math Support Outside and Inside the Classroom; Building an AB 1705 Campus Team; and Guided Self-Placement.

Five Math Task Force members serving as strand leads are: Jeremy Brandl, Fresno City College math professor; Nathan Cahoon and Shelley Getty, both Taft College math professors; Marie Bruley, Merced College dean of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM); and Jay Thomas, West Hills College Lemoore math professor.

After the event opens with a welcome and brief introductions, the strand subcommittees open the discussion by presenting reports regarding preliminary strand deliberations over the past few months that started at three meetings the Math Task Force held in the fall.

Participants will then break into tabletop talks for feedback and to brainstorm new ideas, a timeline and next steps followed by report outs of those subcommittee sessions.

Following lunch, the participants will break into their respective college teams to discuss “Preliminary College Plans” in two parts: “Validating Prerequisites Between Now and July 1, 2024;” and “Developing New/Revised Curriculum to Take Effect July 1, 2025.”

“College Team Report Outs” will follow before the final session “Where Do We Go From Here?” looks towards the future and the role of Math Task Force sub-committees, college teams and CVHEC.

Dr. Benjamín Durán of CVHEC with Dana Center reps Joan Zoellner and Tammi Perez-Rice at the Oct. 13 Math Task Force convening in Fresno.

 Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director, said, “We are proud that our Central Valley community colleges are leaning in on the expertise of their own math experts to figure out the best way to support our students within the guidelines of the legislation.”

AB 1705 — passed in 2022 for implementation July 1, 2024  —  expands the provisions established in AB 705 (2017) by explicitly requiring community colleges not only to place students directly into transfer-level English and math courses but also to ensure that students actually enroll in those courses.

The legislation also establishes that for students who need or desire extra academic support, community colleges shall provide access to such support. The new law clarifies that a community college can require students to enroll in additional concurrent support if it is determined that the support will increase the student’s likelihood of passing transfer-level English or math.

Community colleges have been tasked with ensuring they comply with both AB705 and AB1705 designed to strengthen support for student success and increase degree completion.

CVHEC helped start the conversation by bringing together its Math Task Force — made up of representatives from CVHEC community colleges — and other math educators to discuss ideas and options regarding implementation within the Central Valley community college mathematics community last fall.

Dr. John Spevak, CVHEC regional coordinator

In three virtual sessions and one in-person convening in 2023,  the Math Task Force created a collaborative “Central Valley Approach” to each,  said Dr. John Spevak, CVHEC regional coordinator who oversees the consortium’s Math and English Task Forces.

“Now, for the January session, administrators and researchers are joining the Math Task Force to develop data-driven and college-endorsed solutions that help meet the challenge head on and in unity for the best interests of students.”

The fall inaugural sessions were facilitated by two Dana Center representatives who will return to Fresno for the Jan. 26 convening:  Joan Zoellner, M.A., who is the lead for the Dana Center’s Launch Years Initiative; and Dr. Tammi Perez-Rice, Postsecondary Course Program specialist.

Dr. Erik Cooper, assistant vice chancellor of the California Community College Chancellor’s Office Cooper, also participated in the first virtual session to discuss the recent history of math education reform in California and answer questions as well as present the CCCCO’s AB 1705 Implementation Guide and FAQ webpage.

“With the passage of AB 705 then later 1705 – all designed to strengthen support for student success – CVHEC has been moving full steam ahead in assuring that our member colleges and their feeder high schools have a good understanding of the seemingly turbulent waters of the legislation,” Durán said.

Strand breakdown: 

  • Validating prerequisites — quantitative and qualitative: creating a Central Valley collaborative approach which would help make a strong case with the state. Point person: NATHAN CAHOON, Taft College math professor.
  • Designing Precalculus for 2025: An effective single-course prerequisite for Calculus 1 (especially valuable if the state allows in 2025-26 only one prerequisite course for Calculus 1). Point person: JEREMY BRANDL, Fresno City College math professor.
  • Math support outside and inside the classroom:  What’s working best in the Central Valley, including math lab centers, tutoring, embedded tutoring, supplemental instruction, etc. Point person: SHELLEY GETTY, Taft College math professor.
  • Building an AB 1705 campus team: Who needs to be on the team? Math and English professors, IR/IT staff, counselors, administrators, etc. How does it best function? Point person: MARIE BRULEY, Merced College dean of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).
  • Guided self-placement: Helping ensure with the best possible questionnaire that students are taking the right math class when they start college. Point person: JAY THOMAS, West Hills College Lemoore math professor.

