Students are, and should be, the primary and central motivation for our work as educators. Everything we do, from academics and instruction, to support services, is focused on the success of students. Most, if not all, of the initiatives and programs California community colleges have developed in the past few years have a clearly defined purpose in serving students.
(Note: The following article is part of an ongoing dialogue about the guided pathways framework. For reference, previous Rostrum articles on this issue may be accessed on our website under publications.)
More and more students are completing Advanced Placement (AP) examinations while enrolled in high school and expecting that credit to be honored at colleges and universities. In fact, all three segments of the California public higher education system offer some credit for AP scores of 3, 4, and 5. However, each individual institution within each system determines how that credit will be awarded.
In spring of 2013, the Academic Senate Executive Committee approved a project to record and preserve the ASCCC’s history. For a variety of reasons, this project has had to be slowed or postponed several times since that approval. However, in 2016-17 the project has been revitalized and is making progress toward producing a number of valuable results.
Academic senate presidents are often confronted with challenges and issues that require knowledge of the role of the senate, historical context for how the community college system operates, and the nuances of interpersonal relationships. Often, they are the voting delegates at plenary sessions where the voice of faculty across the state is expressed on a variety of topics that may or may not be familiar from their other roles at the college. The ASCCC Faculty Leadership Institute is intended for senate leaders who need to learn or refresh their knowledge about the 10+1 and develop leade
The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges will hold its annual spring plenary session on April 20-22 in San Mateo, at which delegates will vote on resolutions that have been developed by the ASCCC Executive Committee, ASCCC Standing Committees, and faculty from colleges throughout the state. Whether you are new to the Academic Senate or a seasoned veteran, preparing for the plenary session is crucial to making the most of your time and your voice as a representative of your faculty.
For the last six years, since the passage of AB 743 (Block, 2011), the California community colleges have been discussing the need for a common assessment test for students taking courses in mathematics, English, English as a Second Language (ESL), and reading. After many years of work by dedicated individuals, this common assessment was scheduled to become available in the Fall 2016.
While most faculty and administrators within the California Community College System may have heard of noncredit instruction, most colleges offer very little. At many colleges, a lack of noncredit instruction is largely due to two factors: concern over lower funding levels in comparison to credit and unfamiliarity with the regulations and practices for noncredit instruction.
Among the numerous responsibilities of the ASCCC Executive Committee is its fiduciary duty to set the annual budget and monitor the budget performance. The question about how the ASCCC annual budget is developed, adopted, and monitored is both a common and important one. This article will provide an overview of the Academic Senate funding sources, the fiscal duties of the Executive Committee, the operational responsibilities of the executive director and ASCCC staff, and how the annual funding priorities are set and implemented.
A few weeks ago, I was searching for resources on the ASCCC website to send to a local senate president who had recently requested information to help with a situation that was developing at his college. Faculty were considering how to address what they perceived as a disregard for and circumvention of the academic senate purview by the college president and other administrators.