CVHEC IN THE NEWS: College Bridge Dual Enrollment Math Bridge Project featured on KERO23

This month’s “What The CV-HEC Is Happening” guest blog is presented by Dr. Sonya Christian, chancellor of the Kern College Community College District and Central Valley Higher Education Consortium board member who in February was selected to lead the California Community College System. Chancellor-Select Christian reflects on her experiences with higher education in the Central Valley serving on the CVHEC board as well as withihn the KCCD, home to Bakersfield, Cerro Coso and Porterville Colleges (she served as BC president prior to her KCCD chancellorship).
BY DR. SONYA CHRISTIAN
Chancellor, Kern Community College District
Chancellor-Select, California Community College System (effective July 1, 2023?)
final text/art to come
This month’s “What The CV-HEC Is Happening” guest blog is presented by Agustina Sanchez, a counselor at Dinuba High School in Tulare County who has participated in the College Bridge Math Pipeline Readiness Project (M-PReP) since it was implemented in 2013. During the three-year project in concert with CVHEC-member Reedley College, Dinuba students not only acquired the necessary skills to become college-ready, but also passed college-level math classes through M-PReP, all in the span of their senior year. Mrs. Sanchez, who earned a bachelor’s degree at Fresno State in 2001 and master’s and PPS Credential in 2003, has been counseling for 19 years. Here she shares her experience with College Bridge and how its life-changing strategies helped high school students through initiatives such as M-PReP and its new Dual Enrollment Math Bridge Project announced last month.
BY AGUSTINA “AUGGIE” SANCHEZ
Dinuba High School – Dinuba CA (Tulare County)
Hard Pass! This was the typical response I received when registering high school juniors for a senior year math experience.
AP Calculus? AP Statistics? Pre-Calculus? No. No Way. Hard Pass!
As a high school counselor, I knew that our college-bound students were going to see math again (and, most likely, again and again). I did everything in my power to get college-bound students to take a math course, and while some took my advice, many did not because they “didn’t want a hard senior year,” or they would “just wait and take their next math in college.”
In fall 2018, I was introduced to a new partnership for Dinuba High School (DHS) with College Bridge. The goal of this partnership was to increase the number of students in a senior math experience, namely Dual Enrollment (DE) Math.
The concept was actually quite simple.
DHS partnered with a local community college to offer Dual Enrollment (DE) math courses to our seniors in areas of statistics, college algebra, college trigonometry and calculus. College Bridge literally created a bridge between DHS and Reedley College to ensure our students’ success in this area. Our senior students enrolled and successfully completed these DE math courses with a C or better, many of them finishing their general education math for their bachelor’s degree while still high school students.
To build a foundation for student success, College Bridge created a system of support in all areas — administrative, instruction, counseling and student learning:
DHS now had a new approach and convincing talking points to encourage students to enroll in a senior math experience:
Needless to say, senior math enrollment increased.
In our first year of implementation, DHS just focused on Math 11 (Statistics). College Bridge took things a step further, deeply investing efforts in the “striving math student.” A pre-Statistics course was offered in the fall and then the magical Math 11 (statistics) DE in the spring, thus preparing students for a full semester before enrolling them into the DE course.
Our more advanced students took the Math 11 DE in the fall term, and a Quantitative Reasoning course in the spring (non DE). DHS senior students achieved their goal and entered college “math done” for their degrees. Over the next three years, DHS added algebra, trigonometry and calculus to DE math course offerings.
Now, nine years after the first implementation of College Bridge, dual enrollment math is still strong.
We have two full-time teachers who teach DE courses for a total of 10 sections and are currently registering current 11th graders for next year. Our student math conversations are not difficult; many students have already made a DE math choice, and compelling arguments and evidence — including the pros and cons of dual enrollment math — typically convince those students who are hesitant to choose the path to college credit.
The senior math experience “hard pass” era is no longer viable. Instead, our current students will “hardly pass” up this amazing opportunity to excel.
