Office of Instruction and Student Development Update May 9, 2014
Well, we made it through another academic year. I know there are some of you for whom the summer hiatus can’t
come quickly enough. I also know that there are several of us who wonder how we can get everything we need to
get done by the end of the semester. I count myself among these folks. That said; I want to keep this final
academic year Friday Update brief.
Revision of Math Placement
As we move into the final week of the semester, I would like to recognize the math faculty for their work on
modifying the Accuplacer placement exam cut scores, advising zones and passing scores on the multiple
measures criteria for mathematics. Their work will be instrumental in ensuring that students complete their
academic program in a timely manner and making sure that our students are adequately prepared for college level
courses. These changes have been forwarded to Counseling and the Academic Support Center for immediate
implementation.
Program Review
The Program Review Committee (PRC) has done a fantastic job reviewing and analyzing all the instructional,
student development and administrative services program reviews. You can find all the executive summaries on
the PRC site at: http://inside.redwoods.edu/programreview/archive/2013-14programreviews.asp.
Retention and Persistence
As a key performance indicator in our Institution Set Standards and Targets, the retention of students in their
academic studies is an issue of vital concern for the District. We have had discussions in small groups about what
we can do to increase student retention and persistence this year. However, we’re going to elevate the discussion
of student retention and persistence district-wide next year by engaging more faculty, staff and students in the
dialogue about what we can do to improve the our student’s experience at College of the Redwoods.
One of the venues for our district-wide dialogue on retention and persistence will be our 2nd Annual Student
Success Summit tentatively scheduled for September 18th or 19th on the Eureka campus. We encourage you to
consider presenting a session that showcases what you’re doing individually, or collectively as a department, to
support student retention and persistence. Johanna Helzer is going to send out a follow-up email to all faculty and
staff next week with the Summit session proposal form.
You can access all of our Institution-Set Standards and Targets at:
http://inside.redwoods.edu/ExpandedCabinet/documents/May85Institution-SetStandardsIECProposal.pdf
Snapshot of Some Summer Work
We had a discussion yesterday at Expanded Cabinet about the work we need to complete before the beginning of
the fall semester. Over the next few months we will have a group of people working hard to get several
documents ready for constituent review and approval when fall semester begins. We have the ACCJC midterm
report, the Student Support Services Program (SSSP) and Student Equity plans, as well as the Distance Education
Substantive Change and CRMC Substantive Change Proposals—all due by mid-October.
We’ve built a tentative timeline for completion of all the documents that includes adequate time for constituent
review and feedback. Our intention is to submit all the documents to the Academic Senate for their initial review
on September 5. Expanded Cabinet should see them on September 18.
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