Tag Archive for: National University
WHAT THE CV-HEC IS HAPPENING GUEST BLOG (NOV. 2022): The Master’s Upskilling Program
Master’s Upskilling experience
was a game-changer
This month’s guest blog is presented by Chet Frantzich, an English teacher at Buchanan High School in Clovis who earned a master’s degree in June through CVHEC’s Master’s Upskilling Program. Chet earned his bachelor’s degree at Fresno State in 2010 (credential 2012) and has taught at BHS since 2018. He shares the value of the upskilling program and how it will benefit not just his personal and professional advancement but also his students through dual enrollment courses he plans to teach in the near future.
By Chet Frantzich
Buchanan High School
The Master’s Upskilling experience afforded me courtesy of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium, National University and the Clovis Unified School District was a career altering one.
Not only did achieving my master’s in rhetoric open up pathways for me to teach dual enrollment courses and even courses at my local junior college, but it also impacted the way I teach. Graduating from the program has instilled in me a better sense of what my students need when it comes to functioning in college, yes, but also in life. The program was a revelation regarding what truly matters in education and regarding how to teach the whole student.
I knew going into the program that it would be demanding — not just the workload each class would require that would make it so, but also balancing teaching and extracurricular responsibilities. However, each class was so organized and each instructor so available and professional that it took hardly any time at all to fall into a kind of groove regarding the work. Before I knew it, the class was over, and hence, the program itself successfully completed.
Each class had a curriculum that was engaging and impactful, relevant to my cohort’s subject area, even to the point where I would read about a strategy or an idea on a Wednesday and apply that idea or enforce that strategy the very next week. It dawned on me early in the program that I was not just earning a postbaccalaureate degree; I was improving as a teacher day-by-day, week-by-week.
Here is an example of what made the program so navigable: from the outset of each class, we (each cohort member) knew exactly what the end goal was we were striving for. From week one on, we would engage with texts and perform activities and interact with one another and building ideas – one upon the other, never in isolation of each other – so that, come the final week of the class, a lot of the work we would have to do for our month’s final project has been completed.
Not only did this help me manage my time and make me feel like my work was consequential, but it also illuminated an idea: why don’t I do this with my students?
And so I did, almost right away. Not long after joining the cohort and being confronted with this realization, my students read a novel where I could show them the result we would be striving for before actually starting the book. This was not something foreign to me. What was new though, was the importance of revealing to people what they are doing, what the end result is, that way how they go about getting to that end destination is of the best quality possible.
The program elevated my teaching abilities in numerous ways, but understanding what my students needed to excel in their next stage of life was the chief way I improved. It is not that I did not know what they needed, but more so that I came to better understand how to get what they needed to them.
My mentor, Jeff Burdick, was a key piece in helping me understand how to help my students. His wisdom and experience in the college classroom revealed some things and affirmed others: that students need to be given a space to be creative, that they need to be shown tough love, that understanding how basic language works is essential to being a great communicator, that writing is the best way to teach people how to think.
Without the program, I think my grasp on those ideas would be decent, vague; graduating from the program, my grasp on those ideas is iron-like.
I cannot wait for the opportunity to teach dual enrollment classes. I have not been granted the chance to teach them yet, but when I do, I know I will be ready, and the Master’s program is a big reason why.
I do not think there is a topic or issue in the English classroom I cannot tackle, so expansive was the breadth of my experience earning my master’s. Going through the program is an experience I will never forget, and it is one I will forever be grateful for. There is no question that the program has made me a better, more well-rounded teacher, and it has inspired me to keep learning about my craft, that way my students get the best version of me year-to-year, month-to-month, week-to-week, day-to-day.
More specifically, I am confident they will find inspiration in the taking dual enrollment courses I hope to soon teach that will lay a foundation for a successful and meaningful higher education experience.
See Mr. Frantzich communicating with his student’s parents for Back to School Night 2021.
MEMBER NEWS: National University Joins Forces with FUSD For Equity-Focused K-12 School Principals
As part of an $8.2 million grant, Fresno Unified School District and National University’s
Sanford College of Education join an effort to develop equity-driven school leaders
National University announced recently that its Sanford College of Education has been selected by Fresno Unified School District and the Wallace Foundation to participate in a $102 million nationwide initiative focused on building a pipeline of school leaders dedicated to supporting equity in K-12 classrooms.
