Appendix D: Non-Instructional Program Review Template
VictorValleyCollege
Non-Instructional Program Review
(Planning Year = 2012-13)
(Budget Year = 2013-14)
Report Date: 11/1/12Program: K16 Bridge Program
Program Contact Person: Chris Piercy Campus Phone Extension:
E-mail Address:Division: Student Services
A. PROGRAM OVERVIEW(Make parallels to VVC Mission: Accreditation Standard IA)
The K16 Bridge Program serves the K-12 schools in the VictorValley in order to raise the number of students moving on to a post-secondary institution. The program can be started with students as young as five and continues on until the student successfully transitions from high school to a college, trade school or the military. The program provides: online career assessments, soft skills development, tutoring and learning management system. The goal is to bring together career aspirations, academic support and educational pathway development to put the student and his or her parents in a position of knowing the steps they will need to take to reach their goal. The focus of the K16 Bridge Program has been expanded to meet the new Chancellor’s Office Student Success requirements. For students choosing to attend VVC they can receive priority registration from the first semester of their freshman year or two full years of priority registration if they meet the Bridge Scholar requirements. Starting Spring 2013, we will be expanding K16 Bridge Scholar Program to feeder high school Midterm Graduates.
In person to person interviews with all twenty-three feeder high school site administrators and their district supervisors, they expressed support of the program and pledged to expand it to the lower grades. One concern that surfaced is that of the scores achieved by their seniors on the Accuplacer college placement exam. The results of the class of 2012 Accuplacer exams showed a very low number meeting college readiness standards. Approximately 1,566 seniors took the exam as part of the matriculation process, only 63 seniors scored high enough in math to be considered college ready. The impact of these results will hopefully be the adoption of our new Bridge Math Acceleration Program that is based on the Senior Math Acceleration Program now being piloted at AntelopeValleyCollege (also a BridgeCollege). The program which was created in concert with EducoSoft of Atlanta will be piloted at Serrano High School and the Academy for Academic Excellence this year with the result begin shared with the other feeder schools. The course will require the participating students to first take the Accuplacer exam, followed by the course, then a re-test with the college placement exam. We are also looking at developing a math and English camp using another software platform to analyze the efficiency of both programs. The camp will include pre and post testing using the Accuplacer exam. Our goal is to see a two level rise among participating students. We believe that these programs will be a positive step in aligning secondary and post-secondary curriculum in math and English.
The K16 Bridge Counselors worked with the Victor Valley College Counseling department to take the students through a documented process of matriculation. We are currently working with the LewisCenter for Educational Research to develop and online, automated matriculation check off list. This program will align with our efforts to meet the Student Success requirement of a student report card. The information gathered from this process will be moved to the college where it and the career assessment information gained through EUREKA will be added to the students college pathway. The K16 Bridge Program, VVC, and the Lewis Center have also implemented a high school four year plan and preliminary college education plan that will feed into a customized online full education plan that meets VVC standards. Approximately 2,500 seniors from VVC feeder schools will be transitioning over to the online matriculation process this year. That process will include:application, career assessment, financial aid, online orientation, college placement testing, and the development of an online preliminary education plan. The K16 Bridge Program upholds VVC’s Mission and Goals in support of matriculation through the use of technological partnership innovations, onsite support, and data analysis to increase student retention and persistence.
B. PROGRAM ASSESSMENT (Make parallels to VVC Mission: Accreditation Standard IA)
1. Service Area Outcomes (SAOs) - Current Assessments (see Accreditation Standard IB)
PLEASE RESPOND TO QUESTIONS BELOW FOR EACH ASSESSMENT YOU ARE REPORTING.
What was assessed? What was learned? What actions will be taken to apply what was learned to program improvements?
SAO #1: To increase the number of fully matriculated incoming freshman according to the new Student Success requirements mandated to begin in the fall of 2014.
Assessment: In 2012, 1965 seniors in the region complete the all of the matriculation process except the testing portion. Seniors were advised to not take the Accuplacer exam unless they were planning on attending VVC. Of the 1965 seniors 1,566 took the exam and completed the rest of the matriculation standards. However, assessment data has been gathered but not evaluated by the Office of Institutional Research. K16 Bridge will work with the Office of Institutional Research in completing the evaluation of data and the creation of a evaluation procedure.
Learned: What we learned was that we needed to automate the collection of data and keep a real time record of where students were in the process.
Action: Working with the LewisCenter for Educational Research and VVC MIS department we are now developing and automated system and data pipeline for tracking the matriculation process.