The chancellors, presidents and superintendents of 30 institutions of higher education in the Central Valley nine-county region from Stockton to Bakersfield sit on the CVHEC Board of Directors. They meet quarterly in pursuit of CVHEC’s core mission to increase valley college-going rates and degree/certification attainment, providing a unified voice for their more than 250,000 students served jointly. See the board of directors section in our newly renovated website: https://cvhec.org/about-cvhec/
This fall, we unveil phase one of our renovated Central Valley Higher Education Consortium website which we hope will be easier to navigate as we showcase the work of the Consortium throughout the valley.
We will be featuring a different piece of our website as we continue to build it out in hopes of showcasing it as a resource for our members, colleagues and partners.
This month, we feature the professionals and experts who are carrying out the CVHEC mission. On the “About CVHEC” page, you can meet our CVHEC Board of Directors – the presidents and chancellors of our 30 members of higher education in the Central Valley’s nine-county region from Stockton to Bakersfield as well as the core staff that includes several former educational leaders who now served as CVHEC regional coordinators/liasions,
Also, see our CVHEC News web page that is being finalized this fall featuring our newsletter stories and press releases where news media can connect with us as well as the members of our CVHEC PIO/Communicators Committee, consisting of the communications professionals handling media relations at each of the 30 campuses.
Our new calendar will keep you up-to-date on CVHEC and other higher education events on our radar. For considerations and modifications to our calendar please email centralvalleyhec@gmail.com.
The Career Ladders Project recently highlighted four CVHEC member organizations in stories illustrating how 15 California community colleges are redesigning their Guided Pathways programs and structures prompting college leaders across the state to share the stories to help clarify opportunities, spur conversation and motivate Guided Pathways redesign teams.
Founded by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors in 2002, Career Ladders Project is a nonprofit that operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Foundation for California Community Colleges.
The project promotes equity-minded community college redesign by collaborating with colleges and their partners to discover, develop, and disseminate effective practices. CLP policy work, research, and direct efforts with colleges lead to system change—and enable more students to attain certificates, degrees, transfers, and career advancement.
The Guided Pathways stories are presented in one-page narratives — grouped into topics — produced by Career Ladders Project with funding from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.
The four CVHEC members highlighted are:
Bakersfield College
• Integrating Student Supports in Guided Pathways Redesign
• Aligning Redesign Across Campus
• Using Data in Guided Pathways Redesign
Madera Community College
• Centering Students in GP Design
West Hills College Lemoore
• Aligning Redesign Across Campus
• Supporting Students from a Distance
Reedley College
Managing Guided Pathways redesign and Engaging the College
See the CLP Redesign stories overview.
Eight CVHEC member institutions were honored as 2021 Champions of Higher Education and Equity Champions for Excellence in Transfer by the Campaign for College Opportunity.
Honored at CCO’s annual Champions of Higher Education for Excellence in Transfer virtual awards ceremony Nov. 16 were Bakersfield College; Clovis Community College; California State University, Bakersfield; College of the Sequoias; Fresno City College; Fresno State; Modesto Junior College; and Reedley College.
These colleges and universities are leading the state in: conferring the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT); enrolling ADT earners on guaranteed pathways to a bachelor’s degree; and intentionally working to support Latinx and Black students on their path to a degree, said Michele Siqueiros, CCO president.
For a breakdown of specific awards, see the CCO announcement and video.
(CVHEC members are encouraged to submit items for this column: centralvalleyhec@gmail.com).
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NOTE: For the past three years, CVHEC Mini-Grants have been awarded to member institutions in support of CVHEC’s mission to increase degree attainment rates. We are highlighting how our member institutions’ innovative uses for the grants are positively impacting students.
More than 70 motivational posters profiling a diverse range of student success stories were produced by the Reedley College Academic Senate thanks to funding from Central Valley Higher Education Consortium’s Mini-Grant project.
Currently funded by the College Futures Foundation, the Mini-Grants project provides awards up to $10,000 each which faculty from member institutions have creatively used for individual projects that help achieve the consortium’s strategy of increasing degree attainment rates. Previous mini-grants have supported assistance and professional learning associated with Guided Pathways, Math Pathways, implementation of Corequisite English and math, course development and advancement of Pathways for Associate Degrees for Transfer.