A nonprofit university with a 50-year history of serving working adults and home to one of the largest schools of education in the United States, National University operates a campus in Fresno and is a Central Valley Higher Education Consortium member institution.
With funding from Wallace Foundation, the five-year Equity-Centered Pipeline Initiative will support eight large and socio-economically diverse school districts across the country, including California’s Fresno Unified School District.
“At a time when our nation is grappling with profound questions of social injustice, weaving the principles of equity into school leadership is one of the most powerful levers we have to address issues of educational access and outcomes,” said Dr. Donna Elder, associate dean of National University’s Sanford College of Education in the Oct. 20 announcement. “This work is about helping aspiring school leaders build the equity mindset to understand systemic barriers facing students and communities—and design the teams and supports needed to ensure every learner’s needs are met.”
As part of an $8.2 million grant awarded to the district, faculty and leaders from National University will team with Fresno Unified School District to evaluate and evolve current practices as part of a multi-year initiative to develop the next generation of effective, equity-centered school leaders. Beginning with the current fall semester, National University will work with Fresno Unified School District to define the characteristics of an equity-centered leader and provide mentoring and training to current and aspiring school administrators.
With a team of more than 60 full-time faculty and 935 adjunct faculty, serving more than 11,000 active students, the Sanford College of Education brings to the project a unique blend of faculty expertise—as well as deep experience in developing district partnerships and supporting in-service professional development for educators.
The new school leader pipeline initiative comes at a time when schools across the country are working to address a shortage of experienced principals and school leaders. Consistent research on K-12 school leadership has found effective principals have a strong, positive impact on schools and student outcomes. A comprehensive literature review from the Wallace Foundation, covering 20 years of research on principals and school leadership, found that an effective principal has a positive impact on student achievement comparable to that of an effective teacher but across an entire school.
“Preparing school leaders to engage with and understand the unique history, demographics and aspirations of the people and communities they serve is essential for meeting the needs of the whole student,” said Dr. Robert Lee, dean of the Sanford College of Education at National University, a nonprofit university with a 50-year history of serving working adults and home to one of the largest schools of education in the United States. “This is about building a community of practice of current and aspiring school leaders committed to integrating the principles of equity into the day-to-day work of leading a school.”
The initiative also builds on a rich history of engagement between National University and Fresno Unified School District. For the past ten years, aspiring educator candidates studying at National University have participated in pre-service practicum and rotations in Fresno Unified schools, working under the tutelage of experienced mentor teachers to prepare for the experience of classroom instruction.
The Sanford College of Education joins a select group of partners — which includes community-based organizations, teacher preparation programs and the California Department of Education — selected by Fresno Unified to participate. Fresno Unified is one of eight major school districts across the country—including Baltimore; Columbus, Ohio; Washington, DC; Jefferson County, Kentucky; Portland, Oregon; San Antonio; and Winston-Salem, North Carolina—awarded funding through the grant to participate in the initiative.
See the full National press release.
(CVHEC members are encouraged to submit items for this column: centralvalleyhec@gmail.com).
Dual Enrollment Success Stories: Celeste Galvan of McFarland
Celeste Galván of McFarland and her family celebrated her two degrees earned by the age of 19 thanks to dual enrollment courses through Bakersfield College before Fresno State. Here they pose with her at her high school graduation in 2018. She is now enrolled in CSU Bakersfield’s teacher credential program. All three campuses are CVHEC members.
CVHEC Dual Enrollment Spotlight:
Celeste Galván of McFarland
BY TOM URIBES
CVHEC Communications/Media Coordinator
From one end of the valley to the other, the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium continues to spotlight student dual enrollment success stories.
Like Nataly Frias featured in our first story in September, Celeste Galván of McFarland earned an associate degree at age 17 before she even graduated high school, marching alongside thousands of other Bakersfield College students at the commencement ceremony in Memorial Stadium in 2018.
