Chabot College
Academic Program Review Report
Year Three of
Program Review Cycle
Final Summary Report
Puente Project
Submitted on February 27, 2013
Sandra Genera, Kristin Land
Final Forms, 1/18/13
A. What Have We Accomplished?
Program Improvement Goals
Team building and pre-planning were the primary goals for the Puente Project during
2011 and 2012. We have been successful over the past two years in establishing a strong
Puente Project team thanks to both institutional support and Puente Project State Office
training opportunities. Indeed, Chabot’s ongoing commitment to the Puente Project and the
MOU with the Puente Statewide Office has been instrumental in achieving this goal and our
larger program success. The program operating budget of $8,000 paired with the coordinators
reassigned time dedicated to two Full Time Faculty members allows us to serve not only two
full cohorts of new Puente students (72 in total this year between Fall and Spring), but also the
roughly 150 additional Phase III students on campus each year. Our successes include:
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developing strong traditions to strengthen recruitment processes, continue mentoring
partnerships, engage long time mentors, and revitalize the Puente Club
bringing the community to Chabot on a variety of occasions each year. This year, we
hosted UCLA Professor Dr. David E. Hayes Bautista who spoke to over 225 guests about
his latest publication, El Cinco de Mayo: An American Tradition.
updating the English and PSCN courses to include thematically aligned curriculum and
common expectations across classes.
integrating literature that engages young men more fully; particularly two books of essays
on Machismo and Chicana Feminism
using technology to support student success; both coordinators share access to one
Blackboard site now which allows us to use more up-to-date information with students
and to chart student course level progress more comprehensively. We also have a
Facebook site that connects us with our alumni and current students.
improving recruitment of students who understand and are eager to participate in the
Puente Project has been successful. We now have an overflow of applicants – with all of
our sections filling well before opening day. As a new practice, we have begun to integrate
students into the Puente program during Phase II (English 1A) if there are spaces
remaining in the class. We begin enrolling students in early November to ensure proper
planning for incoming students. There are 63 students enrolled in English 1A. This means
that we need to spend more time tracking student applications, something a classified
support could help us with.
recruiting more young men. We are pleased to have nearly achieved gender balance this
year in our English 102 cohort. In the Fall 2012 class, 45% of the 64 students were males
(contrast this with 35% in Fall 2010), something we have struggled to achieve in the
recent past with our mandatory first come, first serve policy. We attribute this success to
our work with counseling intern William Reyes and his men’s empowerment workshops in
the Spring of 2011. It is also a by-product of improved outreach efforts which allow
students to plan their courses around Puente sections in a timely manner. With continued
attention, we hope to retain balanced cohorts. And, our recruitment materials were
designed with the aim of attracting more young men into the program. Working with
colleagues in the Equity Fig, we hope to find strategies that encourage more Latino young
men to strive and complete their educational goals.
Puente Project Academic Program Review 1
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tracking and communicating with our Phase III students. A cadre of Puente students
volunteer to serve as leaders in our club, as learning assistants, and as coordinators of
other activities. Because students remain our best outreach advocates and our most
effective mentors, this positive development with our Phase III students is particularly
exciting to see.
improving our Service Learning opportunities. By rearranging the PSCN classes to
accommodate more group projects with both cohorts and adjusting Puente Club meeting
time to Tuesdays (so it doesn’t conflict with English Division meetings), we have made
service learning a stronger component of Puente as of Fall 2012. Our literacy project
service learning component is particularly flourishing now that we have connections with
Reading Partners and Park Elementary School. 15 Puente students volunteer weekly
through Reading Partners.
Best Practices:
Our orientation for new students and Puente parents in the summer is one of our best
practices. It allows Phase III Puente students to take on mentoring roles, familiarizes students
(and their parents) with Chabot’s array of services, and establishes a strong sense of community
from the onset. To ensure strong participation in this event, we find a phone call during the
summer to remind students to attend is imperative. At the orientation, we assign light
homework so that students begin the academic year ready to engage fully in a college
environment where reading, writing, and critical thinking are valued. The assignments also
allow students to discuss possible changes that may be needed in study time, home
responsibilities, and transportation with their family members before school starts. We notice
that this step has helped first time college students reach out to their parents for support more
quickly during the academic year if time management becomes a challenge. This best practice is
replicable for other disciplines, especially for other learning communities that also utilize the
orientation method. For first year experience programs, many of our practices are also
relevant.