SAO #2:To reduce the amount of remediation courses in math and English 1st time freshman need to reach transferable courses.
Assessment: This year we are piloting the Bridge Math Acceleration Program (BMAP) and an online rememdiation course. The BMAP program is being piloted at SerranoHigh School with 35 students who have taken the Accuplacer exam and are now going through the BMAP course. This course is being run as a hybrid with both online work and in class instruction. Once students have completed the course they will be retest on the Accuplacer exam. We are also working on a spring pilot with e2020 (an online provider of courses) and the Victor Valley College Foundation to offer an online, fee based, no unit course to provide remediation to Bridge seniors who upon completion of the Accuplacer College Placement Exam find themselves below college readiness. Students completing the e2020 course will be eligible to be retested with the Accuplacer exam.
Learned: We have discovered that the main reason for low math placement scores is the fact
most students in their senior year do not take a math course at their high school. Because of this fact high schools do not budget for math teachers to provide addition Math instruction for seniors.
Action: We are currently developing two remediation programs to meet the needs of our
Bridge schools and their unique needs. The BMAP course is offered to schools that can move staff to cover this senior course and the camp for those that are unable to meet the staffing needs. The e2020 course will be provided, through the Victor Valley Foundation, to all Bridge seniors that have completed all required matriculation steps and have taken the Accuplacer exam.
SAO #3:To increase the level of retention and the completion of degrees and certificates among K16 Bridge students.
Assessment: As part of the matriculation process seniors are now required to complete a career assessment so that we can develop career pathways prior to arriving at VVC.
Learned: Recent studies have found that students with a clear career plan and pathway are more likely to stay in school and earn a degree or certificate.
Action: Starting this year we will be replacing our traditional EUREKA.org career assessment for a new system created specifically for the K16 Bridge Program. This new assessment tool will provide us with career information plus learning styles, personality types, and college selections. This information will be important in our efforts to develop a new student support program called “Bridge Cares”. Data will also be provided to the Office of Institutional Research as part of the evaluation process.
2. Progress on Standards or Program-Related Accreditation Recommendations (see Accreditation Standard IVA4)
Which accreditation standards / recommendations were addressed?
What did the program do to address the standards / recommendation(s)?
What has the impact of those actions been to date?
What next steps will be taken?
The K16 Bridge Program meets Standard IV A4 in that the program communicates clear and accurate information as to the “educational quality and institutional effectiveness” of the college to the public. The K16 Bridge Program meets the Standard through a communication network that allows of the distribution of information and the collection of feedback in an accurate and timely manner. The K16 Bridge Program supports a network of high school counselors (known as Bridge Counselors) who receive a small stipend from the college to attend meetings, trainings and workshops. These Bridge Counselors then return to their campuses to convey to administrators, parents and students information concerning the college. The K16 Bridge Program also has a yearly Kick Off Conference to bring all educational stakeholders at the twenty-three participating feeder high schools up-to-date on college programs, activities and matriculation process.
The results of the Bridge Counselor Program and the yearly Kick Off Conference has been a noticeable change in the relationship of the college with its feeder high schools. The best indicator of this change has been the increasing attendance of site, district and county administrators at the yearly events and the response of superintendents during quarterly visits. The goal for next year is to begin the process of alignment under the new Common Core Standards for K-12 and the new Student Success Requirements (SB 1456). The K16 Bridge Program will be working to develop workshops in the spring of 2013 to begin the process of aligning Common Core English standards with the desire to increase the college readiness of seniors.
3. Progress on Educational Master Plan Initiatives(see Accreditation Standard IB)
What EMP strategic planning prioritiesare impacted by the program's EMP initiative/goal?
What did the program do to implement its EMP initiative/goal?
What has the impact of those actions been to date?
What next steps will be taken?
The K16 Bridge Program’ service area outcomes support VVC’s Educational Master Plan strategic priorities # 2. “Expand the use of technology….” and #5. “Collaborate with regional K12 schools….” (VVC’s Educational Master Plan 2012 and Beyond, p. 41 and 42). The Victor Valley College MIS department, The Lewis Center for Educational Research, EUREKA the Career Assessment System will continue to work together this fall and winter in building the data pipeline necessary to create a real time matriculation completion system. This idea is that this will become a model for other colleges and their feeder school to utilize in their matriculation program. The data pipeline would allow the Lewis Center (an educational institution that is allowed under FERPA to collect K-12 data) to push career and academic data to Victor Valley College. This data could included specific career information that could be sent to individual departments at VVC for planning and outreach purposes. Data from the pipeline could also be made available to the Office of Institutional Research for evaluation, tracking and research purposes. Victor Valley College for its part would be able to notify incoming seniors as to their matriculation status and opportunities within their chosen field. Students would have a real time check list that could provide them, their school and VVC the ability to monitor progress towards being fully matriculated. The goal isto have this system in place by the start of the Bridge Senior Steps program in March of 2013 to be piloted at selected schools. Following the pilot and evaluation process the program will be expanded to all twenty-three high schools beginning in the fall of 2013. All four organizations have agreed to this completion and implementation time table.
