CVDEEP Task Force convening for educators in 10-county region to look at strategic planning, policy changes, student success and equity REGISTER HERE The Central Valley Dual Enrollment for […]
Successful dual enrollment teacher program
awarded funding for 15 more high school teachers
To schedule an information session: individual OnDemand appointments
BY TOM URIBES
CVHEC Communications Coordinator
The success of the Kern Master’s Upskill Program has resulted in the creation of an additional English cohort of 15 slots that will begin in March 2025 – meaning more Kern high school teachers can obtain funding to earn a master’s degrees qualifying them to instruct dual enrollment courses at Kern County high schools as well as to become adjunct community college instructors.
The program by the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium, in partnership with the Kern Regional K-16 Education Collaborative through the Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS), provides eligible high school teachers with a grant and tuition reduction through two consortium members: Fresno Pacific University offers a Master’s degree in Mathematics education and National University offers a Master’s degree program in English.
For this new fourth cohort, English Single Subject credential holders who are interested in pursuing a Master’s degree in English with a specialization in Rhetoric can receive a $14,400 grant from the Kern K16 Collaborative and CVHEC and a $3,978 (20%) “employee tuition reduction” per student because of National University’s partnership with CVHEC.
Jessica Gladney, program coordinator for National, said interested high school English teachers may learn more about the program and apply by attending information sessions available through individual OnDemand appointments to fit their own schedule.
Additionally, mentors are assigned to each of the 15 students to counsel them during the course of their postbaccalaureate degree studies as well as help access adjunct hiring pools at the local community colleges.
The Kern Master’s Upskill Program is 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 under KCSOS, which serves as the administrative agent for the Kern K-16 Collaborative.
CVHEC was awarded $1.7 million to produce, over three years, up to 100 qualified dual enrollment teachers to teach English and Math. Tom Burke, a CVHEC regional coordinator and chancellor-emeritus of the Kern Community College District, was appointed the consortium’s Kern Masters Upskilling Program lead.
Burke recently reported that in the past academic year since the Kern program’s inception, 48 students earned their master’s degrees: 32 English master’s degrees have been conferred in three cohorts to date with nine still in progress and 16 math master’s degrees have been conferred from the first of three cohorts. (In the math program, cohort two currently has 11 students on course to graduate in May 2025 while cohort three commenced this current fall semester with 22 master’s candidates scheduled to complete requirements in spring 2026).
He added that this newly-funded fourth Kern English cohort, combined with the first three, will increase the number of high school teachers with a English master’s degree in Kern County by 56, just a little over half of the intended goal.
“We are appreciative that the Kern K-16 recognizes the success and value of CVHEC’s Master’s Upskill Program that inevitably supports dual enrollment opportunities for our students and professional advancement for our high school teachers,” said Burke.
KCSOS spokesperson Kimberly Graham said Kern K-16 approved the additional funding for the CVHEC Upskilling project “to support the formation of an additional cohort because it addresses limitations the first three cohorts faced in achieving maximum participant outcomes.”
She calls it a strategic move because increasing the number of qualified high school teachers who can teach dual enrollment English courses aligns with the overarching goal of the Kern K-16 program as well as a long-term strategy for educational equity and success in the region.”
“The Kern K-16 program aims for greater educational access and equity, and the continued investment in the CVHEC project will support this by upskilling teachers and expanding dual enrollment opportunities for students,” said Graham who is the chief leadership support officer for the KSOS Local, Regional and Statewide Systems of Support.
“Adding a fourth English cohort contributes to the educational development of the region by preparing students for college-level coursework earlier in their educational paths.”
She added that by collaborating with National University, the project ensures that high school teachers receive flexible and rigorous online master’s degree programs, making them eligible to teach at the community college level.
The consortium has also implemented the program in two Central Valley K-16 regions: the Fresno/Madera K-16 Collaborative where the program was first launched in 2021 with a $1,830,500 grant and this fall with the WE Will! K-16 Collaborative in the North Valley under two $400,000 state grants.
It includes the CVHEC Mentor Program pairing each enrolled high school teacher with an English or math professor from a local community college district to help navigate the process to becoming an adjunct community college faculty member and provide other support along the way.
In Kern, the Mentor Program coordinators are Dr. Liz Rozell (math) and Dr. Vikash Lakhani (English). Burke said the program is currently recruiting for math mentors. English mentors will be recruited in the spring. They receive a $2,000 stipend.
