CVHEC SPOTLIGHT: Math Task Force Convening Jan. 26 in the news

Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Executive Director Benjamin Duran and Orosi High School Principal Marlene Celaya discussed the Jan. 26 “Central Valley Way To AB1705 Success” Convening with Emily Erwin on the KSEE24 Central Valley Today live on Jan. 23: https://bit.ly/CVHEC-MathTFJan26-KSEECVT012324

Dr. Duran presented the CVHEC Math Task Force work of the past few months leading up to the Jan. 26 covening in Fresno of math professionals collaborating on implementation of AB1705. Principal Celaya, a former Dinuba High School math teacher, articulated the perspective of the secondary segment of education and the impact on high school students. The task force meets again April 19 in a diligent effort for compliance when the law goes into effect July 1.

The CVHEC Math Task Force media team of Dr. Benjamin Duran,  Marlene Celaya and Tom Uribes, CVHEC media/communications coordinator, visited Emily Erwin on the KSEE24 Central Valley Today set Jan. 23.

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

CVHEC IN THE NEWS: KVPR – CVHEC chief says we ‘are nearing pre-pandemic levels or higher’

KVPR: PPIC data shows college enrollment dipped but CVHEC chief says we ‘are nearing pre-pandemic levels or higher’

KVPR reported that new data released by the Public Policy Institute of California shows statewide college enrollment by recent high school grads was down 5 percent in 2020.

The PPIC data showed most high school students in the Valley opt for community colleges. Enrollment at community colleges took a hit in 2020 because of the pandemic, but they have slowly bounced back. 

Central Valley Higher Education Consortium executive director Dr. Benjamín Durán, said, “Almost all, if not all community colleges in the Central Valley are back to pre-pandemic levels or higher so they’ve been able to attract and get students back into college. A lot of it has to do with cost, a lot of that has to do with access and familiarity with the area.” 

– See KVPR story.

MEMBER NEWS: 2023 Champions of Higher Education

 

Six CVHEC members among CCO 2023 Champions of Higher Education

 

The Campaign for College Opportunity celebrated the Champions of Higher Education for Excellence in Transfer last month with six Central Valley Higher Education Consortium members recognized: Bakersfield College (twice), San Joaquin Delta College, Madera College, Clovis Community College, California State University, Fresno and California State University, Stanislaus.

They were among 27 exemplary and committed California Community Colleges and California State University campuses recognized for 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.

The Campaign for College Opportunity celebrated the Champions of Higher Education for Excellence in Transfer Nov. 1 by announcing the honorees during a special Instagram Live celebration prior to an official awards ceremony Nov. 14 via Zoom.

CCO recognized 27 “exemplary and committed California Community Colleges and California State University campuses that 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.”

Since the passage of SB 1440 (Padilla) in 2010, the California Community Colleges have awarded 488,663 Associate Degrees for Transfer, providing a streamlined pathway between community colleges and the California State University (CSU) system.

The Campaign for College Opportunity championed this historic legislation to create a clearer pathway for community college students to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree in a more timely and cost-saving manner. Transforming transfer has been more than 10 years in the making, and the 2021 passage of AB 928 (Berman) will continue to accelerate the pace of transfer and degree attainment. The Associate Degree for Transfer pathway is making college dreams a reality for thousands of California students.

READ THE METHODOLOGY

Champions of Higher Education 2023 Recipients

 

• Total Associate Degrees for Transfer

The following is a ranking of California Community Colleges reflecting the number of students earning Associate Degrees for Transfer (ADTs) in the 2021–22 academic year.

Bakersfield College

East Los Angeles College

Mt. San Antonio College

 

• Growth in Associate Degrees for Transfer

The following is a ranking of California Community Colleges reflecting the total numeric growth in the number of students earning Associate Degrees for Transfer between the 2020–21 and the 2021–22 academic years.

Mission College

San Joaquin Delta College

Madera College

 

• Associate Degrees for Transfer as a Percentage of all Associate Degrees

The following is a ranking of California Community Colleges reflecting the percent of total Associate-Degree earners who earned Associate Degrees for Transfer in the 2021–22 academic year.

Evergreen Valley College

Berkeley City College

Citrus College

 

• Associate Degrees for Transfer Relative to Campus Enrollment

The following is a ranking of California Community Colleges reflecting the number of students earning Associate Degrees for Transfer relative to 50 full-time enrolled students (FTES) in the 2021–22 academic year.

