Professional Standards

Whereas, The recommendations of Board of Governors Task Force on Work Force, Job Creation, and a Strong Economy not only recognized the necessity of colleges’ career technical education (CTE) programs but also the increased the necessity of CTE faculty participation in governance locally and statewide;

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges recognizes the need for CTE faculty participation through resolutions and positions;

Whereas, The College Textbook Affordability Act of 2015 (AB 798, Bonilla, 2015), provides incentives to colleges that seek to reduce textbook costs by adopting Open Educational Resources (OER) in a minimum of 10 course sections;

Whereas, In 2002 Academic Senate Resolution 10.09 S02 stated opposition to single course equivalencies, and in 2003 CCCCO Legal Opinion 03-28 by Ralph Black, requested by the Academic Senate, opined that single course equivalencies are not compliant with Title 5 regulations and Education Code;

Introduction and Background

This paper is a response to Academic Senate Resolution 19.05 F11, which called for an update of the 1990 Academic Senate Paper Guidelines for Developing a Faculty Evaluation Process. The current paper presents the position that faculty evaluations should be focused on professional development and on personal and professional growth and should provide meaningful, useful feedback to the evaluee.

Whereas, Over a decade has passed since the publication of the 2002 Academic Senate paper Part-Time Faculty: A Principled Perspective;

Whereas, Expectations of and demands placed upon part-time faculty have increased dramatically since 2002, particularly due to revised accreditation standards, increased state and federal demands for institutional accountability, and unprecedented budgetary pressures;

Whereas, Federal and state regulations, as well as accreditation standards, require that colleges ensure that distance education (DE) course offerings meet the same standards of instructional quality as on-site courses;

Whereas, Distance education pedagogical methods differ significantly from on-site instructional pedagogy, and as a result, effective, quality DE instruction requires faculty with relevant skills and training in distance education delivery and pedagogy to promote student success in this modality;

Whereas, The Student Success Task Force Recommendation 6.1 calls for the creation of a continuum of strategic professional development opportunities and affirms the need for faculty professional development1;

Whereas, Faculty need ongoing professional development and training that is extensive and on-going with an instructional design focus as well as training that facilitates other aspects of community college faculty roles;

Whereas, There are numerous terms available to define the role, rank, or position of part-time faculty, yet the only terminology in Education Code that pertains to part-time faculty is “temporary” and “part-time” faculty or academic employees;

Whereas, Choosing terminology to refer to academic colleagues is an act that conveys not only employment status but also respect, equity, and acknowledgement of shared obligations and responsibilities; and

quality in California community colleges and is a shared responsibility of academic senates, faculty bargaining units, and college administrations;

Whereas, As noted in the Academic Senate Paper Sound Principles for Faculty Evaluations, most colleges do not have a process in place for training peer evaluators, and such training would be a valuable tool for enhancing the quality and integrity of faculty evaluations; and