Whereas, The California Community Colleges are currently implementing numerous impactful initiatives and in the early stages of the wholesale transformation called for by the guided pathways movement;
Whereas, The May 11, 2017 letter from Governor Brown to Chancellor Oakley spoke only of exploring options for a 115th college, an entirely online college; and
Whereas, The target population of “adults with some college and no certification” as well as “working adults with vocational needs” was defined by Chancellor Oakley[1] without input from system partners, including the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges despite the fact that designing programs and developing curriculum is an academic and professional matter; and
Whereas, Title 5 §53200 defines academic and professional matters to include degree and certificate requirements and educational program development, and Title 5 §53203 requires “the governing board or its designees will consult collegially with the academic senate when adopting policies and procedures on academic and professional matters;”
Whereas, a May 11, 2017 letter from Governor Brown to Chancellor Oakley directed the chancellor to “act with dispatch and create a plan to design and deploy a fully online college,” and the chancellor convened the Flex Options for Workers (FLOW) workgroup to provide “3 – 5 options (with pros and cons for each) that enable the community colleges of California to better deliver on the student success goals outlined on pages 15-16 in the Vision for Success[1] recently adopted by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors;”
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges passed Resolution 9.04 S14, Consistency in Data Mart English as a Second Language Basic Skills Progress Tracker, to call attention to the need to correct errors in Data Mart that result in inaccurate reporting of progress for credit ESL in the Student Success Scorecard;
Whereas, On May 11, 2017 Governor Brown requested that Chancellor Oakley design and deploy a plan to develop a 115th college to solely offer entirely online degrees, and Chancellor Oakley contracted with National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) to constitute the Flex Learning Options for Workers (FLOW) workgroup to provide three to five options to Governor Brown;
Whereas, Participatory governance is a valued component of the California Community College system, at the local, regional, and state levels;
Whereas, During the Fall 2016 Plenary session The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges passed a resolution outlining concerns about “guided pathways” models in regard to “the development of our students as whole persons” and “open-access, opportunity for student exploration, and the traditional breadth of a liberal education as historically critical pieces of the community college mission,” and called on the ASCCC to “investigate practices and outcomes, intended and unintended, for faculty and students from various pathway programs across the state;”[1]
Whereas, The recent passage of AB 705 (Irwin, 2017)[1] and the language in the Common Assessment Initiative Reset memo on October 24, 2017[2] from Chancellor Eloy Oakley suspending the development of the common assessment test have shifted the focus from assessment testing to the use of high school transcript data to make placement decisions, but the requirement to use multiple measures for assessment remains in place as indicated by §78213(d)(1)(C) which states that: Multiple measures shall apply in the placement of all students in such a manner
Whereas, Title 5 §58003.3[1] appears to prohibit districts from collecting apportionment for undocumented students, thus creating a barrier for noncredit student enrollment and restricting colleges from accessing adequate resources needed to serve these students;