Fall 2015
TO:
Student Services Commission and Councils
FROM:
Student Services Team
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC)
RE:
2015 Fall State Board Report
LEGISLATIVE NEWS
2015 Legislative Session: A summary of the 2015 legislative session can be found
at http://sbctc.edu/college/documents/Final2015SBCTCLegislativeSessionReport_7.24.2015.p
df
Please welcome Arlen Harris as Legislative Director with the State Board for Community and
Technical Colleges (SBCTC).
For the past seven years Arlen served the State of Washington as Government Relations Manager for the
Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (DES) and as Director of External Affairs and Stakeholder
Engagement for Washington’s Lottery. In those positions he was responsible for each agency’s legislative
affairs, external communications, tribal-relations, all external stakeholder outreach, and media relations.
Prior to his work with the lottery, he lobbied the Washington State Legislature for four years on behalf of the
Washington’s craft beer and craft distillery industries after working for fourteen years in the craft beer
industry. He also worked as an associate in a contract lobby firm, managing and serving a portfolio fourteen
clients of varying backgrounds and interests.
As a founding member and Executive Director of the Washington Brewers Guild, he built a strong, grass-roots
lobby on behalf of the craft brewing industry in Washington State. He lobbied and authored several bills on
behalf of the Brewers Guild, including the establishment of the Washington Beer Commission, the first
commodity commission of its kind in the United States. His work in this arena was featured in the Summer
2007 edition of “Washington State Magazine”, the WSU alumni publication. He was also recognized by
“Imbibe Magazine” as one of the most influential people in beverage in America for 2006.
Arlen has earned a BA from WSU and a MPA from the Evergreen State College. He has two children, Zach, a
freshman at WSU and Emily, a high school freshman. During the summer it is difficult to find Arlen on Friday
afternoons, as he is hiking with his wife Kathy in the Olympics or North Cascades
Student Services is staffing three legislatively mandated Task Forces. Scott Copeland continues to staff the
Disability Taskforce. Edward Esparza will staff the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Task Force (House Bill
2015 Fall State Board Report
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1138) that is starting its work this fall. Joe Holliday is staffing the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Task
Force (Senate Bill 5719) that will also oversee statewide (and for us, system-wide) implementation of a sexual
assault campus climate assessment mandated by Senate Bill 5518. In staffing these groups, we rely heavily as
always on the expertise of college staff.
SBCTC’s first-ever student legislative interns completed their term in winter, 2015. The internship program was
in a pilot phase this year and an assessment is being completed this spring to determine its future direction,
now that our new Legislative Director is on board.
Several key student services related bills were passed, signed, and are now in effect. These include the
following:
SHB 1052: Expands the early registration process for veterans receiving Veteran’s Administration education
benefits to include veterans’ spouses and domestic partners that are receiving veteran education benefits.
E2SHB 1546: Makes policy changes to dual credit programs including tenth grade students eligibility for the
College in the High School program, eliminates the use of Running Start courses offered solely at high school
campuses, and allows the use of Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) credits for Running Start and College in
the High School fees.
ESSB 5355: Modifies the definition of resident student to comply with federal requirements established by the
Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014.
SB 5368: Modifies the requirements of the State Need Grant program and makes permanent State Need Grant
eligibility to students enrolled in at least three quarter credits.
In addition, the following bill from the 2014 legislative session takes effect this December and is currently
under development with the Instruction Commission:
SSB 5969: Requires institutions of higher education to adopt a policy to award academic credit for military
training applicable to the student's certificate or degree requirements.
Washington MESA Community College Program (MCCP)
SBCTC currently supports six community and technical colleges that operate a pilot Mathematics, Engineering,
Science Achievement (MESA) program. These colleges seek to increase under-represented student
participation, completion, and transfer to bachelor’s degree STEM programs (those in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics).
Our system will be requesting funds in the 2016 legislative session to expand the program to all 34 CTCs across
the state. The six current programs are at these CTCs: Columbia Basin, Edmonds, Highline, Olympic, Seattle
Central, and Yakima Valley. Jan Yoshiwara, SBCTC Deputy Director for Education, sits on the Washington MESA
Board of Directors, and Student Services staff provides support to a variety of MESA programs and activities.
POLICY UPDATES
Competency-Based Education (CBE) Projects
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Eight colleges continue to work on the CBE business degree pilot: Bellevue, Centralia, Columbia Basin (Lead),
Everett, Olympic, both Pierce College, and Tacoma. CBC plans to begin teaching students this summer. The
beginning date was slightly modified as NWCCU has required all colleges to file a substantive change for any
CBE program.
Competency – based degrees offer a short path to a degree. Students advance as soon as they master the
subject matter. Typically students move as far and fast as their proven knowledge takes them. Students are
taught by highly qualified instructors and will receive guidance from a navigator. These degrees will transfer to
four year universities enabling the student to have credit toward their four year education.
The community and technical colleges offer competency-based online workforce certificates in Information
Technology, this will be the first competency - based only degree.
For more information, curriculum maps and updates go to http://cbewa.org.
Reverse Articulation Transfer Degrees and Agreements
SBCTC is coordinating a collaborative effort with interested CTCs and public universities about reverse
articulation/transfer. Known as the Washington Reverse Articulation Pilot Program (WRAPP), this initiative
allows students to earn their associate degrees after transferring to a four-year institution. System-wide
agreements with Washington State University and Western Governor’s University (WGU) are already in place,
as is an agreement between the Spokane Colleges and Eastern Washington University. It is anticipated that
other public universities will participate in the program in future years. For more information, please contact
SBCTC Director of Transfer Education Joyce Hammer at jhammer@sbctc.edu, or Student Services Director Joe
Holliday at jholliday@sbctc.edu.
