SSC Site Visits (condensed notes version)

Institution / Strengths / Challenges
Folsom Lake College /
  • Brand new buildings - oldest was built in 2005! All services are fairly centrally located.
  • Reading/Writing Ctr staffed by English faculty, office hours are in the R/W center
  • SOAR Central - college success workshops, like our SOS workshops.
  • Group tutoring sessions coincide before/after exams; tutoring center coordinates Exam Review workshops.
  • Adopted Skip Downingʻs “On Course” concepts as a college-wide focus and philosophy.
  • Innovation Center - assists instructors with online classes and other technologies to enhance teaching and studentsʻ engagement in learning.
  • “Group of Online Educators” - instructors share successes and failures as they try out new innovations with the aim for engaged learning.
  • Classroom spaces and instructional faculty offices are mixed (in relation to disciplines) - no territorial issues, encourages cross-discipline intermixing and collaboration.
  • Campus has a “Student Success Committee” and there are subcommittees of this committee.
  • Falcon’s Roost building co-locates bookstore, cafeteria, coffee cart, student congress, student recreation area, and Career and Transfer Services Office.
  • Career and transfer service has a clinic “Learning and Earning” where students learn to balance work and school. There is a workshop where they fill out a questionnaire that shows whether their career choices match up with their financial lifestyles.
  • Educational planning is mandatory and they place career planning upfront at the beginning of a student’s academic life to get them on a pathway as soon as possible.
  • Testing center does graduation competency testing. Website provides brushups for COMPASS.
  • Tutoring is marketed, not as free, but as “you paid for it already, so you should use it”
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  • G funded and Basic Skills initiative funded. Looking to be ALL G funded.
  • 6 Deans report to 1 VP - Organizational challenges on how to structure and fund Student Success
  • No Distance Learning online support
  • Their equivalent “OFIE” has a staff of one person
  • When asked, they report that if they could do things differently, they would:
  • Co-locate all learning support - “one stop shop”
  • Put assessment (equivalent of our Compass placement testing), tutoring, and reading/writing center all in one place.
  • Put kiosk(s) up to intake for the college and would have another place for admissions/records.
  • Put leadership under one or two people, instead of spread out like now - workload issue.
  • Have more integration between instructional and student support.

Las Positas College /
  • Strong Tutoring coordinator
  • Good centralized area for tutoring designed for individual and group sessions.
  • Faculty have office hours in the center, recruit tutors from their classes.
  • Monthly meetings with tutors to discuss issues.
  • Tutoring and Reading/Writing Center (RAW) co-located; some classes have embedded RAW tutor into the class.
  • “Tutor Assisted Group “ (TAG) - trained tutors lead a study group.
  • “Prep to Pass” - equivalent to our “Study with Your Buddy.”
  • Integrated Learning Center (ILC) - math, English, and ESL have a zero credit, required lab attached to each course - students required to complete one hour per week in the ILC and complete one lab assignment decided on and developed by instructor or department. There is a math faculty member in the lab at all times (rotated) - instructors help not only their own students but other students enrolled in the same course (similar to our KCC Math 24/25 self-paced math lab).
  • Campus has a Student Success Committee.
  • If a student does not show up, tutor is paid 15 minutes, during which the tutor is expected to use the time to prepare for a future tutoring session or to review tutor training materials; uses “Tutor Track;” 2-3 students per tutor group.
  • Initiatives include a "middle college" (like Headstart) providing concurrent enrollment for HS students, the new building, a tutoring services initiative. Considering model where students who are assessed several levels below college level are placed 1 level below & accelerated with extra care from faculty (10 such students per class).
  • Library: Student Congress runs a textbook rental service
  • ESL Program has 6 levels. Students go through a 2 part assessment using KELSA paper test and writing sample. Helps with direct transition to English 1A and 100% of students pass; most get As. Each section has a reading library.
  • Placement Assessment: High school students have to take an exit exam. Positas used Accuplacer but are not happy; tends toward low placement. Issue of assessment will eventually be legislated; this issue is part of a statewide conversation. 56% of students test into remedial english and higher into remedial math. They do have boot camp classes in Spring. Some faculty advocate that students do an assessment test, take a boot camp, then assess again, then go for priority registration.
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  • Lack of funding and staff, only have Basic Skills Initiative funding
  • 58% of Tutors are volunteers
  • May get a new building in the future to house student success under one “umbrella” model.
  • Working on recertification by CRLA for training.

Napa Valley College /
  • Tutors are CRLA certified and basic practice training is coordinated under the Testing/Tutoring Coordinator
  • Students can register for a half credit class (English 84, 27 hours) to get assistance at the writing center
  • Advertise on Facebook
  • Open at nights twice per week.
  • “Learning Groups” - staff put together workshops on writing - must have at least six students to form a group.
  • 4-8 supplemental instruction units, where student tutors are paid to be in classes.
  • Assessment for placement: Writing and math challenges are an option if student contests placement results. Practice tests and tutorials are free to prepare ahead of test..
  • Writing Center intake process: Student registers with program; does an online orientation (online powerpoint on youtube). Takes a little quiz on expectations. Students do a writing sample and two of the staffers review. Students get an assignment and a recommendation sheet. Students do the assignment and then the tutor comes to review.
/
  • 1300 of their 5600 students have a learning disability
  • Organization model - SSC folks report to various Deans
  • Decentralized locations - Writing Center is adjacent to the Math Center, but the Tutoring Center is located across the campus in the library.
  • Depending on perception (whether as seen as a challenge): the Writing Center has no instructional faculty participation in serving in the center; the campus does not subscribe to any online tutoring or writing/editing support.
  • Due to budget cuts, went from 5 staff to 4.

