Members Present:

Fernando Lara, Velda Pena, Candace Duron, Juana Escobedo, Stacie Rancano, Nancy Artiga, Karen Ziegler, Jill Brown, Paul Blake, Agnes Eguaras and Adam Hightower

Approval of Minutes

• Minutes for the 2/12/15 meeting were approved.

GC RETREAT

• Some members felt they didn’t gain as much as they expected to at the retreat.
• Some members enjoyed hearing an outside perspective on techniques and tools for the college to utilize.
• Committee members asked “what do we do with this information?”
• Darcy stated they need to focus on 1 or 2 things that is scalable to help students complete their courses.

SUCCESS PLAN

• Darcy distributed an exercise that was used at the GC retreat to provide them an example of problems identified by GC Retreat attendees and research practices suggested to solve the problems.
• Darcy stated at the retreat they were provided TC retention and completion data for the exercises (not including distance learning students).
• At the retreat, it was stressed that history was more important and you learn more from what has happened in the past. Data confirms what we are doing has helped.
• Darcy suggested creating focus groups to get input on how to provide the right strategies and courses.
• Should the committee focus on the biggest problem and how to impact it?
• Maybe the committee should focus on things they can control and what really matters such as course completion and retention?
• How do we break habits?
• Maybe they should look at solutions that are scalable?
• Use data to tell a story.
• What do they want to see changed?
• Each person has their own opinion but by working together they can collectively find out what the cause of identified problems are? Quit guessing and use data or history.
• Online course vs. on-campus courses may have different reasons for success/failure.

Next Meeting

• TBA

• ---

  Student Success Minutes (4.9.15)

Members Present:

Fernando Lara, Velda Pena, Candace Duron, Juana Escobedo, Stacie Rancano, Nancy Artiga, Karen Ziegler, Laura L’Ecuyer, Lourdes Gonzalez, Jill Brown, Paul Blake, and Adam Hightower

Guests:    Mark Williams

Approval of Minutes

• Minutes for the 12/11/14 meeting were approved.

Committee Goals

• Due to new members being presented, Darcy reviewed some committee goals developed for the SSC for Spring 2015.

Strategic Action Plan

• Darcy reviewed the District’s Strategic Action Plan (SAP), mainly Objectives 1.1 through 2.1.
• Darcy stated the SSC needs to focus on aligning these objectives with their committee goals.

Training (Mark Williams, VP of Instruction)

• Mark distributed a handout regarding his proposal for an all-day training event being planned by him and the Access Committee.
• The event is planned for Friday, March 20th and the first half will be an all-campus presentation by Manual Pastor regarding demographic data, explaining trends and outliers and how to train ourselves to become skilled in the use of demographic data.
• The second half of the day will continue with Manual Pastor working with the Access and Student Success Committees to review their plans and goals.
• The Student Success Committee needs to focus on how to adopt new practices to improve student success.
• We need to evaluate what currently works and what doesn’t.
• We need to figure out what we are trying to solve and how to move forward to address this area.
• Darcy is planning on using the Completion by Design model to accomplish these tasks and goals.
• We need to utilize available data such as the scorecards and demographics to analyze where we stand regarding student success.
• Darcy also asked the members to examine what has been done in their department or program for students that succeed and to bring back that feedback to the committee.

Other

• The Governance Council will be having their annual retreat on February 27, 2015. Brad Phillips will be the guest speaker and discuss the importance of data and how to use it.
• There is limited space for this event, so Darcy asked those that are interested to please let her know.
• Darcy stated she would email a vocabulary document out to the SSC members.

Next Meeting

• The next meeting will be Thursday, March 12, 2015.

Student Success Minutes (2.15.15)

Members Present:

Fernando Lara, Candace Duron, Stacie Rancano, Nancy Artiga, Laura Riss, Juana Escobedo, Vicki Jacobi, and Jill Brown

Approval of Minutes

• Minutes for the 11/13/14 meeting were approved.

Innovation Grant Opportunity (Jill Brown)

• Jill discussed a one-time grant opportunity for the District.
• The money can be spent on innovative projects with no restrictions.
• The deadline is January 9, 2015.
• Jill stated she would be working with CSUB and BC in submitting the application for this award.
• Jill asked for ideas and projects to be emailed to her to include in her write-up such as mentor program, supplies such as IPad, etc.
• Jill stated she will review the requirements, reporting, and tracking of this grant in more detail and forward the information to the committee for their review also.
• Jill stated she needed information on innovative projects done in the past such as with STEM, CTE, TUHS, SI, internships, and ADT to include in her report. (Past-Present-Future)

Committee Goals

• Darcy reviewed several committee goals developed for the SSC for Spring 2015.
• There were concerns expressed that there were too many goals at once and maybe we should focus on 1 or 2 at a time.
• Researching and gathering data was a big concern.
• Incomplete and/or inaccurate data and not being able to rely on the data to make decisions was also a concern.
• Understanding the data and who will provide the data was a concern.
• It was recommended to divide in smaller working groups with a lead person and charge to address a specific goal or changes that need to be made based on data or feedback.
• Each group could analyze the data, create a plan or idea, and summarize their findings and recommendations for the committee to review.
• It was suggested to focus on goals #1 and #2:
  1. Coordinate the development of the SSSP plan with the Student Equity Plan.
  2. Develop a research agenda and review initial data/research (understand and establish a foundation)
• Goal #5 “Establish data teams/workgroups to investigate the data” could easily follow after goal #1 and #2 were achieved.

