“This is not a concern just for Math and English faculty. Basic skills is an issue for every single person who works here – from History professors to administrative assistants.”
James Glapa-Grossklag, dean of Distance Learning
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College of the Canyons is a central player in the economic vitality of its district and has been the beneficiary of generous bond measures and workforce-development partnerships. The stretch of the college’s ambitions includes nanotechnology and a new University Center, which will host bachelor’s and graduate degree programs from seven different universities. These projects have not eclipsed the college’s core commitment to basic skills. The need is vast. Of students assessed at the beginning of fall 2008, 88 percent tested below transfer-level in math; in English it was 84 percent.
Superintendent-president Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook has led the college since 1988. Wade Ellis, Jr., a member of Hewlett Leaders’ visiting team said Dr. Van Hook “understands basic skills at a deep intellectual and emotional level.” Her vision and drive is widely credited for the pace of change at COC, as well as its focus on basic skills. The college’s profile of leadership has another angle, too – a veritable culture of leadership where all faculty and staff are encouraged and recognized for risk-taking and innovation. This is evident in the way that pilot programs are launched, tested, adjusted and scaled up. Each of these steps requires a fearless use of data to measure what works – and what doesn’t.
Faculty and staff say the scale of the college’s response to basic skills need demands collaboration across every level of the campus. This is encouraged in myriad ways, even down to the placement of faculty offices, which are not grouped by department. Jose Martin, for instance, is a faculty member of the Spanish department and the director of a new Supplemental Instruction pilot. His office is adjacent to math and philosophy instructors.
Kathy Kubo, Math faculty
Professional development activities also generate collaboration across disciplines. In addition to many workshop options for faculty, the college’s Institute for Teaching and Learning offers a program specifically for adjuncts. Like most community colleges, COC relies on an army of adjuncts. Victoria Leonard, director of the Associate Program, says many are ‘freeway fliers’ who teach at several different institutions. Through the year-long Associate Program, adjunct instructors gain strategies for creating a learner-centered classroom. Upon completion, instructors earn a permanent 10 percent raise and the title of Associate Adjunct.
The office of Institutional Research is integral to multiple levels of planning. For example, data collection tracked the success of several different models of Personalized Accelerated Learning (PAL) classes. In these, students spent up to 30 hours each week immersed in basic skills math or English. Some PAL classes condensed three courses into a single semester, others just two. Most students took a concurrent class in success skills like goal setting, learning styles and time management. Data on which structures were most helpful – and for whom – will guide future planning.
California's community colleges use a wide range of worthwhile activities to improve basic skills. Hewlett Leaders have reached beyond activities that serve discrete groups of students to adopt strategies of integration for scaling up and sustaining basic skills success. In addition to this broad, encompassing approach, the visiting team members who selected the 2009 Hewlett Leaders identified a number of specific elements that support student success at College of the Canyons.
- In Personalized Accelerated Learning classes, students spend up to 30 hours each week in intense immersion in either developmental English or Math, supplemented by a class in success skills like goal setting, learning styles, and time management.
- Upon completion of a professional development program to enrich teaching skills, part-time instructors earn the status of Associate Adjunct, along with a permanent 10 percent pay increase.
- With ambitious outreach across disciplines, the math faculty’s applied math project infuses developmental courses with relevant, compelling examples of math applications.