(Links to recordings of the two previous sessions are available below).

 

REGISTER – “The CVHEC Way to Math Success — Implementing AB1705” (Jan. 26, 2024)

EVENT AGENDA For questions: centralvalleyhec@gmail.com.

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

 

SEE:

  • Previous sessions recordings:

CVHEC “AB1705 in the Central Valley” Webinar with Dr. Erik Cooper Oct. 6, 2023

MTF meeting  Nov. 17 (10 a.m. session)

MTF meeting Nov. 17 (1 p.m. session)

 

  • Coverage of the fall sessions:

Math Task Force begins discussion of AB1705 implementation – Nov. 17 next (with Oct. 13 photo gallery).

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

 

 

Dr. Erik Cooper of the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office zoomed into the Oct. 6 CVHEC Math Task Force session to address AB1705 implementation.

 

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

To kick off our 2024 “What the CV-HEC is Happening” Blogs, CVHEC Regional Coordinator Stan Carrizosa, Sr. follows up the year-in-review published in our December newsletter issue by offering a perspective of the consortium’s progress in 2023 that sets the stage for a productive new year. Carrizosa, who is president-emeritus of CVHEC member College of the Sequoias and an integral part of the CVHEC team, serves as the lead for the consortium’s Central Valley Transfer Project. The CVHEC blog features perspectives about the higher education community and issues. Submissions are welcome for consideration: Tom Uribes, cvheccommunications@mail.fresnostate.edu.

Propelling successfully, purposefully like a guided rocket

 

BY STAN A. CARRIZOSA, SR.
CVHEC Regional Coordinator
(President-emeritus, College of the Sequoias)

 

As a child, I remember watching a weekly science show called “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” that explored the ocean and marine biology.

One fascinating episode depicted how an octopus at any moment could be moving wildly with all eight legs and not advance at all. But once the octopus contracted its core by simultaneously snapping all eight legs in the same direction, a burst of air coming from the fish propelled it successfully and purposefully through the water like a guided rocket.

Stan Carrizosa, Sr. (left) and CVHEC Central Valley Transfer Project team partner Tom Burke presented at the Community Colleges League of California in November along with UC Merced grad student Araceli Tilley who discussed her success with the project’s Program Pathway Mapper software and Jennifer Johnson of the Foundation for California Community Colleges (right).

Over the course of the past 12 months, CVHEC has flexed its octopus legs and undertaken otherwise separate projects like Math Bridge and Master’s Upskilling (dual enrollment) and the Central Valley Transfer Project. By aligning them and their sub-parts, CVHEC has achieved the snapping of its octopus legs successfully surging us forward in the form of real achievement results for higher education in the Central Valley and for our region’s students specifically.

As we move into 2024, the work of CVHEC continues to be more aligned in ways that leverage each element and make the wholistic effort more cohesive and successful. This reminds me how effective it was to do this same thing as a college president. It was important to have clear goals and objectives and planned actions designed to address specific aspects of an issue to ensure greater success.

This past year, CVHEC acted like an organization with big-picture goals for improving student achievement region-wide and a measured plan of actions all designed to work together as a system to achieve success.

The two key drivers of this system for CVHEC success are strong intersegmental partnership commitments to:

  • a robust dual enrollment;
  • increasing successful community college transfers to higher education institutions.

 

Biggest DE challenge: qualified instructors

Armed with direct feedback from our first Dual Enrollment Summit held three years ago, we heard that one of the biggest challenges to implementing dual enrollment courses was the ability to find qualified instructors to teach college courses on high school campuses.

CVHEC responded by creating an upskilling project where high school teachers in math and English could earn a master’s degree in their content areas and be qualified to apply for and teach dual enrollment college courses on their high school campuses.

Early results from dual enrollment courses showed that students were more successful when the teacher for their college courses was a member of their regular high school faculty. Under the leadership of Dr. John Spevak, CVHEC regional coordinator and vice-president emeritus of Merced College, who facilitated an impressive package offering high school teachers the opportunity to earn a MA degree in their content areas through our partner universities, this opportunity had many residual benefits such as:

  • improving the quality of teaching for their high school classes,
  • earning higher salaries at their high school,
  • creating a professional learning community between high school and community college teachers,
  • and most importantly, changing teacher attitudes about the ability for high school students to succeed in college-level work.

