Whereas, Reading skills and strategies are core competencies fundamental to all information acquisition, measurements of success in student progression, and achievement;
Whereas, There is a lack of emphasis on learning reading as a necessary life-enhancing skill, yet no individual is considered literate or educated unless his/her reading skills exceed basic comprehension or vocabulary use for both academic and career success; and
Whereas, College policies vary with respect to what form of shared governance is employed for each of the 10+1 academic and professional matters specified in Title 5; and
Whereas, Local senates would benefit from knowing how policies have been employed elsewhere, how they are implemented, and which have been effective;
Whereas, Local senates often spend an inordinate amount of time addressing the same issues in devising or revising policies and procedures that other senates have already addressed;
Whereas, One of the functions of the Academic Senate is to provide resources to support local senates; and
Whereas, The creation of an easily accessible database of sample policies and procedures would facilitate the exchange of information among the California community colleges, and save valuable senate time;
Whereas, Local senates face a range of problems involving shared governance, fiscal and legal challenges, and others;
Whereas, There exists a wide range of assistance to help local senates with such problems, from technical visits, to appeals, to the California Community College System Office;
Whereas, The circumstances and processes for enlisting such assistance vary and are not necessarily clear to local senates; and
Whereas, Current forms of assistance may not meet the needs of all local senates;
Whereas, With the move of many colleges to compressed calendars and study abroad programs and due to enrollment pressures, a number of colleges are scheduling three-, four-, and even five-unit courses in shortened time frames of fewer than six weeks; and
Whereas, There are pedagogical considerations that need to be reviewed by both the faculty within the disciplines of courses proposed under such time fames as well as the curriculum committees of colleges using such compressed calendars;
Whereas, Within the Economic and Workforce Development Division of the California Community College System, there are ten initiatives that develop workforce instruction, funded at an amount of $46 million;
Whereas, The level of interaction between the initiatives and local college programs, departments, senates and faculty varies widely across the state;
Whereas, The level of awareness of local faculty about the work of the Economic and Workforce Development initiatives varies widely across the state; and
Whereas, Co-curricular programs significantly impact student transfer success and access by enabling students to attain scholarships and transfer acceptance to universities and professional schools (i.e., law school and medical school);
Whereas, Many universities are using `holistic' application processes in response to the June 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled that the University of Michigan's undergraduate admissions process was unconstitutional, and consequently, co-curricular participation directly impacts a student's transfer success;
Whereas, The Academic Senate's proposed Fall 2006 paper The Role of Noncredit in the California Community Colleges was written to inform faculty and senate leaders about the status of and issues concerning noncredit courses and programs; and
Whereas, The Role of Noncredit in the California Community Colleges is intended to help faculty and senate leaders make informed decisions about issues and proposals related to noncredit funding, course alignment, articulation with credit programs, and quality standards;
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges supports quality education for all students in a fair and equitable manner;
Whereas, There can be vast differences between grade distributions for students taking the same course with different instructors, formats and lengths;
Whereas, Online professor ranking services are demanding grade distributions from institutions and students are making their choices based upon these sources; and
Whereas, The use of the name "noncredit" for community college adult education was originally chosen to distinguish it from credit instruction as an alternative educational delivery system in the community colleges, as well as distinguish it from adult education in the K-12 educational system;
Whereas, The term "noncredit" only describes one aspect of noncredit instruction, namely that no credit is given for such courses, and does not represent the wide spectrum of noncredit programs and services that support student success;