Then just two years later, after transferring to Fresno State, she earned a bachelor of arts degree in Liberal Studies in May and now, at age 19, she is enrolled in the credential program at California State University, Bakersfield while serving an teacher internship at a nearby elementary school. All three institutions are CVHEC members.
In high school, Celeste participated in a Bakersfield College pilot program at the Wonderful College Prep Academy in nearby Delano that provided students with the opportunity to complete an associate of science in agriculture business from BC by the time they graduated from high school.
Before her senior year, Celeste’s family moved to Bakersfield and she chose to stay with her grandmother in McFarland to finish her BC degree work with the Wonderful Academy.
A typical day for Celeste would start at 4 a.m. to get ready for practice with the cross country team, where she took second place at the CIF Central Section Championships in Woodward Park in 2015. After classes, she would stay at the school library as late as 8 or 9 p.m. to finish her college and high school classwork since she didn’t have access to wifi at her grandmother’s house.
Celeste rode that Renegade/Bulldog/Roadrunner spirit through Bakersfield College, Fresno State and back to CSUB.
Romeo Agbalog, president of the Kern Community College District Board of Trustees, wrote in a Bakersfied.com op-ed in January that the success of Celeste and other students prepared Bakersfield College to scale up its model by launching the Early College program in 2019, with the vision of providing a pathway for every high school student in Kern County to earn between 12 and 60 units of college credit before graduation.
“Every incoming freshman at McFarland High School is enrolled in college-level courses alongside their regular classwork, developing the tools for college and career readiness. Today, over 23,000 students have completed a total of approximately 90,000 college credits at 36 high schools across the county” said Agbalog who also noted the program is successful in closing equity gaps.
“Early College has had a 93 percent student success rate across all high school campuses in the last academic year, consistently exceeding BC’s own institution-set standard for student success by 15 to 20 percent,” he wrote. “Most importantly, more than 85 percent of students from rural areas who were in an associate degree completion pathway went to college after high school.”
See Trustee President Agbalog’s column.
Background:
The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium has been playing an increasing role in furthering Dual Enrollment as an equity-driven strategy to reduce disparities in student persistence and completion rates, which is the essence of the CVHEC mission, including
the creation of a task force in 2019, the Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CVDEEP).
With over 60 education leaders from the CVHEC region, CVHEC’s Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CVDEEP) Task Force is identifying and establishing the best elements of a sustainable strategy for dual enrollment that is intentional and aligns with Guided Pathways.
Made up of representatives from Central Valley K-12 districts, colleges, and universities, the task force developed a collaborative regional accord on an equitable delivery of dual enrollment, culminating in a Central Valley Higher Education Consortium white paper in July 2020, “Dual Enrollment in the Central Valley.”
This consensus framework document is designed to assist the nine-county region in the advancement of dual enrollment by reviewing where it has been, identifying the bright spots, identifying challenges and working together to develop solutions.
CVHEC efforts focus on policy implementation and delivery of support to faculty and administrators working on these efforts. The work focuses on regional strategic scaling of Guided Pathways; math pathways; corequisite support (AB 705 and EO 110 implementation); California College Guidance Initiative; and dual enrollment as strategies for equity and degree attainment.
CVHEC will continue to highlight stories about dual enrollment students like Celeste and Nataly in its e-newsletter, and social media platforms. Also, a showcase video conveying the value of dual enrollment for all students through the stories of individual valley students is currently in production and due to be released later this fall semester.
For CVHEC media inquiries, contact Tom Uribes at cvheccommunications@mail.fresnostate.edu or text 559.348.3278.
Dual Enrollment Success Stories: Nataly Frias
Dual Enrollment: success stories underscore equity-driven strategy
Reducing disparities in student persistence and completion rates
BY TOM URIBES
CVHEC Communications/Media Coordinator
The Covid-19 pandemic of the past 18 months cast a shadow over joyous occasions like graduation events for Class of 2020 and 2021 high school and college students everywhere, but one narrative emerged repeatedly in the Central Valley that provided a spark of optimism for our region’s college attainment rates: dual enrollment success stories.
