Whereas, Class caps are maximum student enrollment limits specified for each class, and class cap determinations have sometimes been made inconsistently on the basis of classroom size and other arbitrary factors;
Whereas, The enrollment management plans on many campuses have been responding to FTES enrollment funding caps by arbitrarily increasing class caps in order to increase perceived efficiency;
Whereas, The draft recommendations (as of September 30, 2011) of the California Community Colleges Task Force on Student Success (established in response to Senate Bill 1143, Liu, 2010) propose a complex package of integrated changes to the way the California community colleges currently function;
Whereas, Student success, specifically, and academic and professional matters more generally are areas in which primary responsibility has been granted to the local academic senate; and
Whereas, Distance Learning is recognized as a valid instructional modality in Title 5 Regulations, and increasing numbers of courses are offered in this manner by community colleges statewide both to meet the needs of students and to respond to identified administrative concerns about facilities, budget, or scheduling; Whereas, The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) recently released a paper (The Master Plan at 50: Using Distance Education to Increase College Access and Efficiency) proposing the widespread use of distance education to alleviate perceived problems with access to com
Whereas, In the Garcetti v. Caballos court decision of 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court majority ruled that when public employees such as faculty speak, “pursuant to their official duties, the employees are not speaking as citizens for First Amendment purposes, and the Constitution does not insulate their communications from employer discipline”;
Whereas, Adult education and community college noncredit programs share a common origin, both having emerged from the K-12 system in response to the particular needs of adult learners for educational options that are not part of credit programs and the future of these two types of programs is also intertwined;
Whereas, Both adult education and community college noncredit programs face similar funding challenges, with all state adult education funds now open to “flexibility” usage by underfunded K-12 districts and noncredit courses and programs receiving lesser funding;
Whereas, Various parties statewide, including the California Legislative Analyst’s Office and the Chancellor for California Community Colleges, have voiced concern that students accrue “excess units” beyond those they truly need for degree or certificate completion or for transfer (e.g., CCCCO Press Release, January 29, 2010), thus placing a financial burden on California taxpayers that those concerned believe serves no purpose;
Whereas, Statewide Career Pathways: Facilitating School to College Articulation and the Course Identification Numbering System (C-ID) are faculty-led initiatives that facilitate student advancement, provide faculty with a forum to discuss curriculum, and are working to address other system-level needs;
Whereas, California community colleges and local senates are working toward well thought out planning and decision-making processes;
Whereas, Sound practice along with the 2002 Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) Accreditation Standards 1.B. 6-7 require institutions to improve upon these planning and resource allocation processes using evidence to assess their "institutional effectiveness;" and
Whereas, The California Educational Policy Grant has been given to Central Valley colleges in the “C- 6 Consortium,” which have “agreed to work together to pilot a series of innovative approaches to educational policy reform efforts focused on college readiness” that will “determine a best practice for the entire state”;
Whereas, The grant includes the following components:
Whereas, Many colleges are struggling to address the needs of students who face obstacles in achieving success in academically challenging courses;
Whereas, Different terms, such as learning instruction and supplemental instruction have been used interchangeably; and
Whereas, Supplemental Instruction (copyrighted by the University of Missouri-Kansas City) is a proven method for student success, involving faculty-driven, peer-to-peer learning in conjunction with a course;