The benefits for high school students are enormous.

Those enrolled in college dual enrollment courses experience pass rates of 80-plus percent while mainstream college students pass rates are in the 50 percent range. Finally, dual enrollment has proven to be a game-changer for first-generation college students in closing the equity gap among them and their college prep peers.

If students are able to take their college math and English courses before graduating high school, they start their college career on a level playing field by having completed their first required courses in transfer-level math and English. This enables them to get on the right pathway and stay straight toward their degree completion.

 

Incentivizing the efforts to increase transfers

The second key driver for CVHEC in 2023 and moving into the new year is the Central Valley Transfer Project!

The breakthrough moment in this project came when UC Merced agreed to review the CSU ADTs and approve these lower-division sequences as meeting the requirements for successful transfer to UCM. Central Valley CSU’s including Bakersfield and Stanislaus have bought in to the Transfer Project as well.  Over the past three years CVHEC has worked to complete implementation in eight of our CV community colleges with three more joining the project this year.

Again the student benefit stands clear: early results show that students in the Transfer Project increase their percentages of on-path course completion each semester by 20 points to 80-plus percent. The same students also reduce their number of units to degree from a high of 85 down to 62.

Meanwhile the new statewide Student Funding Formula starts to provide enhanced per/FTES revenue for successful transfers to four-year institutions, further incentivizing the efforts to increase transfers.

We know that of all the successful graduates earning degrees from CSU’s, 50 percent started their education at a community college. Most recently, California Community Colleges Chancellor Dr. Sonya Christian unveiled her VISION 2030 which includes the Central Valley Transfer Project as a Demonstration Project for the entire state. As a result, CVHEC is now being recruited in both southern and northern California to share the success of the CV Transfer Project with those regions through presentations at various convenings.

 

Thoughtful and effective continuum creating unprecedented leverage for success

In summary, in addition to tracking and assessing our efforts as individual projects, it is equally if not more important to step back and see the bigger picture in the CVHEC body of work for 2023 that sets the stage for promising 2024.   We can see there is a thoughtful and effective continuum that links these efforts together creating unprecedented leverage for success:

  • CVHEC started by looking at the data and listening to the practitioners in the field to develop an agenda of work to support our colleges.
  • Dual enrollment shows great promise but needs more qualified instructors.
  • High school students in dual enrollment courses can close the equity gap between them and their peers thus advancing their personal confidence and capacity to succeed in college.
  • Most higher ed students start in our community colleges and now through the Transfer Project they have a clear pathway of courses to take for a successful transfer to four-year universities.
  • Once our community college students successfully complete their transfer, statistics show that they represent 50 percent of all university graduates.

So, looking back over the past 12 months, CVHEC – like the octopus snapping our legs to successfully surge forward – has successfully linked together major initiatives to build upon and strengthen each other allowing students to experience a continuum of effectiveness and success in achieving their higher education goals and objectives. To close out 2023 and look ahead, our executive director Dr. Benjamín Durán sums up the CVHEC spirit best in his newsletter director’s message published in our December issue:

“This year we are happy to salute and greet our K-12 partner districts who have joined us in creating meaningful pathways from middle school and high school to college.  As we prepare to welcome 2024, stay tuned as we continue to nurture many roads leading to one destination – getting students to and through college in a timely manner!”

UPDATE: Math Bridge Program eyes productive 2024

Read more

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

College Bridge President Dr. Lynn Cevallos speaks at the Math Bridge kick off in Fresno May 18, 2023.

College Bridge funded $2.1 million to expand Math Bridge

the ‘Central Valley way’; collaborate with CVHEC Transfer Project

The College Bridge Program, a partner of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium, has received a $2,196,928 federal grant for expansion of its 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.

The College Transition Bridge project is a college counseling initiative created in 2017 that includes a curriculum to meet student needs in preparation for a successful transition from high school to college.

With this new three-year grant from U.S. Department of Education Rural Postsecondary Education and Economic Development (RPED) program funds, the College Transition Bridge Project will identify over 2,750 low-income, minority and rural students in the Central Valley to participate in a year-long program that provides students and educators access to college knowledge.

Additionally, the grant will expand the CT Bridge curriculum to include regional workforce needs and streamlined degree pathways to enter the workforce, said Dr. Lynn Cevallos, founder and president of College Bridge, a non-profit organization dedicated to forging a path towards both college access and success for underrepresented students.

