EAST LOS ANGELES COLLEGE
Educational Plan Subcommittee Minutes
 Tuesday, March 15, 2005


 

I. CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER
     The meeting was called to order at 2:05 p.m.

II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
     M/S/P (Unanimous vote to approve the minutes of the February 15, 2005 meeting with one change—IV, b change “referring” to “referral”

III. ROLE AND STRUCTURE OF EPSC: K. Daar distributed a second draft of the Educational Plan Subcommittee flowchart incorporating comments from the previous meeting.

IV. REMEDIATION: K. Daar reported that the English and non-credit departments have responded positively to sending representatives to be a part of a remediation committee. However, the Math department has not yet indicated that it will participate. D. Beaulieu reported on the District meeting with district leaders, college presidents, vice-presidents and Academic Senate presidents with Linda Hagedorn (TRUCCS) and Sylvia Scott-Hayes about remediation. There is much interest by others in the District in approaching remediation as a District and investigating issues such as so why many male students (approximately 40%) in the District do not progress. The DAS will work with administrators to set up a taskforce on remediation. D. Beaulieu further stated that the creation of a District committee should not preclude our efforts to create a committee at East to strive for parallel efforts. D. Beaulieu and K. Daar will continue to organize a remediation committee on campus. K. Daar also distributed to the committee different assessment instruments for Math and English, supplied by S. Morales.

1. R. Moyer stated that speakers at the District meeting emphasized how important it is to have signposts along the way to mark a student’s progress, and he reminded the committee that the District previously promised money for an audit system--a valuable tool which has since had the kibosh placed on it. He suggested that it could be resurrected quickly. R. Moyer also suggested the committee investigate Pierce College’s automated orientation and to incorporate into English course syllabi writing assignments requiring students to visit and write about counseling, financial aid, etc. to further educate students about ELAC. R. Moyer also stated that the District’s remediation meeting turned to the nation-wide problem of a widening discrepancy between male and female enrollments. At ELAC, for example, there are two females to each male enrolled (at Southwest, 83% of its enrollment are females). R. Moyer suggested creating syllabi that may appeal to more males.
2. D. Beaulieu reported that the TRUCCS survey of 5000 students, approximately 2400 plus women and 1600 plus men, not only showed the gender discrepancy in enrollment, but also in performance. After four years of continued enrollment within the District, 34% of women and 43% of the men have made very little apparent progress. Although East’s performance rates are a bit better than some other sister colleges, lack of student completion is still a significant issue.
3. R. Martinez stated that some of Voc Ed funding, VTEA, is designated for recruitment. She continued that if ELAC had an audit program, the college would be able to increase completion rates. In the year 2000, East found that many students were eligible, or were real close to obtaining a degree. By informing students of their eligibility, perhaps by purchasing software that will automatically inform students that they are up for a degree or certificate, ELAC can increase completion numbers and gain funding from entities, like VTEA, that look for completion rates.
4. C. Rozadilla stated that such software would be wonderful, as students coming in with other transcripts would not go through the big mystery of whether or not they are near completion at this college as that information would be readily available. She stated that Mt. Sac College even indicates eligibility for a degree or certificate directly on a student’s transcripts.
5. R. Moyer stated that biggest problem with the audit system is not ELAC providing the material for the framework of the assessment, but rather getting an analysis of this information through an informational system. This requires the District InfoTech to address this potentially political issue. The District will say they are busy and that this endeavor is not important. R. Moyer suggested that if we find the right system, perhaps the politicians amongst us could get the District to get involved. He further informed the committee that at West Los Angeles College, ClassTrack is being piloted. The program looks over several years of class enrollments and scheduling to help with planning procedures.
6. S. Morales offered to request for someone from West to give a demonstration of ClassTrack on this campus.
7. D. Beaulieu stated that it would be effective if the District took the lead to better organize remediation efforts. He shared with the committee that Sylvia Scott-Hayes thinks that there is a lack of faculty buy-in for remediation, whereas faculty thinks there is a lack of administrative leadership on the issue. It would be helpful for Sylvia Scott-Hayes to know that there is a large faction of faculty on campus interested in this issue.