Clovis Community College

Grossmont College

Moorpark College

 

• California State University Associate Degree for Transfer Implementation

The following is a ranking of CSUs that successfully ensured both that over half of their 2022 undergraduate transfers students were ADT earners, and that of those ADT earners, over half were on a guaranteed pathway.

California State University, Fullerton

California State University, Long Beach

California State University, Los Angeles

California State University, Sacramento

California State University, Stanislaus

Equity Champions of Higher Education

 

• California Community Colleges Equity Champions for Black Students

These colleges led the way in supporting Black students to earn an ADT with at least 65% of their Black associate-degree earners having earned ADTs, as well as supporting these students to perform as well or better in this metric compared to the rest of the student body.

Evergreen Valley College

Long Beach City College

Citrus College

Berkeley City College

Crafton Hills College

College of the Desert

 

• California Community Colleges Equity Champions for Latinx Students

These colleges led the way in supporting Latinx students to earn an ADT with at least 65% of their Latinx Associate Degree earners having earned ADTs, as well as supporting these students to perform as well or better in this metric compared to the rest of the student body. 

Evergreen Valley College

Citrus College

West Valley College

Bakersfield College

Glendale Community College

College of the Desert

College of San Mateo

 

• California State University ADT Equity Champions for Black Students

These universities successfully ensured both that over half of their 2022 Black undergraduate transfer students were ADT earners, and that of those ADT earners, over half were on a guaranteed pathway.

California State University, Fresno

California State University, Fullerton

California State University, Long Beach

California State University, Los Angeles

California State University, San Bernardino

California State University, Sacramento

 

• California State University ADT Equity Champions for Latinx Students

These universities successfully ensured both that over half of their 2022 Latinx undergraduate transfers were ADT earners, and that of those ADT earners, over half were on a guaranteed pathway.

California State University, Fullerton

California State University, Long Beach

California State University, Los Angeles

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

California State University, Sacramento

Sonoma State University

California State University, Stanislaus

 

See the CCO Champions of Higher Education 2023 announcement.

Merced College: DR. BENJAMÍN T. DURÁN BUSINESS RESOURCE CENTER

Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director, and his wife, former Merced City School District Superintendent Dr. RoseMary Parga Durán, will be honored by the Merced College Foundation at Merced College’s annual State of the College event April 25, 2024 when signage for the newly renamed Dr. Benjamín T. Durán Business Resource Center will be unveiled.

 

(MERCED COLLEGE, Merced Calif.) — In tribute to a storied career that helped shape the fabric of higher education in the Central Valley, the Merced Community College District Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to rename Merced College’s Business Resource Center after President Emeritus Ben Durán.

Established in 2008, during Durán’s tenure as president, the Business Resource Center revitalized and enhanced relationships between the college and the business community, leading to partnerships that have created countless opportunities for local students and workers to gain valuable skills, knowledge and training to advance their careers.

Located in downtown Merced, the center offers programs and services for businesses and employers looking for job training opportunities for their employees, as well as community education classes for adult learners. It will now be named the Dr. Benjamín T. Durán Business Resource Center.

“Dr. Durán has been a driving force for the growth of Merced College and the evolution of our region for decades,” President Chris Vitelli said. “The work he did to unite the college with the local business community has created countless opportunities for local students who might never have pursued higher education otherwise. Dr. Durán’s impact on this region is truly immeasurable, and we are proud to recognize him in this way.”

The son of migrant farmworkers in Le Grand, Durán built a distinguished life and career devoted to education. He served for nearly 14 years as Merced College’s president before retiring in 2012, and is now executive director of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC), an organization that brings together community college and university CEOs to collaborate on higher education issues in the Central Valley of California.

During Durán’s time as president, Merced College’s student enrollment increased by thousands, and the district passed vital bond measures that led to new and renovated buildings at both the Merced and Los Banos campuses, including the Business Resource Center.

“This honor, from my perspective, is a recognition of the many others who worked side-by-side with me over all those years to make Merced College and the region better,” Durán said. “The existence of the Business Resource Center is a testament to the importance of community colleges not only to students, but to the business community. We were able to elevate the interactions between businesses and the college to the point where it truly became a partnership.”