One of those stories is 18-year-old Nataly Frias, who, during her pandemic senior year at Turlock High School (2020-21), had taken enough Merced College courses online to earn two associate degrees in May, even before receiving her THS diploma in June.
Like other students around the country over the years, California students such as Nataly have taken college-level courses while still completing their high school degree thanks to various options such as concurrent or dual enrollment.
“Recent legislation has opened the gates for far more students to take advantage of dual enrollment,” said Saundra McGlothlin, CVHEC’s central regional coordinator and dual enrollment lead “The CVHEC region is committed to stay engaged in developing solutions to overcoming persistent barriers to equity.”
Born to teen parents who themselves worked hard and returned to college (Stanislaus State alums Anthony and Sabrina Frias who are now counselors at Modesto Jr. College and Merced College respectively), Nataly is now enrolled at Fresno State for a bachelor’s degree in Psychology but with her sights set on the Nursing Program.
“Just do it,” Nataly said in a media account about her success and the challenge of dual enrollment courses. “It’s a lot of hard work but you’ll feel so accomplished.”
The pandemic actually had a silver-lining in that she had more time during the quarantine to focus on schoolwork.
“I probably wouldn’t have graduated as early without the pandemic because it really helped give me so much time where I was only focused on my online courses,” said Nataly who said she comes from a “dual enrollment family.”
Her older brother Anthony also took dual enrollment courses when he attended Turlock High and graduated from Merced College with Nataly last spring but is now enrolled at Modesto Jr. College where he plays football. And younger brother Isaiah, a Turlock High junior, is currently taking dual enrollment courses thorough Merced College.
McGlothlin, who retired in 2017 as the vice president of Student Services for West Hills Community College – Coalinga, noted that not all students follow Nataly’s accelerated path of earning an associate degree while in high school. Many take just a few dual enrollment courses that help them get some college credit under their belt while providing a glimpse of the higher education academic curriculum.
“Most of dual enrollment students complete 12-24 units,” said McGlothlin. “This means — in addition to meeting graduation requirements — less money spent when working towards a degree in college, usually a semester or two free.”
See Nataly’s story in local news media accounts:
https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2021/05/21/turlock-teen-graduates-high-school-college/
Background:
The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium has been playing an increasing role in furthering Dual Enrollment as an equity-driven strategy to reduce disparities in student persistence and completion rates, which is the essence of the CVHEC mission, including
the creation of a task force in 2019, the Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CVDEEP).
With over 60 education leaders from the CVHEC region, CVHEC’s Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CVDEEP) Task Force is identifying and establishing the best elements of a sustainable strategy for dual enrollment that is intentional and aligns with Guided Pathways.
Made up of representatives from Central Valley K-12 districts, colleges, and universities, the task force developed a collaborative regional accord on an equitable delivery of dual enrollment, culminating in a Central Valley Higher Education Consortium white paper in July 2020, “Dual Enrollment in the Central Valley.”
This consensus framework document is designed to assist the nine-county region in the advancement of dual enrollment by reviewing where it has been, identifying the bright spots, identifying challenges and working together to develop solutions.
CVHEC efforts focus on policy implementation and delivery of support to faculty and administrators working on these efforts. The work focuses on regional strategic scaling of Guided Pathways; math pathways; corequisite support (AB 705 and EO 110 implementation); California College Guidance Initiative; and dual enrollment as strategies for equity and degree attainment.
CVHEC will continue to highlight success stories like Nataly’s in its e-newsletter, and social media platforms. Also, a showcase video conveying the value of dual enrollment for all students through the stories of individual valley students is currently in production and due to be released later this fall semester.
‘Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Program’ Advances Equity
An innovative master’s degree program is underway to incentivize dual enrollment delivery at Central Valley high schools with the “Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Program in English and Math.”
This approach addresses an equity concern raised by the Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CVDEEP) Task Force that was convened by the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC) in March 2020 when educators asserted that not enough Central Valley teachers are available to teach dual enrollment resulting in fewer opportunities for students – an equity gap.