Separating the PSCN 20 and 26 sections into two cohorts of 30 students each has been
beneficial, as the counselor can more effectively design lessons tailored to individual student
needs or group dynamics. The 60 student PSCN
22 course grouped into “service learning
Puente Traditions
projects” has been highly successful this year,
 New Puente Student Orientation (family workshops)
too. Students were able to become leaders
 Noche de Familia speaker & Hispanic Heritage Month
early in the year, engaging in projects that
 Fall career and cultural speakers
showcase their talents. The course also allows
 Fall college fieldtrip
us to host relevant guest lecturers related to
 Fall Mentor trainings and Matching Mixer,
career themes or educational persistence. This  Game Night
year Cesar Cruz visited the class and
 CSU East Bay Mentor Student Breakfast
 Spring cultural event/speaker
professionals from Safeway’s Hispanic
 Career Exploration Day at a local business
Leadership Network have engaged our
 Spring college fieldtrip
students in a product development project.
 End of the Year Celebration (with family members)
Safeway volunteers have now visited campus 3
times to prepare students for a career
exploration fieldtrip to the corporate
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headquarters.
Our Puente traditions are part of our best practices and our new team has firmly
established a calendar of events. The essence of these traditions – involving family members in
the educational process and integrating professional role models who come from similar
backgrounds as our students – is replicable as a best practice. Our traditions recognize that
students want to see themselves reflected in the academic community and that students’
aspirations are bolstered as they establish professional connections. Puente’s mentoring
traditions also provide clear volunteer guidelines for professionals who want to contribute to
the success of the next generation but may have limited time. As Puente students work with
these mentors, they gain a clearer sense of their academic goals, thereby refining their
educational goals and moving more confidently toward completing their journey.
Collaborating with resources on campus such as librarians, CLEA, other clubs, and
instructors is another best practice. Thanks to Clara McLean’s SERV 85 class, we now have a
connection to Reading Partners where 15 students volunteer time each week. The Active
Dreamers Club and Financial Aid office also worked collaboratively with us to provide
information to undocumented students about DACA and AB131.
Challenges
At this point, one of our greatest challenges is time. With the HSI grant, the HPN Grant,
and the PRBC Strategic Plan initiative both co-coordinators are being pulled in a variety of
exciting directions to participate in innovating practices. The counselor’s caseload seems to
even more impacted, however. Without classified support, the counselor has fewer hours to
engage in one-on-one counseling or to consult with institutional groups such as the HSI
Planning Committee or the HPN groups. While the Puente co-coordinators are delighted to
make efforts to be involved in these important conversations, the face to face time, especially
with our Phase III students, tends to be harder to come by. A classified support person would
greatly assist us with mentor communication and student retention. It would also help the cocoordinators be more visible in the community where we recruit mentors. A few of our other
ongoing challenges are listed below:
 recruiting mentors for students, especially for our new students in the spring
 maintaining connection with Phase III students
 empowering youth to make healthy decisions about relationships
 recruiting and retaining young men – this challenge is school wide and we hope
that the Equity FIG will help us address this more fully
 tracking our student progress (transfer rates) – cleaning up data communication
with Puente Statewide Office
Relevant Data Puente continues to see high success rates among younger students (21 and
younger) in English 102. The college wide success rate for this group was 71% in Fall 2010 and
79% for the Puente students in 2010. In fall 2010, our overall English 102 success rate in
Puente was 77% as compared to 71% college wide. Puente’s persistence rate from 102 into 1A
is 97% for Latino students 21 or younger which significantly higher than the college persistence
rate of 81% for Latino students 21 or younger. Keep in mind that students had 2 years to enroll
in English 1A after successfully completing English 102 in Fall 2010. Success in transfer level
English is a strong indicator of transfer readiness.