The 2021 funding cycle also sought to additionally incentivize basic needs and equity, race and social justice work.
At Reedley College, Rebecca Al Haider in the Communication and Languages Department undertook the Motivational Poster Project as part of the college’s Academic Senate’s anti-racism action plan “to create campus spaces that are equitable inclusive and diverse” by producing 70 posters that were printed in various languages, framed and displayed on campus.
The posters contained messages in English, Spanish, Arabic and Punjabi representing 33 students and 12 faculty, staff and administrators from various ethnicities/races, genders, sexual orientations, ages, religions, abilities, educational achievements and goals.
One of the posters highlighted Business Administration student Alejandra Reyes Enriquez, who began her higher education at Reedley College in the English as a Second Language program where she earned her high school diploma and enrolled in Business Administration classes. She transferred to Fresno State where she is pursuing a degree in accounting. Al Haider said Alejandra’s posters highlight her great achievements as a mother, immigrant and first-generation college student.
“What started out as a desire to simply learn a new language, turned into a desire to build a better future for myself and my family,” Alejandra said. “It is never too late to achieve your goals and change not only your story, but your family’s story for generations to come.”
In addition to poster printing and frames costs, Reedley College’s $8,100 grant provided two monitors and computers installed in the cafeteria and Math/Science Building to display videos of twelve profiled students and employees sharing their educational experiences and achievements as well as offering advice.
For more information about the Mini-Grant process, contact Angel Ramirez at angelr@mail.fresnostate.edu.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]KSEE-24 Central Valley Today host Emily Erwin interviews CVHEC Director Ben Duran via Zoom.
The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium‘s recent video, “Pursuing the Last Mile: Broadband in the Central Valley,” was featured in several media stories shortly after it was launched in our May 6 newsletter:
• Pursuing the Last Mile: Addressing internet disparities in the Central Valley – KSEE24 Central Valley Today (May 6, 2021).
• Nonprofit advocating for broadband equality for all Valley students – ABC30 Action News (May 11, 2021).
• Reedley College graduate fighting for broadband equity for students – ABC30 Action News (May 25, 2021).
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]ABC30 Action News reporter Elisa Navarro delivered two reports about CVHEC’s broadband disparity video interviewing Fresno Pacific University student Veronica Mendez, Reedley College student Stephen Kodur and Dr. Ben Duran, CVHEC executive director.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Madera Community College made its official debut July 21 with a ribbon-cutting celebration after the California Community Colleges Board of Governors voted unanimously the day before to recognize MCC as the 116th campus of the state’s community college system.
In June, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges granted accreditation to what until then was known as the Madera and Oakhurst Community College Centers affiliated with Reedley College of the State Center Community College District.
With the new designation, the Madera Community College (4,780 enrollment) is no longer a satellite campus and will now receive funding for additional programs and staffing. Over 80 percent of Madera Community’s students are from historically underrepresented populations and the school has been recognized as a Hispanic Serving Institution.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”President Ángel Reyna” link=”” color=”#33ACFF” class=”” size=”18″]“As a new college we want to be an institution that is student- and community-centered, and provides equitable outcomes for each of our students.”[/perfectpullquote]
President Ángel Reyna takes a place on the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium board of directors, joining 27 other Central Valley presidents and chancellors.
“This accomplishment is something that our community has been waiting for a long time and much needed,” Reyna said in a CCC Board of Governors article.
“It has been a collective and collaborative effort, and we look forward to the continued work to better serve our students as a college,” he said. “As a new college we want to be an institution that is student- and community-centered, and provides equitable outcomes for each of our students. To that end, we commit towards transforming ourselves into an anti-racist institution while producing the future workforce our community needs.”
See the July 21 ribbon-cutting video.
News coverage of Madera Community College:
Board of Governors Recognizes Madera Community College as the 116th Community College in California — California Community Colleges (07/20/20)
Madera Center becomes California’s newest community college — Fresno Bee (07/21/20)
The Central Valley’s Madera Community College becomes California’s newest community college — Ed Source (07/20/20)