“The pathways lead students from high school to community college to the university to career,” she said. “Expanded services are provided to students as well as intersegmental teams of instructors, counselors and administrators.”

She emphasized that “this grant is 100 percent Valley-focused benefiting the identified student population in the California Central San Joaquin Valley.

“And we will be connecting with CVHEC’s proven Central Valley way of doing things as we tie student success to the workforce needs of the region,” she added, explaining that CVHEC leads the partnership efforts connecting workforce needs through aligned college transfer programs between California Community Colleges and the California State University and University of California systems in the region.

The College Bridge team at the Math Bridge kick off last year: Owynn Lancaster, Dr. Nicole Korgie, Dr. Lynn Cevallos.

College Bridge, based in Southern California but working closely with CVHEC community college members and their feeder high schools in the Central Valley through its  Math Bridge Project, is the only California recipient of the RPED program funds awarded Dec. 22 when the Biden-Harris Administration announced $44.5 million in grants to 22 institutions of higher education nationwide.

Funding from the RPED grant program, which promotes the development of high-quality career pathways aligned to high-skill, high-wage and in-demand industry sectors and occupations in the region, is designed to improve rates of postsecondary education enrollment, persistence and completion among students in rural communities.

Cevallos noted that two San Joaquin Valley demographic characteristics drive the need for the federally-funded project:  the average per capita incomes are 32 percent lower than the state average; and college graduation rates are 50 percent below the state average.

“Students in the San Joaquin Valley lag far behind in academic performance compared to the rest of the state,” she said. “The region trails the state in bachelor’s degree attainment, with only 12 percent of the adult population holding a bachelor’s degree, compared to 21 percent in the state.”

She said that for associate degree attainment, the region and the state are similar at roughly 8 percent, so this grant opportunity also allows for the revision and expansion of the CT Bridge curriculum regarding:

  • Community College Transfer Pathways with an overview of all transfer pathway options but particular focus on the state’s two-to-four-year Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) Program;
  • and the CVHEC Transfer Project’s Program Pathway Mapper (PPM), the software tool that guides students in choosing courses to complete a specific ADT Program.

“In leading the partnership efforts connecting workforce needs through aligned college transfer programs between California Community Colleges and the CSU and UC systems in the region, CVHEC convenes regional partners to review and approve transfer curricula that serve as the basis for the ADT Program,” Cevallos said.

“Faculty from each partner college and university meet to review and approve ADT course requirements. Approved ADTs are loaded into Program Mapper software, which is embedded in College Transition Bridge.”

Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director, said this new endeavor between Central Valley Higher Education Consortium and the College Transition Bridge will streamline and clarify effective college and career pathways for high school students.

“The Central Valley Transfer Project is anchored by the Program Pathways Mapper, a simple, user-friendly but highly effective software platform,” Durán said. “CVHEC will now help integrate the use of the PPM into the college readiness activities provided by CT Bridge as the key planning tool for high school students to identify and chart their pathway to successful completion.”

Cevallos said the math and CT Bridge experience enables students to build their confidence and capacity in math and successfully complete college transfer-level math courses before high school graduation.

“College-level math and English are gateway courses that serve as prerequisites to many other courses important to successful completion and attainment of their desired degree/certification,” she said.

The funding provides the CT Bridge students, while still in high school, a series of college readiness activities such as completing financial aid and admissions applications, reviewing career opportunities in their desired workforce, selecting a major aligned with their desired career interests and planning the necessary sequence of courses, training and timeline for successful completion.

Stan Carrizosa, CVHEC regional coordinator who is the lead for the consortium’s Transfer Project, said

students who benefit from participation in the CT Bridge experience will be introduced to PPM and guided through the readiness details needed for them to plan their college futures from high school to community college and their four-year institution.

“Because so many of the CT Bridge students are first generation college prospects and come from backgrounds underrepresented in college attendance, they often transition to their local community college as their initial pathway into higher education,” Carrizosa said.

He cited the success of a PPM user who was a student panelist at the CVHEC Summit in October.

“Students like Araceli Tilley took full advantage of Program Pathways Mapper by utilizing the course planning software after her transfer from Merced College to continue planning her academic journey at UC Merced where she graduates with a master’s this spring,” Carrizosa noted.

For more information about the College Bridge RDEP grant, contact Dr.  Nicole Korgie at nicole.korgie@college-bridge.org.

See:

 

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.

 

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