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B. What’s Next
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Goal: Investigate how to serve more students either in Puente directly or through
suggested best practices in new learning communities. Plan: Remain with the HSI grant
development
Goal: Partner with Puente High School Programs and the Promise Neighborhood Grant.
Plan: we have attended one meeting already and have a second scheduled for spring
Goal: More students to complete ed goal. Plan: Starting Phase I Puente students with a
Math 122 (some) to improve students’ ability to reach educational goal in a reasonable
amount of time.
Goal: Clean up our data – both at Chabot and as reported to the Puente Statewide
Office. Plan: Flag Puente students through Banner, work with Rachel Ugale to do that.
Send Rick Luna at Puente State Office updated rosters – in progress.
Goal: Recruit new mentors in the math and science field. Plan: Use Facebook to reach
out to Puente Alumni.
Goal: analyze the benefits of a Phase III English class (i.e. English 4 or 7) Plan: Work with
HSI planning grant to think about best ways to serve more underserved students – this is
one possibility
Goal: Seek Grant funding to supplement activities and attract community: speakers like
Dolores Huerta, Sonia Sotomayor
Goal: Addressing the Whole Student in collaboration with the Equity FIG
o Bus passes
o Book vouchers
o Laptop loan program
o Print cards
o Flash drives
o calculators
What needs to change institutionally?
We appreciate the institutional support that is so necessary to accomplish all that we have in
Puente over the past 32 years. The reassigned time for the English Instructor and
Counselor/Instructor and the operating budget are institutionalized supports we rely on to
operate at full capacity – or above full capacity! 72 students enrolled in Puente during the 20122013 year. If we can ask for more – the following institutional changes would enhance our
program:
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Additional computer lab access – English submitted a similar request
More student “study areas” like the tables outside of the Puente Office in 700. A space
like that in the 400 building for Puente English students to congregate would be ideal.
Extending library hours is a need. Students need access to reliable computers to
complete essays and conduct quality research
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Continued communication with A&R/Financial Aid regarding new laws for
undocumented students
Data on Transfer Rates for Puente students from IR
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Appendix A: Budget History and Impact
Category
Classified Staffing (# of positions)
Supplies & Services
Technology/Equipment
Other (Learning Assistant)
TOTAL
2011-12
Budget
Requested
1
$8000
2011-12
Budget
Received
No
$9000 (per
MOU)
2012-13
Budget
Requested
1
$9000
2012-13
Budget
Received
No
$8000 (per
MOU)
2
No
0
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1. How has your investment of the budget monies you did receive improved student learning? When
you requested the funding, you provided a rationale. In this section, assess if the anticipated
positive impacts you projected have, in fact, been realized.
To run the Puente Program’s counseling, mentoring, and student support components, the MOU with
the Puente State Office recommends both clerical support and a supply budget. The supplies provide a
professional face to the Puente Project as we engage the community in outreach efforts, recruit and
train mentors, and connect students’ families to Chabot’s services. This budget also supplements our
student support initiatives and mentoring components, including university or career fieldtrips, mentor
training and matching events, and a student/family orientation and end of year celebration.
2. What has been the impact of not receiving some of your requested funding? How has student
learning been impacted, or safety compromised, or enrollment or retention negatively impacted?
Without a Classified support position, the counselor/co-coordinator has fewer counseling hours
available to work with students on a one-on-one basis. Some of the duties we could pass along to a
classified professional include: phoning mentors or students to remind them of orientation events or
mixers; organizing student intake forms throughout the year to track applicants; updating mentorstudent information so our records are current; managing scholarship applications; managing mentor
applications.
Although Puente was offered a Learning Assistant position for Fall 2011, our most qualified Learning
assistants were not able to be employed by the college due to documentation status. This means that
the students volunteered their time or received minimal compensation if the coordinators were able to
secure small scholarship donations for the two Learning Assistants in the English 102 cohorts. With the
new scholarship compensation model in Learning Connection and with AB 130 and AB 131’s
implementation (as well as the Deferred Action executive order from President Obama), we may be able
to utilize trained Learning Assistants more effectively in the coming year. Our sections with strong
learning assistants have had significantly higher success rates two years in a row. There are other
factors, however, that could contribute to the differences in success and persistence among different
sections of Puente students. Still, students report that the learning assistants were very helpful in the
Basic Skills English sections. Learning assistants model strong study strategies, encourage students to
Puente Project Academic Program Review 6
engage the reading and provide guidance to students as they acclimate to college life.
