1. Student Equity Planning,
the Achievement Gap
and Student Success
Linda Michalowski, Vice Chancellor for Student Services and Special Programs, CCCCO
Debra Sheldon, Student Success and Support Program Specialist, CCCCO
Deborah DiThomas, President, Barstow College
Community Colleges League of California 2014 Legislative Conference
January 26, 2014

2. Why Student Equity ?
From the Academic Senate’s “Guidelines for Developing a Student Equity Plan”
... It matters to our future and to our students… California will not be a pleasant place to live for any of us if a permanent underclass largely composed of those from ethnic minorities has little stake in society and little hope for the future. We can now easily see how economically weak and socially explosive such a society would be. If community colleges work successfully in the effort to increase rates of student success, the State just might have a better future. If we fail, it is hard to imagine who else can make up for our failure.
Linda
We actually stole this quote from Debbie DiThomas’ presentation which was taken from one of the first CCC Academic Senate papers on Student Equity, first of all because we really like it, but secondly because it really sums up quite well why working to improve student equity matters not only to students but to us, our communities and to the State as a whole.

3. Student Equity Planning in the CCC’s
Background
Origins and purpose of CCC student equity planning
Requirements
Resources
Local College Experiences
Your Input
Linda
During the presentation, I and Debra Sheldon, Specialist in Student Services my office are going to cover the background and history of student equity planning in the community colleges, a high-level overview of some of the requirements for the plan and some resources that are available from the Chancellor’s Office to help colleges complete their plans. Then Debbie DiThomas, President at Barstow College, is going to share her experiences with promoting student equity planning and implementation at 3 colleges, Riverside, Norco and Barstow and at the Riverside Community College district.

4. Student Equity Background
1992 — in response to legislation the BOG adopted a student equity policy to ensure that historically underrepresented groups have equal opportunity for access, success, and transfer; requiring districts to develop, implement, & evaluate a student equity plan.
1996, the BOG amended its policy to establish the adoption of a student equity plan as a minimum standard for receipt of state funding.
Linda
The BOG has a long history of concern and focus on the need for student Equity, and providing equity and achieving student success has been a foundational principle at the heart of the creation of community colleges.

5. Student Equity Background
2002 — BOG adopted recommendations of Task Force on Equity and Diversity for title 5 regulations requiring colleges to develop Student Equity Plan
2003 — Chancellor's Office provided guidelines to colleges for development of the plan
2005 — Chancellor's Office asked colleges to update/complete Student Equity plan
Linda

6. Student Equity Background
to economic downturn resulted in:
State budget cuts
Suspension of many regulatory requirements
Categorical program flexibility
2011— Student Success Task Force established
2012— Student Success Act of 2012 (SB1456) and reaffirmation of student equity
2013—Student Equity Workgroup convened
Linda

7. Student Equity Background
2014—Governor proposes to include an additional $100 million of SSSP funding to
“close achievement gaps in access and success in underrepresented student groups, as identified in local student equity plans.”
if approved, current budget bill, SB 851 (Leon), language specifies that the Chancellor’s Office shall allocate funds to districts “in a manner that ensures districts with a greater proportion or number of students who are high-need, as determined by the Chancellor’s Office, receive greater resources to provide services to these students.”
Linda
Although the BOG has made student equity planning a minimum standard for receipt of state funding since 1996 and has long recognized the importance of student equity, until the passage of the Student Success Act of 2012, student equity was not tied to any categorical program and did not receive formal funding through the legislative budget process. In January of 2014, in recognition and support of the importance of the need to identify and support equity and success for all students, the governor’s budget proposed to target $100 million of additional Student Success and Support Program (SSSP) funding to close achievement gaps in access and success in underrepresented student groups, as identified in local student equity plans.

