University
Basic College Skills Right on CUE
By Andrea Bennett on July 27, 2009 2:14 PM
For some community college students, the gap between what they learned in high school and what they need to know to succeed in college credit courses is a vast one.
It is estimated that about 90 percent of incoming California Community College students are not prepared to succeed in degree-credit courses and require basic skills coursework to earn a college degree. Evidence shows very few of these students reach that goal.
The state-funded Basic Skills Initiative, which began in 2006, was a response to this situation. It provides community colleges with the support to assess their basic skills education and English as a second language instruction needs; provide faculty and staff professional development; and implement needed change to their programs.
One California Community College district enlisted the expertise of the Center for Urban Education (CUE), based at the USC Rossier School of Education, to help it maximize the impact of its Basic Skills Initiative dollars.
Through the revolutionary Center for Urban Education Equity Model, the San José/Evergreen Community College District has been working to identify and lift institutional barriers to racial-ethnic equity within its large basic skills student population.
This month, the Center for Urban Education wrapped up the first phase of its work to advance equity in basic skills education at the San José/Evergreen Community College District. The model employed toward this goal is unique in that it combined the center’s renowned equity scorecard method of data inquiry with its acclaimed benchmarking process, which involves the analysis of institutional practices and benchmark goal setting.
Community colleges across the state and institutions around the country have used the equity scorecard’s process of examining and reflecting on the meaning of quantitative data to document racial-ethnic inequities in their student outcomes. The benchmarking process was developed to analyze and act on those problems revealed through the data inquiry. This process helps institutions figure out what is causing the disparities and how to make changes to address them.
The resulting Center for Urban Education Equity Model was first embraced by the San José/Evergreen district in the spring of 2008.
It took courage for the district to challenge itself in such a way and admit change was needed, said Rosa G. Perez, chancellor of the San José/Evergreen Community College District.
“To begin to resolve the issues surrounding why students of color are less successful in our institutions, we must all share the courage and conviction that as institutions we are charged with the responsibility of questioning institutional assumptions and practices that may hamper student successes,” Perez said.
Center for Urban Education staff was invited to train staff, faculty and administrators at San José City College and Evergreen Valley College to use institutional data to investigate institutional attitudes, beliefs and practices that contribute to inequitable outcomes for students on their campuses.
With the direction and support of Center for Urban Education staff, led by team facilitator Elsa Macias, evidence teams at each college assessed their own institutions and students, identified critical intervention points and set measurable goals to eliminate those gaps in performance among students in basic skills courses.
Reports on the progress may come as early as next month. The next phase of the project will involve implementing the changes needed and assessing the results of those changes.
TAGS: education
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Los Angeles Times featured the USC Rossier School’s centennial gala, which took place February 1. USC President Steven B. Sample was honored with the Global Education Leadership Award, and USC alumna Cindy McCain was honored with the Dean’s Alumni Achievement Award. “It’s rare for someone who’s lived as long as I have in politics with my husband to be speechless, but I truly am,” McCain said. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa introduced Sample, recounting his work in raising USC’s stature globally, being open to international students, and understanding USC’s position in Los Angeles as “the gateway to Asia and Latin America.” Nearly 350 people attended the event, including Sen. John McCain; Ed Roski, chairman of the USC Board of Trustees; Barbara and Roger Rossier, for whom the Rossier School is named; John Katzman, Princeton Review founder and benefactor of an endowed chair at the Rossier School; and alumni and longtime USC supporters Debbie and J. Terrence Lanni and Verna Dauterive.
The Chronicle of Higher Education included USC in a chart on international fundraising by higher education institutions. USC has received $2.9 million from international philanthropic funds, and is estimated to have more than 6,000 foreign alumni, the story stated.
The Chronicle of Higher Education featured Paul Debevec of USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies, who won an Academy Award for co-creating a light stage capture device and image-based facial rendering system that has been used in movies like “Avatar.” The award will be presented at a formal dinner on February 20, the story noted. Asked whether the technology could be applied to education, Debevec said: “Absolutely, yes. Maybe there’s a little rendering of a chemistry professor at the side of the screen who smiles at you when you get the question right and frowns when you get the question wrong. [In perhaps 10 years] that computer might, through its Web cam, look back at you, see where you’re looking on the screen, see how engaged you are, and actually adapt itself to trying to teach you in the way that it seems to be working the best. Just like one-on-one tutoring.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education featured linguist Paul Frommer of the USC Marshall School, who created the language Na’vi for the Golden Globe-winning movie “Avatar.” “Doing this kind of work as an academic is not going to advance your research reputation. It’s not going to result in publications in peer-reviewed journals,” Frommer said. “But it just may push the world forward in the way it’s turning on young people to the wonders of language”
Los Angeles Times reported that the 22nd annual USC Libraries Scripter Award was given to “Up in the Air” novelist Walter Kirn and to USC alumnus Jason Reitman and Shelton Turner, who adapted Kirn’s book for the screen. Los Angeles Times ran a second story about the Scripter Award.
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