4. External Factors(see Accreditation Standards IB, IIB)
What was assessed?What was learned?Based on what was learned, what actions will be taken to make program improvements?
External Legislative Factors / SB 1456 – The Student Success Act impacting the K16 Bridge Program include:
•SB 1456 providing a “policy framework” and re-focus of matriculation on core services of orientation, assessment, and counseling/advising to assist students in developing education plans
•Leveraging technology to reach a greater number of students
ASSESSED:The K16 Bridge Programs ability to meet all the demands of SB 1456 with regards to
high school seniors transitioning to the status of first time college freshman.
LEARNED: We learned that the willingness of VVC’s feeder high schools to participate in the
the program was directly related to our ability to provide priority registration to their
seniors. The granting of priority registration status to Bridge seniors allowed us to
implement matriculation guidelines at the senior level and development of pathway
systems starting in a student’s freshman year in high school. We also learned that
students needed a easier and quicker career assessment system and pre-college
remediation in math and English. In order to accommodate these new systems and
to provide data directly to the college a new data pipeline will be developed. This
pipeline, along with the development of other programs will be additional pressure
on the technology department at the Lewis Center and VVC’s MIS department.
ACTION: We are instituting a new career assessment system (EUREKA Express), multiple
pre-college remedial programs in math and English and an online career pathway system.
The data pipeline project is entering the planning and design stage. In order to support
these efforts the Lewis Center and VVC are seeking outside funding sources. The Lewis
Center has hired a grant writer to focus on gaining Foundational funding for program
development and support. Victor Valley College is also seeking funds to help provide
funding for Lewis Center services and additional expansion of the program. The K16
Bridge Program in its current form is funded at VVC through general funds.
5. Internal Factors(see Accreditation Standard IB)
The K16 Bridge Program encompasses a unique collaboration between the non-profit Lewis Center for Educational Research, Victor Valley College and twenty-three feeder high schools. VVC’s MIS department is currently working with the Lewis Center to create an online, documented, matriculation system that will insure that seniors meet all of the new Student Success Act (SB 1456).
a. Customer Service Assessment
The K16 Bridge Program has created a communication network between VVC and its regional feeder schools that allows both parties to dialogue at a novel level of communication. By utilizing veteran counselors at each feeder site through the K16 Bridge Counselor Program we are able to connect college and high school administrators, counselors and staff. This communication network is highly effective and efficient in getting information to and from the college. Future students are now entering VVC having completed the matriculation process and having a clear pathway in place before they enter their first college class. With our new Bridge Math Acceleration Program and online remedial course we will be meeting the needs of students wanting to enter their post-secondary work college ready. The information gathered from these programs will be made readily available to VVC through the data pipeline and through agreements with the providers of the online BMAP and remedial courses. In the recent study, “Time is the Enemy”, it was shown that the more time a student must stay at a community college the more likely that they would fail to complete their course of study. The K16 Bridge Program is at its heart a communication, support and training system that prides itself on meeting the needs of all students and creating a stronger bond between VVC and its feeder schools.
b. Quality of Service Assessment
i. Use of Human Resources (see Accreditation Standard IIIA)
Describe the process for evaluating all program personnel to make sure they are current. How does the program make sure that all program personnel continue to be qualified by appropriate trainingand professional development experiences? If the current staffing level or training schedule is not adequate, please specify the staffing and/or training required to maintain quality service levels and the standard used todefine “quality.”
Each fiscal year, the K16 Bridge Program staff are re-hired as special assignment/part-time academic services. The K16 Counselors meet the minimum qualifications (Minimum Qualifications for Faculty and Administrators in California Community Colleges, January 2012) while serving as a K16 Bridge Counselor. There is no standard policy for special assignment/part-time academic services staff to have a yearly employee performance evaluation completed. To address this, the Dean of Student Services and K16 Bridge Director require all K16 Bridge Counselors to attend a mandatory training (conducted at beginning of academic year) for explanation and completion of K16 Bridge Counselor Scope of Work Duties, also requiring each K16 Bridge Counselor to sign an individual Scope of Work Duties contract.