“Although dual enrollment has been a tool for students to get ahead for college, not every student has been exposed to its benefits and still others who may not view themselves as ‘college material’ lose out on the benefits of its early exposure,” said Dr. Benjamin Duran, executive director of CVHEC. “By broadening dual enrollment opportunities for both rural and urban students, where they didn’t previously exist, more students are able to develop their collegiate confidence.”
CVHEC decided to tackle this equity issue head on when the Fresno K-16 Collaborative made funding available to its local partners. The Fresno K-16 Collaborative is the recipient of a $10 million investment Governor Gavin Newsom announced at the November 2019 California Economic Summit with the intent that the program will take innovative approach to improve student experience and create opportunities for success. Duran said dual enrollment is an effective strategy to help Central Valley students accelerate their college learning.
“Dual Enrollment is key to student access, success and equity. The reality is that dual enrollment only works when students can participate,” said Duran.
CVHEC received grant funding from the Fresno K-16 Collaborative for the Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Program for English and Math in partnership with CVHEC-member institutions National University and Fresno Pacific.
CVHEC is coordinating two grants: one that is specifically for K-16 Collaborative partners in the Fresno area and a second one that allows for an expanded regional reach. In all, teachers from Fresno, Madera, Merced, and Kings counties will benefit from the Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Program for English and Math 1.0 and 2.0.
“CVHEC’s two Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Programs meet the Fresno K-16 Collaborative’s accessible equity-focused mission of creating an integrated, replicable, regional K-16 educational system foundation to address race equity and inclusion of our most vulnerable student populations,” said Karri Hammerstrom, executive director of the Fresno K-16 Collaborative.
This teacher upskilling program serves as a model to scale the program throughout CVHEC’s nine-county region as funding becomes available.
“CVHEC’s mission in all of our work is to create scalable innovations among our intersegmental higher education member institutions,” said Duran. “Although we are starting with a smaller scaled region, our commitment is to scale this program to all nine-counties as soon as we are able.”
The first cohorts of master’s degree students began their studies the first week of January 2021 and the second round of cohorts will begin in May 2021.
Students will have tuition supplemented, in some cases books will be paid for as well and students participating will be paired with college instructors from State Center Community College District who will serve as mentors. In total, the Upskilling Teachers Master’s Programs (1.0 and 2.0) provide for 115 teachers to participate in the program.
About CVDEEP
In Spring 2019, Central Valley community college leaders approached CVHEC to provide convening assistance surrounding dual enrollment that led to a gathering in July 2019 where over 60 education leaders from the CVHEC region began exploring the issue in follow up sessions.
From those convenings, CVHEC created the Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CV DEEP) Task Force consisting of Central Valley colleges and K-12 partner district educators collaborating to develop a strategy for effective dual enrollment programs regionally.
In March 2020, CVHEC held a comprehensive convening of the CVDEEP taskforce where over 100 community college and K- 12 partners gathered to share best practices, identify ongoing challenges and propose viable solutions.
“One of the top challenges that emerged is the need for more instructors qualified to teach college math and English to meet the increased demand for course offerings in dual enrollment (DE) programs,” said Virginia Madrid-Salazar, CVHEC strategies lead who developed a white paper documenting the organization’s DE initiatives and providing the foundation for the master’s attainment program proposal: “Dual Enrollment in the Central Valley: Working Toward a Unified Approach for Equity and Prosperity”.
“The most desired solution was a partnership with universities for streamlined programs so that interested high school faculty could earn their master’s degree in these two high-need disciplines,” she said. “This would enable them to meet the minimum qualifications set forth by the State Chancellor’s office required to teach college-level courses and providing this opportunity for students as part of their regular high school instructional day.”
CVHEC is a one of 15 Collaborative Partners that comprise the pilot Fresno K-16 Education Collaborative established in 2020 with funding by California Governor Gavin Newsom, reporting to his Council on Post-Secondary Education, to develop four dual enrollment-related educational pathways that help Fresno-area students move from high school to college and into the workforce.
“The outcomes from the ongoing dialogue between community colleges and their K-12 partners in the valley will continue, as will advocacy efforts, to institutionalize dual enrollment as a strategy,” Duran said. “A strategy to blur the lines between high school and community college for those students who can benefit from taking college courses and get a leg up on their quest for a college degree or certificate.”