Whereas, The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Call to Action states, “Campuses must audit classroom climate and create an action plan to create inclusive classrooms and anti-racism curriculum,” [1] and current Student Equity and Achievement Plans are required to include action plans around race consciousness in their development and implementations;
Whereas, The Center for Urban Education report California Community College Student Equity Plan Review: A Focus on Racial Equity states that “The process of achieving racial equity relies on the power of practitioner inquiry, reflective practice, as well as institutional responsibility as drivers of change,” that “practitioners should view racial inequity as a problem of practice, placing the onus of responsibility for student success with the institution, not the student,” and that “race consciousness is critical and essential to this work”; [2]
Whereas, In addition to inequities embedded in and operational limitations of some aspects of Canvas, current faculty online teaching training materials adopted by many California community colleges contain outdated texts and deficit language regarding students and their success that do not align with anti-racist practices [3]; and
Whereas, Rubrics and tools have been created to scrutinize teaching materials faculty produce, such as the Peralta Online Equity Rubric [4] –“a research-based course (re)design evaluation instrument to help teachers make online course experiences more equitable for all students”– the California Community Colleges DEI In Curriculum: Model Principles and Practices tool, [5] and the Academic Senate For California Community Colleges OERI Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (IDEA) Audit Framework [6] for faculty to review their own curriculum;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) collaborate with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to conduct and publish a review of all state contracted and required faculty training materials in order to meet the urgency of promoting anti-racism through institutional inquiry as outlined in the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Call to Action, [7] the Center for Urban Education report California Community College Student Equity Plan Review: A Focus on Racial Equity, [8] and the ASCCC adopted paper Equity Driven Systems: Student Equity and Achievement in the California Community Colleges; [9]
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges work with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to provide recommendations that model the use, impact, and improvements in faculty training materials as a result of a review of the state contracted online faculty training materials; and
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) work together to facilitate anti-racist, inclusive, and transparent methods for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color constituents to lead and be included in the review of online faculty training contracted by the CCCCO.
M/S/U
1. California Community Colleges June 2020 Call to Action letter: https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/Files/Communications/dear-california-community-colleges-family.
2. Chase, M., Felix, E., and Bensimon, E. (September 2020). “California Community College
Student Equity Plan Review: A Focus on Racial Equity.” Center for Urban Education, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb5c03682a92c5f96da4fc8/t/600f48b93e23721b6ca72efa/1611614397014/CCC+Equity+Plan+Review_A+Focus+on+Racial+Equity.pdf%5B47%5D.pdf.
3. Examples in the online training materials include phrases that assume and problematize students as unprepared for online coursework and center on instructors' comfort over student-centered practices, promoting the instructor as the “one solution” who gives kindness in a transactional mindset rather than as a co-learning and facilitator with an equity-mindset who acknowledges the inequities and systemic barriers students face.
4. Peralta Community College District Online Rubric: https://www.peralta.edu/distance-education/online-equity-rubric.
5. DEI in Curriculum Principles and Practices: https://www.asccc.org/sites/default/files/CCC_DEI-in-Curriculum_Model_Principles_and_Practices_June_2022.pdf.
6. OERI IDEA Audit framework: https://asccc-oeri.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Inclusion-Diversity-Equity-and-Anti-Racism-IDEA-3-7-22-V1A-PDF-for-E.pdf.
7. California Community Colleges June 2020 Call to Action letter: https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/Files/Communications/dear-california-community-colleges-family.
8. Chase, M., Felix, E., and Bensimon, E. (September 2020). “California Community College
Student Equity Plan Review: A Focus on Racial Equity.” Center for Urban Education, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb5c03682a92c5f96da4fc8/t/600f48b93e23721b6ca72efa/1611614397014/CCC+Equity+Plan+Review_A+Focus+on+Racial+Equity.pdf%5B47%5D.pdf.
9. “Equity-Driven Systems: Student Equity and Achievement in the California Community Colleges.” (2019). Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. https://www.asccc.org/sites/default/files/Equity%20Driven%20Systems%20Paper%20-%20for%20Area%20Meetings%20Oct%202019.pdf.