8. Student Equity Background
Governor’s new proposal for student equity SSSP funding are based upon similar concepts found in the new K-12 Local Control Funding Formula:
Provide more money to districts where “the need and the challenge is greatest.”
Give local districts more authority to decide how to spend the money, and hold them accountable for the results
Funding for Student Equity is a proposal and is subject to change.
Linda
The Governors proposal is based on similar concepts to what were put into law in 2013 in AB 97 creating the new K-12 Local Control Funding Formula. Two primary goals of the new K-12 formula is to 1) improve academic outcomes by providing more money to school districts that serve high-needs students, and 2) to give local school districts more authority to decide how to spend education dollars, and hold them accountable for getting results. An interesting feature of the K-12 formula is for the first time, parents, students, teachers, and other community members be involved in the process of deciding how new funds are spent.
But remember this is very early in the budget process and this proposal is subject to change.

9. What is Student Equity Planning?
Success Indicators
Access
Course Completion
ESL and Basic Skills Completion
Degree and Certificate Completion
Transfer
Student Success and Support Services: The effect of mandatory participation of new students in SSSP services the other indicators
Planning Steps
Establish Committee
Conduct Research
Develop Goals and Outcomes
Develop Actions to Address and Monitor Disparities
Implement Actions
Coordinate with the SSS Program Plan (SB 1456)
Review progress and Make Needed Changes
Debbie Sheldon
Student equity planning is a college or district-wide planning effort that focuses on increasing access, course completion, ESL and basic skills completion, degrees, certificates and transfer for all students as measured by success indicators linked to the CCC Student Success Scorecard, and other measures developed in consultation with local colleges. “Success indicators” are used to identify and measure areas for which disadvantaged populations may be impacted by issues of equal opportunity. Each college develops specific goals/outcomes and actions to address disparities that are discovered, disaggregating data for indicators by student demographics, preferably in program review. College plans must describe the implementation of each indicator, as well as policies, activities and procedures as they relate to student equity at the college.
*Disaggregate data by student demographics

10. Student Equity Requirements
Required Populations to be addressed:
American Indians or Alaskan natives
Asians or Pacific Islanders
Blacks
Hispanics
Whites
Men
Women
Persons with disabilities.
Debbie Sheldon
at a minimum, colleges must review and address the following populations when looking at disproportionate impact in student equity plans, but colleges can also look at other groups if their unique circumstances and student populations seem to warrant it.

11. Student Equity Recommendations
Integrate Student Equity planning into college and district wide planning efforts:
Accreditation
Educational master planning
Program review
Student Success & Support Program Plan
Basic Skills Plan
Adopt a holistic approach to planning, budgeting, and delivery of services to support equity in student access and success
Debbie Sheldon
These are recommendations from the Student Equity Workgroup, not requirements because some of them will require us to change Title 5 and we have not yet had time to do that. But…
The goal is to adopt a holistic approach since student equity is an institution-wide responsibility.

12. Student Equity Requirements
1212
Debbie Sheldon
One of the areas in the draft plan template that may still be revised is the timeframe. Based on input we have received, we may change the planning timeframe to a 6 year period to sync with the accreditation cycle. Instead of an annual update, we may change that to a requirement for colleges to continue to review progress towards goals in annual program review. We are still discussing what mechanism could be used to report progress to us on an annual basis and would love to hear your suggestions on the time frame at the end of the presentation.
Student Equity Requirements
Draft Student Equity Plan Timeline:
Planning timeframe of 3-5 years
Annual update
Initial Plan Due October 17, 2014

13. Student Equity Planning Resources
1313
Student Equity Planning Resources
Chancellor’s Office Student Equity web page:
Student Equity Fact Sheet
Draft Revised Student Equity Plan Template
Guides for Measuring Disproportionate Impact in Equity Plans

14. Student Equity Planning Resources
1414
Student Equity Planning Resources
Academic Senate for California Community Colleges:
(includes papers related to equity and basic skills)
California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office:
Includes basic skills, retention/success rate, etc.
Includes the Disproportionate Impact Guide developed by the RP Group
Disproportionate Impact Webinar: Coming soon!

15. Action Planning: Questions for Consideration
How are you monitoring disproportionate impact?
Who is or needs to be involved in this effort?
How often should available data be examined to note progress or a need for additional changes?
Which groups of students are likely to be affected and/or targeted?
What kind of training or professional development is needed?
Debbie Sheldon
These are some great questions to help colleges develop their plans that were developed by the Research and Planning Group for us in the Guide for measuring disproportionate impact posted on our web site.