San Jose City College /
  • Centralized area for Library, Tutoring, Reading/Writing, ESL, and open computer lab. Students know to check in at one location.
  • Receptionist on duty all hours the building is open
  • Good staffing (4.5 positions)
  • Students must enroll in an LS210 class (no credit) to get assistance.
  • Adjunct faculty spend office hours in the centralized area.
  • Have SLOs for Tutoring
  • Have mandatory 3 hour workshop for students on probation - why are you here (personal purpose)? What choices have you made? What can you change?
  • Technology Skills Center. A room with 22 plus computers that any instructor can reserve to teach his/her class.
  • Offers supplemental instruction
  • With in-class tutoring, after 1 hour of instruction there is an hour of problem solving and the instructor and tutor roam the room and help.
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  • Need to coordinate services with building hours and among 2 Deans.
  • All tutors must be able to assist in 2 or 3 subjects.
  • Minimum wage in San Jose county is $10.15
  • When asked, they report that if they could do things differently, they would:
  • Co-locate assessment (equivalent of our Compass placement testing), and orientation services - currently have very limited space/venue - limits number of students and necessitates frequently scheduled groups.
  • Increase size of placement testing facility.

Santa Barbara City College /
  • Centralized Commons include Receptionist, Tutoring, Reading/Writing Center, Computer lab, media technician
  • 8 staff to run the Center!
  • Data is collected on all students.
  • Strong Chancellor support for funding and staffing.
  • Faculty allowed to replace their professional development hours by putting in office hours in the Commons or Gateway Center
  • Faculty hire and select the tutors
  • Partnership for Student Success – Grassroots, faculty-driven effort. Results: 1) funded the Gateway program (tutoring help in classes – all disciplines eligible); 2) gained positions in the Writing Center; 3) innovations effort – faculty can be selected for innovation pilot grants.
  • Learning Center offers SOS type workshops and tutoring.
  • Gateway program is the biggest employer on campus for part-time workers (higher than cafeteria, security, etc.).
  • About 60% of Gateway tutors are current SBCC students, the other 40% are from the community, retirees, UCSB undergrad and graduate students, etc.
  • CRLA certified tutor training coordinated by one office and offered to all tutors on campus. Multiple levels of tutor training offered.
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  • They have 330 tutors to train, oversee, etc.
  • Writing sessions are limited to 30 mins per session
  • Gateway program gets funded from state through Basic Skills, bond monies, and on-going money through G funds - need to make sure can be sustained with stable funding sources.
  • Need adequate, permanent positions for staffing and tutor training (i.e. Gateway Tutoring Center alone has 270 tutors!).

Institution / Strengths / Challenges
Hawai`i Community College /
  • Strong campus culture of ʻohana among all faculty and staff and the community.
  • Have On-Track referral system
  • Put tutors into the classroom or as part of the Learning Community
  • “Kauhale” concept (“campus is a village,” “academic village without walls,” “bridging the silo effect,” “we are all in it together”) - fosters community and networking to support students; chancellor has oversight of and is very strongly committed to and active in promoting. Kauhale mission and outcomes are on posters around campus and on website.
  • Campus culture and value of leadership development, community engagement, and language and cultural parity - “indigeinization” within the UH system - strategic plan.
  • People, language, culture of a place - this should be and is part of the experience of all students.
  • 42% of students are Native Hawaiian
  • Wrote for and received three Title III grants at once!
  • Title III grants focused on: academic success - learning communities - Hawaii Life Styles courses/majors; instructional support - strengthen for student success; engaging communities through cultural protocols - serves as professional/personal/cultural awareness and integration for visitors, campus community, students, etc.; Kīpaipai Committee headed by cultural experts/faculty on staff - offer traditional classes and workshops for faculty/staff community and participation in protocols.
  • Interesting program: when students graduate from Kamehameha High School they automatically get an AA degree.
  • Orientation is mandatory
  • With decentralized services on campus every faculty member becomes part of a network of referral advisors
  • Departments collaborate on creating projects, such as a garden that involves agriculture, culinary, and CAD design students
  • Testing center is co-located with a computer lab where there is always a math/English tutor on duty. Tutoring and training on how to take online tests is one of the services in the computer lab.
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  • 5 centers spread across 4200 square miles (W. Hawaii, Kohala, Honokaa, Hilo, and Hawaii CC)
  • No centralized location (not even a library!) for services.