Puente Project Academic Program Review 7
Appendix B1: Course Learning Outcomes Assessment Schedule
ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE: The English courses in the Puente Project are assessed per the English
assessment schedule listed below. PSCN classes are assessed per the schedule reported in the Student
Services Program review.
Spring
2013
Fall
2013
Spring
2014
Fall
2014
Spring
2015
Fall
2015
Spring
2016
Fall
2016
Spring
2017
Courses:
Full Assessment
(With LA
Assessment
Schedule)
English
102
Courses
English
1A
Assessment (in
advance of LA
Assessment
Schedule due to
sequence being
offered Spring
only)
Report
&
Reflect
Report
&
Reflect
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Full
Report
Assessment Results
Assessment (in
advance of LA
Assessment
Schedule due to
sequence
offered Spring
only)
Report
Results
Appendix B2:
Not applicable this year. Please see Year 2 Academic Program Review for Puente Project Spring:
2012 and Student Services Program Review: Spring 2012
Puente Project Academic Program Review 9
Appendix C: Program Learning Outcomes
Not Applicable this year. Please see Year 2 Academic Program Review – Puente Project: Spring
2012 and Student Services Program Review: Spring 2012
Puente Project Academic Program Review 10
Appendix D: A Few Questions
Please answer the following questions with "yes" or "no". For any questions answered "no",
please provide an explanation. No explanation is required for "yes" answers :-)
1. Have all of your course outlines been updated within the past five years? If no, identify the
course outlines you will update in the next curriculum cycle. Ed Code requires all course
outlines to be updated every six years.
Yes
2. Have all of your courses been offered within the past five years? If no, why should those
courses remain in our college catalog?
Yes
3. Do all of your courses have the required number of CLOs completed, with corresponding
rubrics? If no, identify the CLO work you still need to complete, and your timeline for
completing that work this semester.
Yes
4. Have you assessed all of your courses and completed "closing the loop" forms for all of your
courses within the past three years? If no, identify which courses still require this work, and
your timeline for completing that work this semester.
Yes
5. Have you developed and assessed PLOs for all of your programs? If no, identify programs which
still require this work, and your timeline to complete that work this semester.
Yes
6. If you have course sequences, is success in the first course a good predictor of success in the
subsequent course(s)?
Yes
7. Does successful completion of College-level Math and/or English correlate positively with
success in your courses? If not, explain why you think this may be.
Yes for English (Puente English 1A is college English); PSCN 20, 22, 26 support student success in college
coursework generally – therefore, success in Math or English is not necessary for success in the PSCN
courses.
Puente Project Academic Program Review 11
Appendix F2: Classified Staffing Request(s) including Student Assistants [Acct.
Category 2000]
Audience: Administrators, PRBC
Purpose: Providing explanation and justification for new and replacement positions for full-time and
part-time regular (permanent) classified professional positions (new, augmented and replacement
positions). Remember, student assistants are not to replace Classified Professional staff.
Instructions: Please justify the need for your request. Discuss anticipated improvements in student
learning and contribution to the Strategic Plan goal, safety, mandates, accreditation issues. Please cite
any evidence or data to support your request. If this position is categorically funded, include and
designate the funding source of new categorically-funded position where continuation is contingent
upon available funding.
1. Number of positions requested: _1__
2. If you are requesting more than one position, please rank order the positions.
Position
Description
1. Classified
Puente Project Program Assistant
2.