After being approached by the college regarding the naming of the Business Resource Center, Durán and his wife, former Merced City School District Superintendent Dr. RoseMary Parga Durán, decided to make a substantial gift to Merced College to provide support to students who experience unexpected challenges on their educational pathways to a better life.

Ben and RoseMary Durán will be recognized by the Merced College Foundation at Merced College’s annual State of the College event, scheduled for April 25, 2024, at the Business Resource Center.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I’d like to express our admiration for Dr. Durán’s remarkable legacy and our gratitude for the support of the Durán family,” Trustee John Pedrozo said. “Dr. Durán’s contributions have left an indelible mark on Merced College, and it’s our honor to name the Business Resource Center after him in recognition of his transformative role in the educational journey of our community.”

Merced College Media Contact: James Leonard, james.leonard2@mccd.edu, 209.681.1061

CVHEC Media Contact:  Tom Uribes, cvheccommunications@mail.fresnostate.edu, 559.348.3278

 

See Merced College press release: https://www.mccd.edu/…/merced-college-renames-business…/

CVHEC Summit: CCC Chancellor announces Transfer Pathways Demonstration

Initiative builds on CVHEC’s Transfer Project creating clear path for
transfer students to reach educational goals while closing equity gaps

 

MEDIA COVERAGE: The recent Central Valley Higher Education Summit and announcement of the California Community College Central Valley Transfer Pathways Demonstration Project, by  Chancellor Sonya Christian was featured by KVPR Radio and GV Wire.  

 

BY TOM URIBES
CVHEC Communications/Media Coordinator

(OCTOBER 20, 2023) —  The California Community College Chancellor’s Office will launch a new initiative, the Central Valley Transfer Pathways Demonstration Project, Chancellor Sonya Christian announced today at the Central Valley Higher Education Summit 2023 in Fresno.

Dr. Sonya Christian, chancellor of the California Community Colleges, announced the Central Valley Transfer Pathways Demonstration Project during her keynote remarks at CVHEC’s Central Valley Higher Education Summit in Fresno today. (Tom Uribes/CVHEC photo).

In a partnership with the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium, the CV Transfer Pathways — modeled after CVHEC’s Transfer Project — entails developing and publishing 2 + 2 transfer pathways using the Program Pathways Mapper software to clarify the path to four year colleges for transfer students as well as for campus staff.

The new demonstration project, which begins immediately with Central Valley community colleges, will build on the strong intersegmental relationships developed by CVHEC’s project that was first launched in 2021, Chancellor Christian said in an announcement that energized the summit audience.

Presented by CVHEC and sponsored by the College Futures Foundation, the summit attracted 184 higher education officials and educators, legislators and partner representatives for a full day of discourse surrounding Dual Enrollment, Transfers, Math Pathways and Open Educational Resources.

The annual event followed the quarterly meeting Thursday of the CVHEC Board of Directors that consists of the chancellors, presidents and campus directors of the consortium’s 28-member colleges and universities in the nine-county region from San Joaquin to Kern.

Dr. Sonya Christian, chancellor of the California Community Colleges, with Dr. Benjamin Duran, CVHEC executive director and Merced College president-emeritus; and Dr. Kristen Clark, chancellor of West Hills Community College District who also is chair of the CVHEC board.

Chancellor Christian, who served on the CVHEC board when she was chancellor of the Kern Community College District and president of Bakersfield College prior to her systemwide appointment earlier this year, said the CCC’s Central Valley Project will be a demonstration project for the system’s Vision 2030 that will explore “how we can let the data flow” from the community college to the CSU and other transfer partners.

Vision 2030: A Roadmap for California Community Colleges is a framework for policy reform, fiscal sustainability, systems development and for process and practice reform in the field, the chancellor said.

“CVHEC’s Transfer Pathways project is creating a clear path for transfer students in the Central Valley to reach their educational goals while closing equity gaps,” Chancellor Christian said. “The Chancellor’s Office is proud to partner with the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium on this demonstration project to help expand and strengthen partnerships and use this model to help support our strategic plan, Vision 2030.”

Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director and president-emeritus of Merced College, said he is pleased “that Chancellor Christian, who is very familiar with the program, recognizes the excellent, cutting-edge work that has been occurring in the Central Valley through our Transfer Project.