Next Meeting

• TBD

Student Success Minutes (12.11.14)

Members Present:

Candace Duron and Stacie Rancano

Approval of Minutes

Minutes for the 10/9/14 meeting were approved with a correction to the date noted for the next meeting to reflect Thursday.

Committee Goals

• Darcy requested members to create committee goals to achieve the mission of the committee.

Strategic Plan

• Darcy reviewed the District’s Strategic Action Plan which was created from the Master Education Plan.
• The Strategic Action Plan outlines specific objectives in areas such as student learning/success, equity, business/industry/community, facilities, and institutional planning/effectiveness along with action items, due dates, expected outcomes, and champion (responsible party).
• She asked the member to review the Strategic Action Plan and visualize how to incorporate these with the committee’s goals.
• Darcy stated we need to review the Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) and align them with our goals to create Student Service Outcomes for program effectiveness.
• Darcy suggested a student survey to begin the process of reviewing the effectiveness of our programs and services. She would like to review the results in December.
• If you have any feedback on the Strategic Action Plan, please email Darcy or Eric Bérubé.

Data Teams

• Create data teams to analyze data such as surveys, reports, etc. to review effectiveness and equity of services and programs for our students.
• Implement plans and ideas to build support for student success at Taft College.
• The data teams will be working groups with leads and will help determine the best way to impact students’ base on the data studied.

Other

• It was suggested that the Student Services staff participate in quarterly team-building activities to help strengthen relationships and build moral within the department.

Next Meeting

• Thursday, December 11, 2014, 2:10-3:30pm, Cougar Room

Student Success Minutes (11.13.14)

Members Present:

Jill Brown, Stacie Rancano, Karen Ziegler, Candace Duron, Fernando Lara, Nancy Artiga, Sam Aunai, Mark Williams, Darcy Bogle, and Daisy Guitron (ASB Rep)

Members Absent:

Lourdes Gonzalez, Vicki Jacobi, Juana Rangel-Escobedo, Paul Blake, and Linda West

Success and Equity Presentation

• Darcy reviewed the committee’s charter and responsibilities (copy attached to official minutes).
• Darcy also reviewed the Student Equity Plan Overview and the Student Success and Support Program Plan (copy attached to official minutes).
• Darcy reviewed the Student Success Score Card found on the Chancellor’s website.
• The Student Success Score Card is a performance measurement system of students in the areas of access, completion, and retention by factors such as gender, age, and ethnicity.
• These are tools for the committee to use and see how we stand as a District and state-wide to other colleges.
• The committee needs to determine what is student success and what should the District focus on to assist students in succeeding at Taft College.
• As student success specialists, we need to determine what role we play in student success.
• Darcy stated we are looking at following the “Completion by Design” Model by Robert Johnstone to redesign systems and programs for student success and focus on student completion. The model takes a look at the following factors and the role they play in student success:
  • Connection
  • Entry
  • Progress
  • Completion
• Darcy stated we need to also understand common barriers and close achievement gaps in access and success.
• Mark discussed the concept of “equity” as defined by the use of the 80% rule. The 80% rule is used as a benchmark to determine “equity” among students,
• Mark stated this tool allows us to see what areas/groups we may need to focus on and work towards a common goal.

3SP Plan

• Darcy stated they are currently working on the 3SP plan and has requested input from all areas.
• She requested departments to send any hiring needs, priorities, or purchase requests that will assist in working towards the goal of student success and equity to include in the 3SP plan.
• Darcy gave examples of some suggested needs such as a Programmer, Bi-lingual counselor, and hiring new faculty. There were also other needs from areas such as new computers and staff training/professional development.
• It was suggested to involve a more diversified group of students in the meetings to provide input. It was also suggested to use surveys such as with Blackboard for quick feedback and possibly offer incentives to students who complete the survey.
• It’s also important to keep in mind that funding decreases each year; next year it reduces to 80% then to 50% the 3rd year.
• Equity is funded at $200,000 with no match required and cannot be used to fund current expenses.

Next Steps

• Darcy stated at the next meeting the committee will need to gather data and analyze how Taft College is doing in the area of student success and set goals. This process may take a year.
• The 2nd year we will need to implement and put forward our ideas and goals.

Next Meeting

• Wednesday, November 13, 2014, 2:00-3:30pm, Cougar Room

Student Success Minutes (10.9.14)

I. Approval of minutes

II. Charter

The charter was reviewed and modified based upon feedback from Governance Council and additional discussion with the committee. Mission and responsibilities seemed appropriate. Membership representation was slightly modified to include key individuals across campus.

III. Enrollment Priorities

Changes to the overall enrollment priority process were reviewed, and it was agreed that the current priorities meet the interest of our students, and the new mandates of 3SP. Further discussion was recommended on separate enrollment periods for summer and fall, and when enrollment priorities should begin (before or after the semester is completed).

IV. Celebrate Success

A Recognition Dinner is scheduled for Friday, April 25th, 6:00-8:00pm. Approximately 25 students and 25 employees will be honored. The dinner is designed to be a fun night to celebrate the accomplishments of our successful, influential, dedicated and hard working students, staff, faculty, and community partners. All honorees will receive a glass globe award, and a gift certificate to the Cougar Corner Bookstore!

I. Next Meeting

Thursday, April 24th, 2:10-3:30, S-11

Student Success Minutes (3.27.14)