For questions about enrollment, please contact Jessica Gladney at jgladney@nu.edu or 310.968.5805.
For questions about CHVEC and its Master’s Mentor Program, Burke may be contacted at tburke5@att.net.
See:
· Kern Master’s Upskilling Program: 2nd cohort graduates – next cohort recruitment underway
- CVHEC Teacher Upskilling Program for Master’s Degrees Supports Dual Enrollment in South Valley via Kern K-16 Collaborative Grant (June 23, 2022)
- Rozell, Lakhani Named CVHEC’s Kern Faculty Mentor Coordinators (February 22, 2023)
- CVHEC IN THE NEWS: KBAK features Kern Master’s Upskill Program (November 17, 2022)
- Tom Burke Named Kern Master’s Upskill Lead (November 16, 2022)
- Herrera to Head Kern Regional K-16 Education Collaborative (July 13, 2022)
- Kern WORKFORCE GRANT – 2022
- Kern To Receive Nearly $18.1 Million To Enhance Educational Collaborative Efforts And Create Occupational Pathways For Local Students
- KCSOS Mary Barlow Announces $18.1M Workforce Grant (KCSOS press release – June 9, 2022)
- “Blurring the Lines Between High School and College: Dual Enrollment in the Central Valley”(CVHEC video – March 2022)
Executive Director Benjamín Durán (third from left) led the CVHEC delegation at the Strategic Transfer Summit with Transfer Project Lead Stan Carrizosa, Jennifer Johnson of California Community Colleges Foundation and Dr. James Zimmerman of UC Merced. (Photo below): The California Economic Summit in October was attended by Ángel Ramírez, Elaine Cash, Tom Uribes (back), Priscilla Arrellano posing with Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula.
Strategic Transfer Summit provides showcase for
CVHEC’s Transfer Project as reps make the rounds
Central Valley Higher Education Consortium delegations are making the rounds this fall at several state and national conferences including the recent Strategic Transfer Summit presented by the California Community Colleges Nov. 8 at UC Merced.
Other destinations include the Complete College America National Conference in Indianapolis Nov. 18-20; the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) in Atlanta Nov. 14-17 through the Dana Center with CVHEC Math Task Force members Jeremy Brandl of Fresno City College and Shelley Getty of Taft College; and the Community Colleges League of California Nov. 22 in Sacramento.
CVHEC also attended the California Economic Summit held Oct. 8-10 in Sacramento.
At the recent Transfer Summit, CVHEC’s Transfer Project team presented an update on its progress in partnering with the consortium’s 15 community college members using the Program Pathway Mapper software for a smoother transfer process for students. Leading the CVHEC delegation at the UC Merced event was Executive Director Benjamín Durán and Transfer Lead Stan Carrizosa along with James Zimmerman vice chancellor of UC Merced and Jennifer Johnson California Community Colleges Foundation.
Carrizosa said the summit, attended by the chief executive officers of the state’s three public higher ed segments – the University of California, the California State University and the California Community Colleges – provided a prime opportunity to showcase the consortium’s Transfer Project.
“The participation of the statewide CEOs of CCC, CSU & UC — coupled with powerful student testimony — makes this event an inflection point that sets our Transfer Project on its next upward trajectory,” Carrizosa said.
CVHEC’s Transfer Project has been designated as a California Community Colleges Demonstration Project by Chancellor Sonya Christian to serve as a model systemwide.
This month, Duran will also attend the CLCC in Sacramento as well as lead the CVHC delegation to the CAC national conference in Indiana. Attending the CAC with him will be Angel Ramirez, operations/finance director; Elaine Cash, grants coordinator; and Tom Uribes, communications/media coordinator.
For the CA Economic Summit in October, Ramirez, Cash and Uribes were joined by Priscilla Arrellano, administrative specialist.
CVDEEP Convening planned for Feb. 3, 2025
[UPDATE DEC. 18, 2024]: This event is rescheduled for Feb. 3, 2025. See updated story: https://bit.ly/CVHEC-DualEnrollConv25
Math Bridge and Master’s Upskilling heading north via WE Will! K-16 funding ‘Together, we are creating pathways for success that will benefit our communities for generations to come.’ […]
The drive is on to place the program’s master’s grads in Kern community college adjunct spots The Kern Master’s Upskill Program continues to forge ahead as four cohorts of […]
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.
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/