“Our team has worked diligently with community college and four-year consortium members to establish this program for students going through the transfer process. This project has been gaining nationwide attention, so we appreciate that the CCC Chancellor’s Office leadership as the first major system to embrace and build on this CVHEC initiative for transfer students.”

CVHEC’s Transfer Project was launched in a pilot program two years ago with UC Merced, Bakersfield College and Merced College. The project has grown to include 12 Central Valley community colleges with UC Merced, Stanislaus State and CSU Bakersfield and is gaining state and national attention with presentations at various conferences.

The CVHEC team of Stan Carrizosa, CVHEC regional coordinator and president-emeritus of College of the Sequoias in Visalia; Dr. James Zimmerman, special assistant to the executive vice chancellor and provost for Transfer Initiatives at University of California, Merced; and KCCD Interim Chancellor Tom Burke will again present at the Complete College America conference in December.

For the California Community College demonstration project, support and funding has come from the California Education Learning Lab, the College Futures Foundation, CVHEC and the CCC Chancellor’s Office.

Craig Hayward, the associate vice chancellor of analytics and innovation at KCCD and visiting executive at the CCC Chancellors Office, said the work of the CV Transfer Pathways entails developing and publishing 2 + 2 transfer pathways that have been vetted and validated by discipline faculty, counselors, education advisors and articulation officers. These maps clarify the path for transfer students as well as for campus staff and are freely available via each campus’ Program Pathways Mapper site (see programmapper.org).

He said work on the Transfer Pathways demonstration project begins immediately and will comprise three main areas:

  • Supporting the expansion of connections among community colleges and universities across the Central Valley in the Program Pathways Mapper.
  • Leverage the strong relationships among community colleges and their transfer partners to explore how new infrastructure development projects can support the Vision 2030 objective of automatically matriculating ADT completers at the CSU and other transfer partners.
  • Build on Central Valley-centric projects such as the Learning Lab-funded Streamlining Transfer Pathways grant to implement cutting edge developments in clarifying and streamlining STEM transfer pathways and creating coherent core STEM sequences that are accepted equally at all university partners.

For media inquiries about the CCC project, contact Melissa Villarin at 916-327-5365 or mvillarin@cccco.edu. For CVHEC media inquiries, contact Tom Uribes via text 559.348.3278 or email cvheccommunications@mail.fresnostate.edu.  

 

See CVHEC Summit Wrap

CVHEC IN NEWS: CETF Partnership helps Planada establish a digital community

BY LETICIA ALEJANDREZ
Director of Communications
California Emerging Technology Fund

(October 3, 2023) – In January of this year, students and teachers at the small, rural Planada Elementary School District (PESD), still reeling from the effects of the pandemic, faced another crisis:  massive rainstorms and flooding had eroded the district’s access to basic technology needed for teaching, learning and connecting with families.  Superintendent José González said, “The Digital Divide has always been a challenge for our families, and this disadvantage has grown since the January flooding.  So many student and family learning activities were disrupted.”  That’s when the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) stepped in to help.

Together with Comcast, CETF provided a $15,000 grant for the PESD to replace 3 laptop carts and purchase 40 Chromebooks for their students.   “Comcast is pleased to work with CETF to provide the tools and resources needed for students to succeed in the Central Valley,” said Walter Hughes, Vice President of Government Affairs for Comcast California. “This donation along with Comcast’s recent announcement of investing $4.5 million to bring our smart, fast, reliable high-speed broadband network—the Xfinity 10G Network—to Planada later this year is an important part of our overall efforts to increase digital equity and close the digital divide across the state.”

Sunne Wright McPeak, CETF President and CEO, who grew up in the Merced County in the rural community of Livingston, the hometown of Superintendent González, added, “It is a privilege to assist Planada by joining with others who grew up in the San Joaquin Valley to invest in the current generation of future leaders.”

“This is a wonderful example of a public-private partnership in service of rural schools, students, and families,” said Abel Guillén, Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction at the California Department of Education (CDE).

Soon, CETF will assist the district in successfully driving awareness and checking the eligibility of PESD families to apply for the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides a monthly $30 subsidy towards Internet service.