3. Rationale for your proposal.
To run the Puente Program’s counseling, mentoring, and student support components, the MOU with
the Puente State Office recommends clerical support to enhance the professional face to the Puente
Project, especially in our mentor component and outreach efforts. Without a Classified support
position, the counselor/co-coordinator has fewer counseling hours available to work with students on a
one-on-one basis. A classified professional could help coordinators with: phoning mentors or students to
remind them of orientation events or mixers; organizing student intake forms throughout the year to
track applicants; updating mentor-student information so our records are current; managing scholarship
applications; managing mentor applications.
4. Statements about the alignment with the strategic plan and program review are required. I
To increase student completion of transfer related goals or other educational goals, the counselor needs time to
meet with students one-on-one or in strategic groups to help students troubleshoot barriers to success. This aligns
directly with the strategic plan model which aims to help students complete their educational goals in a reasonable
amount of time. With classified support, both co-coordinators could be freed for more student contact hours
which are needed as the program accepts a larger number of students – our enrollment has increased over the
past 3 years:
 Puente Students in English 102 Fall 2009: 53
Puente Students in English 1A Spring 2009: 40
 Puente Students in English 102 Fall 2010:57
Puente Students in English 1A Spring 2010: 43
 Puente Students in English 102 Fall 2011:61
Puente Students in English 1A Spring 2011: 54
 Puente Students in English 102 Fall 2012: 63*
Puente Students in English 1A Spring 2012: 61
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Puente Students in English 1A Spring 2013: 62*
*Instructor’s attendance sheets and Class Web.
Puente Project Academic Program Review 12
Appendix F4: Academic Learning Support Requests [Acct. Category 2000]
Audience: Administrators, PRBC, Learning Connection
Purpose: Providing explanation and justification for new and replacement student assistants (tutors,
learning assistants, lab assistants, supplemental instruction, etc.).
Instructions: Please justify the need for your request. Discuss anticipated improvements in student
learning and contribution to the Strategic Plan goal . Please cite any evidence or data to support your
request. If this position is categorically funded, include and designate the funding source of new
categorically-funded position where continuation is contingent upon available funding.
1. Number of positions requested: __2____
2. If you are requesting more than one position, please rank order the positions.
Position
Description
1. Puente English 102 M/W section
Former Puente student to be in class English
tutor
2. Puente English 102 T/TH section
Former Puente student to be in class English
tutor
3.
4.
3. Rationale for your proposal based on your program review conclusions. Include anticipated impact
on student learning outcomes and alignment with the strategic plan goal. Indicate if this request is
for the same, more, or fewer academic learning support positions.
This request for 2 learning assistants is the same request put in over the past 2 years. Puente sections
with a consistent LA have had as high as 90% retention and success rates and students report that they
learn from the student assistants. The LA not only motivates students to improve their study skills and
writing talents, but also he/she also helps students be more resourceful around campus – finding the
tutoring centers, asking librarians for assistance, etc. The LA also frees up office hours for the English
instructor to provide further support to students in PHASE III Puente to improve our transfer rates.
Many Phase III students request the time to work on Personal Statements for scholarships or UC Essays.
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Appendix F5: Supplies & Services Requests [Acct. Category 4000 and 5000]
Audience: Administrators, Budget Committee, PRBC
Purpose: To request funding for supplies and service, and to guide the Budget Committee in allocation of
funds.
Instructions: In the area below, please list both your current and requested budgets for categories 4000
and 5000 in priority order. Do NOT include conferences and travel, which are submitted on Appendix
M6. Justify your request and explain in detail any requested funds beyond those you received this year.
Please also look for opportunities to reduce spending, as funds are very limited.
Project or Items
Requested
See Student Services
Budget Request
(Supplies – paper and
copies for intake and
recruitment materials,
mentoring outreach;
event programs;
transportation costs
to college tours and
career days – BART or
Bus)
2 mentor-student
events; 2
student/family events
2 student only events;
2 career exploration
events
2012-13 Budget
Requested Received
$ 8,000
$8,000
2013-14
Request
$4,000
$4,000
$4,000
$4,000
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Rationale
To support the on-going professional
face of the Puente Project for our
students, families, mentors and
community partners.
These funds offset the operational
costs of hosting events that invite the
community to campus – including
cost of food, parking, invitations, and
supplies. The funds help us welcome
our guests with a professional face.