16. Guiding Questions Where is disproportionate impact an issue?
What strategies and approaches have colleges successfully implemented to mitigate it?
What data can be accessed to explore the issue?
What relevant analyses can be conducted to monitor changes in disproportionate impact?
How can colleges use this information for action planning and improvement?

17. Local College Experiences
Deborah DiThomas,
President, Bartsow College
Former VP of Student Services at Norco College
Former Vice Chancellor of Student Services at Riverside Community College District
Former VP of Student Services and Dean of Matriculation at Riverside College

18. Student Equity Planning
“Student Equity: The task is not simply to produce a plan, but to make a difference.” Mike Anker

19. From the Academic Senate’s 1992-93 “Guidelines for Developing a Student Equity Plan”
... It matters to our future and to our students…California will not be a pleasant place to live for any of us if a permanent underclass largely composed of those from ethnic minorities has little stake in society and little hope for the future. We can now easily see how economically weak and socially explosive such a society would be. If community colleges work successfully in the effort to increase rates of student success, the State just might have a better future. If we fail, it is hard to imagine who else can make up for our failure.

20. What Did We Discover through our Student Equity Plan at RCCD?

21. Student Equity Plan Major Research Findings
Access OK ~ Ethnically, RCCD’s student population mirrors the service area ~
African American students had the lowest levels of course completion rates (61%).
For transfer courses only, all ethnicities of student except for Hispanic, Native American, and African American students rose to the mid-70 in percent by with African American performing the lowest (65%).
The lowest large ethnic group reporting course completion in all courses was Black males (57.9%).
African American students over-represented (9% in service area, 12% of district population).

22. Student Equity Plan Major Research Findings
Hispanic and African American had the lowest success rates (63% and 75% respectively) in transferable English.
Percentages of students who successfully passed through the entire English sequence ~ White-33%; African American 28%; Hispanic—30%
Asian students passed nontransferable math 20 percentage points higher than African American students (65% to 45%, respectively).
Those who continued to transferable college math 9% passed the course. (Asians passed at 13% ~ African Americans 6%.
African-Americans were least successful in completing college level English.

23. What did we do with these findings?
Gathered dedicated professionals to figure out how to address the need
Researched other colleges’ programs
Provided funding
Staff Development
Continued support
Process for evaluation
Renaissance Scholars Program
The Talented Tenth Program (T3P)
Ujima

24. Major Goal of Plan:
A “Student Equity Implementation Task Force,” under the direction of the Academic Senate and consisting of representation from administration, faculty, staff, students and community members was formed during spring of 2005.
Is responsible for oversight of implementation of all plan activities.
Consults with Office of Institutional Research to develop and implement all Equity Plan evaluation work to ensure that the research will be in keeping with the spirit of the document.
A sub-committee to address the needs of the African American Student population was formed on each campus.

25. Student Equity Funding
05 ~ 06:
$2,000 from AVC’s Contingency Fund
$3,000 per campus from Matriculation
Participated in Budget Process for 06 – 07
06 ~ 07:
$5,000 per campus from Matriculation (Small stipend per campus to pay for faculty leadership.)
$5,000 per campus from General Fund (actual Budget Line Item for Student Equity!)
Ujima

26. Student Equity Policy/Procedure
AP 5300 includes the following:
The Plan will be updated and sent to the State Chancellor’s Office every five (5) years.
The Student Equity Plan has been developed, maintained, and updated under the supervision of the Academic Senate Sub-committee for Student Equity. The Plan is on file, and can be viewed, in the Office of the Chief Student Services Officer on each campus.
It can also be viewed online at: quity%20Plan%

27. Observable Outcomes (SLO’s )
District Student Equity Team
Three Campus Student Equity Teams
Three Campus African American Success Initiatives
General Fund and Categorical Money Devoted to Student Equity Efforts
Initial Draft of Evaluation Plan
Rice Diversity Award Recipients

28. Your Input
What can trustees and college presidents do to support student equity on their campuses?
What best practices or planning strategies should be highlighted at the state level to help colleges implement student equity?
Governor’s proposal: What factors should be included in developing a funding formula and/or funding distribution mechanism?
Linda

29. Thank you.