In addition to these activities, PESD will receive support from School2Home, an education program sponsored and managed by CETF.  School2Home will provide guidance, tools, and training to help the district rebuild its technology program, equip teachers with critical professional development, and build family confidence with technology through digital literacy, digital safety, and home-school communications workshops.  “We look forward to helping PESD teachers and staff optimize their use of technology to accelerate learning and engage families. Devices and connectivity are essential but educators need guidance on effectively using these tools to maximize the impact on student outcomes,” said Agustin Urgiles, Executive Manager, School2Home.

Dr. Ben Duran, CEO of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium and President Emeritus of Merced College, and a native of Planada who grew up in Merced County at the same time as McPeak also observed, “This collaboration among CDE, CETF, and Comcast to ensure Planada students have technology and their parents benefit from School2Home is a prime example of how investing in education makes a difference because it was made possible by ‘Valley Kids’ getting a good education and being able to give back to their home community.”

See CETF press release.

About California Emerging Technology Fund

CETF is a statewide non-profit foundation with a mission to close the Digital Divide in California.  CETF provides grants to non-profit community-based organizations (CBOs) to assist low-income households in adopting broadband and becoming digitally proficient.  School2Home www.School2Home.org is the signature education initiative of CETF that helps Title I schools integrate technology into teaching, learning, and parent engagement to close the Achievement Gap.  For more information, please visit www.cetfund.org.  For ACP information, please visit www.InternetForAllNow. 

BOARD NEWS: New Central Valley Community College CEOs Caucus first convening

Area legislators address policy issues with CVHEC-member CC chancellors, presidents

 

By Cory Burkarth
Madera Community College

 

Madera Community College hosted the Central Valley Community College CEO Caucus Policy Summit and Legislator Convening on October 26.

The meeting brought together Central Valley state legislators, chancellors and presidents to discuss a variety of policy issues facing community colleges. The forum also provided the colleges the opportunity to highlight their respective academic and Career Technical Education (CTE) programs.

State Senator Anna Caballero and Assemblymembers Dr. Joaquin Arambula, Juan Alanis and Esmeralda Soria attended the summit, along with staff representing the Office of the Governor, State Senator Shannon Grove and Assemblymember Jim Patterson.

“We had wonderful conversations throughout the day with our legislators and staff,” said Dr. Angel Reyna, president at Madera Community College.

“We discussed many of the successes our community colleges have delivered over the last several years, especially as it relates to student success and seeing our graduates enter the workforce or transfer to a four-year college or university. We also identified areas where we can work together to ensure we have the resources and support needed to continue serving our students and communities. It was a very insightful and productive day and I’m grateful to our legislators for their continued support for our campuses and the work they do to help us deliver a first-class education to our students.”

The CVCCCC summit was led by Dr. Chris Vitelli, president of Merced College and chair of the Central Valley Community College CEO Caucus, and Dr. Kristin Clark, chancellor of West Hills Community College District who is also board chair for the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium which helped convene its community college members for the event.

 Media inquiries: Cory Burkarth, director of Marketing & Communications at Madera Community College – 559.675.4129

 

MEMBER NEWS: SCCCD Chancellor Goldsmith on EdSource OER/ZTC panel

Panel discusses how to reduce the dizzying cost of textbooks for California college students

BY EMMA GALLEGOS
EdSource Education Reporter

California’s public institutions of higher education have launched efforts — some more extensive than others — to dramatically reduce or eliminate the cost of course materials, which can sometimes rival the price of tuition.

Textbook costs affect academic success

Higher education leaders and advocates, including leaders from California Community Colleges and the California State University system, discussed the biggest successes and hurdles for California colleges during a Thursday panel “Free college textbooks: Dream or reality?” hosted by EdSource.

Cailyn Nagle, open educational resource program manager for Michelson 20MM Foundation, said that 65% of students who responded to a national survey by the Public Interest Research Group skipped out on buying textbooks or course materials because they were too expensive. That figure was 82% for students who had also skipped a meal; many students also declined to buy access codes that courses may require for quizzes or assignments.

“This means students are being priced out of participating in classes that they’ve already paid tuition for,” Nagle said.

According to the California Student Aid Commission, the average student spent $630 on books during the 2022-23 academic year. That doesn’t take into account other course materials, such as clickers, that are increasingly used for attendance and to answer questions in class, Nagle said. With the cost of supplies, the total rises to $1,152 per student annually.

