General Concerns

Whereas, The Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) – developed by CSU faculty and high school teachers and administrators in late 2002 and disseminated to high schools via professional development since Fall 2004 – is a course designed to prepare high school juniors and seniors to meet the expectations of college and university faculty, is research based and rooted in effective instructional practices, and is aligned with California English-Language Arts Content Standards, the Common Core State Standards, and the Statements of Competencies created by the Intersegmental Council of Aca

Whereas, Upper-level administrative positions at community colleges throughout California are facing high rates of turnover due to retirements and a variety of other factors, leading to the significant utilization of interim replacements in these positions, in some cases for extended periods of time;

Whereas, Title 5 53021 provides that "no interim appointment or series of interim appointments exceed one year in duration" and that even with the approval of the Chancellor extensions of such appointments may not exceed one year;

Whereas, California community colleges have a wide variety of add and drop deadlines; and

Whereas, No investigation or literature review has been conducted by the Academic Senate to determine the potential effects of late add, early drop, and late drop deadlines on student success;

Whereas, There is a severe shortage of qualified administrators within the California Community College System who are trained in participatory governance as defined by Title 5 53200 and who understand, value, and honor the role of faculty in participatory governance;

Whereas, There is also a severely limited pool of qualified administrative candidates to draw upon for vacant positions within the California Community College System; and

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has not researched nor published administrator to faculty ratios;

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has not researched nor published California community college districts’ current expense for administration; and

Whereas, There is no legislation or regulation that mandates the amount or percent of a district's current expenses that can or should be spent on administration;

Whereas, Both the California Legislative Analyst’s Office and the Chancellor for California Community Colleges have lamented the “excess units” that the state pays for as students work to earn a bachelor’s degree (e.g., CCCCO Press Release, January 29, 2010), yet have offered no research-based evidence for why a student might accrue “excess units”; and

Whereas, Some estimates indicate that in the next 10 years, 60% of current administrators will retire;

Whereas, Many colleges are having difficulty developing adequate applicant pools for existing administrative positions; and

Whereas, Many qualified faculty do not consider moving into administration because of their dedication to teaching and the perceived need to abandon teaching entirely when entering administrative ranks;

Whereas, Academic integrity is a key principle of higher education which should be woven throughout the entire fabric of an institution;

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has adopted the paper Promoting and Sustaining an Institutional Climate of Academic Integrity, which addresses issues relating to academic integrity; and

Whereas, Regulations currently treat science and career technical education (CTE) lab space equivalently in terms of state definitions of capacity load space allocations;

Whereas, Title 5 language has not changed in this regard in more than 40 years, while the nature of both science and CTE has evolved; and

Whereas, The current allocation formula inappropriately combines the different needs of science and CTE programs under the same formula;

Whereas, The need for noncredit accountability measures is increasing, especially for the new instructional category of Career Development and College Preparation;

Whereas, Noncredit accountability measures of student and program success in the community colleges can provide valuable information in order to evaluate educational effectiveness, learning outcomes, and build on successful strategies;