Honolulu Community College /
  • Academic Success Center (“Retention Center”):
  • Staffed by one faculty, three APT, one clerical, at least one student assistant.
  • Students who place into dev-ed encouraged to contact staff, take writing sample, use writing lab and/or self-paced math class to try to move up a level, provide opportunity for brush up before taking the Compass.
  • Campus initiative - academic alert program - ask all instructors to refer students for alert during entire semester.
  • Staffing - seeking expansion - using C3T funds to hire Academic Coach(es), students to work in a call center, casual hire support.
  • Instead of focusing on “reactive” part of retention, are working with IR to obtain data and create a more “proactive” retention approach.
  • Tutoring program:
  • All drop in but will be transitioning to LCCʻs appointment based model as possibility - more targeted services, less “down time”
  • Uses Tutor Track - integrates with Banner and created in-house database.
  • Assesses service area outcomes, satisfaction with services, and student learning outcomes (using Blooms Taxonomy as a framework, tutor assesses tuteesʻ growth and development as a result of tutoring session(s)).
  • Will start using tutors to run study sessions for instructors/classes
  • Tutoring Center has volunteer faculty/staff list - students can call directly to arrange/schedule tutoring.
  • CTE programs will be having students whoʻve been through first sequence of classes tutor those in entry classes.
  • “I KEA” workshops - new in Spring 2014 (like our SOS) - stampcards; instructors give points/extra credit for attendance; obtained donations from community; students referred through academic alert will be referred to workshops.
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  • Tutoring currently dispersed on campus
  • When asked Dean of Academic Support (unit includes Academic Success Center, Library, Tutoring, IRO, distance learning/ed tech, print/media shop, etc. - unit does not include counseling/student services or academics/instruction) what he would suggest/recommend, based on his experiences, response included:
  • Student success is beyond a center, itʻs a campus initiative.
  • Campus needs a committee on student success - a mechanism to communicate and work with the campus.
  • Connections and relationships with colleagues is important; any new initiative needs to have “promoters” to encourage other faculty to adopt/integrate success strategies, initiative, etc.
  • Remember that KCC is different than HonCC - KCC student population is much larger, so strategies/how employed and staffing levels will be different.

Leeward Community College /
  • Centralized tutoring/Writing Center/Library/Computer lab
  • Strong Writing Center coordinator
  • Clerk in Learning Resources Center manages appointments and length of time spent. Considered critical to smooth running of center. (This kind of support was also acknowledged at the Folsom RAW Center, where the receptionist was key to managing the daily affairs of the center.)
  • Math lab provides math tests
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  • Funding

Windward Community College /
  • Centralized Writing Center/Library/Computer lab/Supplemental Instruction all housed in one building
  • Use of UMKC standardized training for supplemental instruction program
  • Assistive Tech Lab for students with disabilities
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  • Federally funded
  • Whiteboard paint does not work well

University of Hawai`i - Hilo /
  • Strong Kilohana Academic Success Center (including Writing Center), 1 F/T faculty coordinator who coordinates training and services of the Writing Center, Science and Technology and Math Tutoring.
Center ensures students have expertise in more than one area; offers tutor training to all service centers; brochures list services.
  • Have a good Centralized Kīpuka Center for Native Hawn Student Success and Student Development Center - includes focus on tech support, leadership, community service, cultural activism, peer mentor support, academic advising and career counseling, success workshops, financial aid support, cultural practices and protocols, Hawaii Life Styles courses and programs, etc; Hālaulani Transfer Success Center.
  • They have a Retention Management Coordinator! Works with instruction and student services to implement cross campus retention initiatives.
  • Strong faculty advising program (by major) and centralized advising
  • Have dorms and the dorm advisors help in referring students to services; residential living/learning focus – like residential learning community – i.e. STEM focus – aim to have all freshman live on campus.
  • Create an oversight committee with specific faculty who are opinion leaders. Tie it in with institutional research.
  • University 101 course. Afreshman success class. 3 credits. Learning the language that is higher Ed. May be approved for writing intensive. Does not qualify for General education.
  • Practice of intrusive advising. Asks all tutoring centers to do research. Early alert requested of faculty; if a student misses more than 2 classes faculty alerts a counselor or tutoring center.
  • Almost completed - NEW Student Services building (LARGE) - will house and co-locate all student support services - admissions, financial aid, career services, advising, targeted/special programs, international program, health/mental wellness, VC for Academic Affairs (?), VC of Student Affairs, et
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  • Decentralized services within same building for UHH and HawCC
  • No tutors from the Kilohana Center during finals.
  • Funding challenges as all tutors are paid at A3 level ($10.30)
  • Coordinator of Kilohana said haven’t done real assessment of student learning.
  • No current support staff for Retention Management Coordinator to build on program.
  • University 101 course cannot be offered to a large number of freshmen due to lack of resources – faculty to teach, funding, etc.
  • Orientation not mandatory, although there is FYE and Transfer orientation
  • Have a challenge marketing all their services.
  • Interesting that Kilohana Center does not use volunteer or faculty tutors because they are concerned about liability for non-employees and taking work away from paid student tutors.

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