April

Building Bridges: Collaborative Partnerships Bring Noncredit Event to CCCs

While most faculty and administrators within the California Community College System may have heard of noncredit instruction, most colleges offer very little.  At many colleges, a lack of noncredit instruction is largely due to two factors: concern over lower funding levels in comparison to credit and unfamiliarity with the regulations and practices for noncredit instruction.

The ASCCC Budget and Fiscal Reporting

Among the numerous responsibilities of the ASCCC Executive Committee is its fiduciary duty to set the annual budget and monitor the budget performance. The question about how the ASCCC annual budget is developed, adopted, and monitored is both a common and important one.  This article will provide an overview of the Academic Senate funding sources, the fiscal duties of the Executive Committee, the operational responsibilities of the executive director and ASCCC staff, and how the annual funding priorities are set and implemented. 

Power in the Collective: Faculty, Collegial Consultation, and Collaboration

A few weeks ago, I was searching for resources on the ASCCC website to send to a local senate president who had recently requested information to help with a situation that was developing at his college. Faculty were considering how to address what they perceived as a disregard for and circumvention of the academic senate purview by the college president and other administrators.

Acceleration: An Opportunity for Dialogue and Local Innovation

The concept of accelerated courses in English, math, and more recently in ESL has variously caused enthusiasm, apprehension, and confusion throughout the California community colleges. The term “acceleration” can be applied to a wide variety of different curricular approaches, yet it has often been connected to very specific instructional models or associated by faculty with pressure to conform to pre-determined revisions of their curriculum.

Career Readiness

The definition of career readiness has long been one element of the larger conversation about defining student success. This conversation is underway nationally, and it both directly and indirectly affects all our students and the work we must do to ensure their success.

Embracing and Implementing New K-12 Standards in English, Mathematics and Science

Community college faculty are concerned about the significant numbers of students arriving at the college door unprepared to succeed in college-level work. The Academic Senate has several resolutions seeking better communication of what it means to be ready for college and better alignment of preparation, particularly in English and mathematics.

Possible Changes And Potential Challenges: The Recommendations Of The Chancellor’s Office Professsional Development Committee

When the Student Success Task Force (SSTF) presented its final report to the Board of Governors in February of 2012, two of the seemingly less controversial recommendations were 6.1 and 6.2, which read as follows:

Recommendation 6.1
Community colleges will create a continuum of strategic professional development opportunities, for all faculty, staff, and administrators to be better prepared to respond to the evolving student needs and measures of student success.

Practical Leadership: Turbocharging Meetings Through Advance Preparation

When one thinks about effective leadership, meeting preparation is probably one of the least likely characteristics to come to mind. This topic is not very exciting or flashy, and it is certainly not sexy, but it may be one of the most important tools at a faculty leader’s disposal. Most people would strongly agree that a major responsibility of a senate president, committee chair, or other faculty leader is to provide sufficient information to the group in order for the group to make sound and timely decisions.

Got Associate Degree Equivalency Guidelines?

At the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges’ 2011 Spring Plenary Session, Resolution 10.11 “Associate Degree Equivalency Guidelines” for hiring faculty to teach was passed. This resolution reminded us that many local districts and colleges struggle in some disciplines with determining equivalency to the minimum qualifications for an associate degree and that eminence and equivalence to general education and general education coursework is a real and challenging issue for California community college faculty across the state.

Modeling the Relevance of the Boss

"The dozen or so times I've seen him, I've marveled at the obvious; his energy, powerful voice, under-appreciated guitar playing, engaging personality and songwriting. But this time -- thinking back over the two hour and forty minute concert - I was struck by his relevance. Despite being 62 years old and having created 17 albums over forty years, he's more relevant than ever," (Blog entry by Andy Beaupre about Bruce Springsteen's new Wrecking Ball tour, March 28, 2012).

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