Consultation with the Chancellor's Office

Whereas, The Student Success Task Force Recommendations were developed to make California community college students more successful;

Whereas, The role and services of California community college libraries and librarians are not mentioned in the Student Success Task Force Recommendations; and

Whereas, The 2011 paper Standards of Practice for California Community College Library Faculty and Programs illustrates how libraries and library faculty play a significant role in supporting college curriculum and helping students succeed academically;

Whereas, The proposed Accountability Report for the Community Colleges (ARCC) scorecard will track student performance metrics longitudinally over six years and faculty recommended contextualized student performance metrics; and

Whereas, The proposed ARCC scorecard will be more effective if it reports contextualized metrics such as ratio of full-time to part-time faculty, total sections offered, and the student to counselor ratio longitudinally;

Whereas, Recommendation 3.2 (as of September 30, 2011) of the California Community College Student Success Task Force (established in response to Senate Bill 1143, Liu, 2010) would “require students receiving Board of Governors fee waivers to meet various conditions and requirements, as specified below.

Whereas, The California Community Colleges Task Force on Student Success (established in response to Senate Bill 1143, Liu, 2010) recommends (as of September 30, 2011) raising fees for California students to take courses that are not in their education plan, while still permitting them to enroll in such courses;

Whereas, Students who have the ability to pay higher fees will be able to enroll in courses that are outside their education plan, while students who lack the ability to pay higher fees will be denied access to courses that are outside their education plan;

Whereas, The California Community Colleges Task Force on Student Success (established in response to Senate Bill 1143, Liu, 2010) recommends (as of September 30, 2011) withholding Board of Governors fee waivers from students who have exceeded 110 units or have failed to identify a degree, transfer, or career advancement goal; and

Whereas, The poorest students cannot enroll in classes without fee waivers with the result that these students would be denied access to classes that they would be permitted to enroll in if they had financial resources;

Whereas, The California community colleges are dedicated to providing broad access to affordable, high quality, comprehensive education in a supportive, engaging, and challenging environment that promotes achievement by all students, whether full- or part-time;

Whereas, One of the largest expenditures of public funds to the California Community College System is the fee waiver granted by the Board of Governors (BOG) for students meeting specific criteria;

Whereas, Financial aid eligibility is commonly conditional upon satisfactory progress toward academic goals, but the BOG waiver does not currently require satisfactory progress;

Whereas, Recent proposals would remove the BOG waiver eligibility for students who accumulate more than a certain number of units or have a GPA below a certain level; and

Whereas, Cooperative Work Based Education helps students acquire desired work habits and skill competencies that aid student success in the classroom and the workplace;

Whereas, Current Title 5 language requiring parallel or alternate plans restricts student options for work experience;

Whereas, Title 5 55256 requires consultation "in person" with the employer and does not allow for other methods of contact such as phone and email; and

Whereas, The Career Ladders Project for the California Community Colleges is designed to research and create an action plan to further the role of community colleges in providing career access and advancement opportunities for Californians;

Whereas, There is an emerging consensus among business, educational, and political leaders in California and nationally that occupational-sector-based "career ladders" provide the best means for students to secure employment that provides a living-wage and the opportunity for future advancement;

Whereas, One of the guiding principles of the System Strategic Plan for the California Community Colleges is to use existing governance processes and one of its missions is economic and workforce development, and five Goal Area Implementation Teams (GAIT) have been created and are charged with developing plans for implementing each of the five identified strategic goals;