“We know these support systems work for MESA students – why wouldn’t they work for all students?”
Margaret Sanchez, director of MESA and of the Learning Center
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Mendocino College is a small sc hool at the end of windy road outside Ukiah, a city ringed by vineyards. Its district has about 100,000 residents and is larger than the state of Delaware. Faculty, staff and students describe it as a school with no barriers between campus constituencies, the sort of place where everyone wears many hats. These qualities incline it toward collaboration across disciplines and between student services and academics.
In response to the Basic Skills Initiative, a watershed meeting between a few motivated faculty and staff led to the creation of the Foundation Skills Teaching and Learning Community. The group set two priorities: ESL and professional development. The college knew it wasn’t serving the needs of the area’s large Spanish-speaking community, so they hired a full-time ESL instructor and began planning outreach strategies. Because of the school’s physical isolation, the ESL instructor Sarah Walsh and others on the team decided to take the college to the community. They organized classes at a bilingual elementary school and at a church in the center of the Spanish-speaking community; the response was overwhelming. Within a year, ESL enrollment had doubled and many students took the next step -- exploring certificate programs and enrolling in classes on campus.
Debra Pollack, English faculty
Along with debunking stereotypes about who ‘belonged’ in college, the basic skills group also took aim at the assumption that developmental education was mostly a job for math and English faculty. To encourage broad participation, professional development events are organized to attract faculty across all disciplines. Attendance has been enthusiastic.
Among those wearing many hats is Margaret Sanchez, director of Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) and of the Learning Center. She is at the center of an effort to bring academic support modeled on the MESA program to all students in basic skills math. A Math Institute offered at the beginning of each semester gives students an intensive review of the concepts and skills needed for success. Ms. Sanchez says the intensive offers students a running start on the semester. Student interest is high and the data on the progress of those who attend is strong.
“We’ve gotten a huge response from students who want to study math in an environment that is low stress, problem based, where they are not tested... They just work on math, for six or seven hours a day,” she said.
Faculty and staff say the college’s realigned focus on basic skills has fundamentally changed the planning process. “Self-study is not something we do once. We will go back again and again as we make program improvements and consider the data we are receiving,” said Virginia Guleff, dean of Instruction.
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 Mendocino College.
- A broad outreach effort to the area’s Spanish-speaking community includes ESL courses offered closer to students’ homes and a realignment of the ESL curriculum. Within a year, enrollment doubled.
- A Math Institute offered before the beginning of each semester gives students an intensive review of the concepts and skills needed for success.
- Extensive academic support modeled on the MESA program is available to all students in basic skills math classes.