Smarter Balanced Exams Update
This past spring, all Washington K-12 public schools administered the Smarter Balanced English Language Arts
(ELA) and math assessments. Grades third through eighth and grade 11 were required to complete the
assessments. The assessments are required for federal accountability reporting and it replaces previous
assessments used in Washington. The Smarter Balanced assessment system was developed to assess the new
Common Core State Standards in math and ELA that Washington has adopted as part of its state K-12 Learning
Standards. See the background material below for more information about the Smarter Balanced Assessment
Consortium.
Per federal requirements, districts are expected to have at least a 95% student participation rate. This includes
Running Start (RS) students; the only exceptions are students who are homeschooled but who enroll at the
district for the sole purpose of participating in RS. School districts are responsible for notifying RS students of
this expectation; districts are encouraged to provide flexible options for students to take the assessments.
Several useful web-based resources are available for those who want additional information:
 The 1-pager Fall 2015 overview and update: http://bit.ly/1j5DXWa
 The current formal Smarter Balance placement policy system-wide agreement: http://bit.ly/1j5GboA
 The Washington Smarter Balanced Higher Education resource document for
students: http://bit.ly/1FLEdV6
 The new site for the Bridge to College courses: http://bridgetocollegecourses.org
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If you have additional questions about Smarter Balanced, please contact Bill Moore, SBCTC, Director of K-12
Partnerships, bmoore@sbctc.edu, 360-704-4346.
Also as a reminder, public higher education institutions in Washington also support the use of the Smarter
Balanced Assessments to evaluate student learning, including readiness for entry-level college coursework in
mathematics and English language arts.
To that end, the six public baccalaureate institutions and the community and technical college system have
agreed to use 11th grade Smarter Balanced Assessment scores of level 3 or 4 to enroll first-year college
students who have been admitted into entry-level college math and English courses without further
placement testing. In addition to the specific terms of the agreement, all of the institutions encourage
students with college-ready scores in the 11th grade to take additional rigorous courses in 12th grade;
including college-level courses for college credit (see Smarter Balanced Assessment Agreement).
TECHNOLOGY
Tacoma Community College and the Spokane District Colleges continue to lead the way in the system
conversion. Follow the progress at ctcLink Connect.
COLLEGE BOUND SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
The fourth class of College Bound Scholarship students arrived on your campus this fall. The fifth class is
heading your way soon. As a reminder, the College Bound Scholarship students receive college tuition and a
yearly $500 book allowance. To qualify as a College Bound scholar, student must have a GPA of 2.0 or higher.
Begin recruiting the next class now. The Washington Student Achievement Council can provide you with an
EXCEL spreadsheet with the following information about the College Bound Scholarship students in your area:
•
•
•
•
Name (Last, First)
Mailing address
Email address
High school attending
Please contact Chris Richmond, christinar@wsac.wa.gov or 360.753-7785 for your list of College Bound
students.
WORKING FAMILIES SUCCESS NETWORK (WFSN)
Washington community colleges commit to implementing the WFSN strategy to support more low-income
students and their families achieve their academic and financial goals.
The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges has partnered with four community colleges – Big
Bend, Clark, Highline and Walla Walla – to help implement the strategy to promote postsecondary completion
for students whose economic challenges can thwart their academic and career goals. The strategy is used at
more than 100 sites in the nation to help low-income individuals and families achieve financial stability.
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Education and employment advancement—education, job readiness, training, and placement;
Income and work supports—access to student financial aid, public benefits, tax credits, and free tax assistance;
and
Financial services and asset building—financial education and coaching linked to affordable products and
services to help families build self-sufficiency, stabilize their finances, and become more economically
competitive.
The colleges participating are now in their second year and have developed implementation plans on how they
will provide services to their respective student population. In addition, this year the Washington WFSN cohort
is a co-sponsor for the Best Practices Exchange Conference, October 27, 2015 at Clover Park Technical College.
Guided Pathways Initiative
SBCTC will be launching a Guided Pathways initiative thanks to generous funding from College Spark
Washington. All of our colleges will be involved in this work at the initial stage, while 10 colleges will be
selected in two implementation waves (5 colleges in 2016 and 5 colleges in 2018) for focused efforts.
According to the Community College Research Center at Columbia University, “the Guided Pathways approach
presents courses in the context of highly structured educationally coherent program maps that align with
students’ goals for careers and further education. Incoming students are given support to explore careers,
choose a program of study, and develop an academic plan based on program maps created by faculty and
advisors. This approach simplifies student decision-making and allows colleges to provide predictable
schedules and frequent feedback so students can complete programs more efficiently.” (CCRC, What We Know
About Guided Pathways, March, 2015). Kick-off workshops for interested colleges are in development (see
Save the Dates information below).
UPCOMING CONFERENCES & EVENTS
Save the Date-SBCTC’s Best Practices Exchange
Oct. 27, 2015
Clover Park Technical College, McGavick Conference Center
Save the Dates-Guided Pathways Kick-off Workshops
January 19, 2016: Columbia Basin College
January 20, 2016: Clover Park Technical College