Aya Mikbel, a Sacramento State student, found through interviewing other students in California the various ways they have softened the high cost of textbooks, including buying used copies, shopping for cheaper copies online or renting textbooks. They also borrow textbooks from classmates or forgo textbooks altogether.

These alternatives can affect students’ academic performance. One student told Mikbel that borrowing a textbook often meant it was difficult to check on answers to problem sets or to review previous lessons.

“Students should never feel like they’re focusing more on the price tag of the course rather than the content itself,” Mikbel said.

How California institutions are reducing textbook costs

The California Community College system has received systemwide funding from the state to create zero-textbook-cost pathways. This includes a $5 million pilot program in 2016 and an additional $115 million in 2021 to expand that effort.

The 2016 pilot demonstrated that textbook costs affect academic performance. According to the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Rresources, grades for students in zero-textbook-cost classes were 3% higher than in the same classes taught with traditional class materials, and grades were 7.6% higher for Pell Grant recipients, who can use their grants on textbooks but may opt to use them on other college expenses.

State funding has been key for creating zero-cost pathways at community colleges, but they may not be able to continue doing this work when the funding runs out, said Rebecca Ruan-O’Shaughnessy, vice chancellor of educational services and support at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

“The money is not enough; we need sustainable funding,” said Ruan-O’Shaughnessy.

The CSU and UC systems have not yet received the same kind of statewide funding as community colleges. But there are other efforts within the systems and at individual universities to address the costs of textbooks and create four-year degree zero-cost pathways.

Leslie Kennedy, assistant vice chancellor of academic technology services in academic and student affairs at CSU’s Office of the Chancellor, called the lack of funding “challenging.” But she noted that the system provides internal funding to the individual campuses ranging from $15,000 to $20,000 each year and is also hiring coordinators for affordable learning solutions.

Libraries play a key role in reducing course costs for students. The CSU system has negotiated with publishers to purchase electronic textbooks that can be offered to students for free. CSU is also ensuring that faculty puts a direct link to these resources on their syllabi.

Carole Goldsmith, chancellor of the State Center Community College District, added that publishers and bookstores have employed strategies to reduce costs, such as renting out copies of books or offering lower-cost digital copies.

But Nagle is skeptical of the three big publishers, saying they still have a monopoly on most publishing and are responsible for the steep rise in textbook costs. Publishers could hike rates later, leading to the “Amazonification” of course materials, Nagle added.

“If someone came into my home, lit my curtains on fire and then turned around and put a fire cap on and said, ‘Don’t worry, I can fix this,’ I would not trust them to save my home,” Nagle said.

Nagle said she is particularly worried about automatic billing, the practice of automatically charging students for textbooks and access codes on their tuition bill, typically with discounted bulk rates.

“I know people don’t always agree with me on this,” Nagle said, “and they see this as a great way to leverage bulk purchasing to get students a great deal.”

Open resources hold promise

Open educational resources are a particularly powerful and increasingly popular tool to reduce or eliminate the costs associated with courses. Opern educational resources include freely accessible textbooks, lecture notes, quizzes and other assets released under an open license and can be adapted, modified or reused as students or faculty see fit.

There are many benefits besides being free, easily accessible resources. It’s much easier to update or correct a mistake in an open resource than it is to do in a copyrighted text by a publisher, said Ruan-O’Shaughnessy. The open nature of the resources also allows faculty to customize course materials.

Drop rates and retention rates have improved in pilot courses that relied on open educational resources at State Center Community College, Goldsmith said.

What was really exciting about these courses, she said, was the increased engagement among faculty and students alike. Because they have reliable source texts, they no longer have to rely so heavily on lecture notes, and it’s easier for students to participate in class. Faculty at community colleges also are working to ensure that open-source texts better reflect student diversity. It’s been a win for everyone, she said.

“Faculty were able to curate the coursework, so they felt more engaged,” Goldsmith said. “Students saw more reflective stories of themselves and their culture in the work that they were reading about.”

 

Reprinted from EdSource (Oct. 27, 2o23)

Emma Gallegos covers equity issues in education for EdSource and is based in California’s Central Valley.

Contact Us

  • cvhecinfo@mail.fresnostate.edu

  • 559.278.0576

Join Our Newsletter