Peralta Community College District
Annual Program Update Template 2010-2011
Each discipline will complete this form to update program reviews developed in 2009-2010. These will
be reviewed at the college level and then forwarded to the district-wide planning and budgeting
process. The information on this form is required for all resource requests – including faculty staffing
requests – for the 2011-12 budget year.
I.
II.
Overview
Date Submitted:
10/18/10-
Dean:
Stacy Thompson
BI Download:
10/07/2010
Dept. Chair:
Ann Elliott and Jon Drinnon
Discipline:
ENGL
Campus:
Merritt
Mission
Empower students through the development of critical thinking, reading, and writing
skills to actively and effectively engage in a diverse and increasingly complex
world.
Student Data
A. Enrollment
Fall 2008
Fall 2009
Fall 2010
1,085.0
1,113.0
1,155.0
37.0
36.0
35.0
Total FTES
145.01
142.57
138.21
Total FTEF
10.1
9.78
9.03
FTES/FTEF
14.36
14.58
15.31
Enrolled
1,059.0
1,127.0
N/A
Retained
806.0
827.0
% Retained
76.0
73.0
N/A
N/A
1,059.0
635.0
59.0
253.0
23.0
1,127.0
681.0
60.0
300.0
26.0
Census Enrollment (duplicated)
Sections (master sections)
B. Retention
C. Success
Total Graded
Success
% Success
Withdraw
% Withdraw
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N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
III.
Faculty Data (ZZ assignments excluded)
Fall 2010
Contract FTEF
Hourly FTEF
Extra Service FTEF
Total FTEF
% Contract/Total
3.66
4.77
0.59
9.03
40.55
IV. Faculty Data Comparables F2010 (ZZ assignments excluded) (Z assignments excluded)
Contract FTEF
Hourly FTEF
Extra Service FTEF
Total FTEF
% Contract/Total
Alameda
Berkeley
Laney
Merritt
4.47
4.14
0.6
9.21
48.55
3.03
12.8
0.0
15.82
19.13
8.36
8.36
0.25
16.96
49.26
3.66
4.78
0.59
9.03
40.55
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V.
Qualitative Assessments
CTE and Vocational: Community and
labor market relevance. Present
evidence of community need based on
Advisory Committee input, industry
need data, McIntyre Environmental
Scan, McKinsey Economic Report,
licensure and job placement rates, etc.
Transfer and Basic Skills: Describe
how your course offerings address
transfer, basic skills, and program
completion.
The English department works closely with our articulation
officer to ensure that our courses meet the transfer needs of our
students. Two years ago we created an English 100 course that
was designed to be the equivalent to English 1A for students
who do not want to transfer and to meet the new higher level
English AA requirement. Our articulation officer inquired as to
whether this course could transfer and determined it could not.
Since we did not need it for transfer, we were still able to keep
the course for our purposes. The department also had occasion
to work with our articulation officer on how the English 5, Critical
Thinking, course was being articulated at the other colleges.
Merritt College’s course did not satisfy the literature course
requirement as San Francisco State University, but the same
course with the same outline from Laney College did satisfy that
requirement. At the request of the English department the
articulation officer spearheaded an effort to make all the English
5 courses at all the colleges articulate the same to SF State. He
was successful in this goal.
We are making every effort to prepare students for upper
division work. We have no method to track students statistically
after they transfer, so it is not possible to determine how
successful our efforts are. However, the department has
developed a process for sharing resources among our
instructors and collaborating on teaching methodology. The
department co-chairs also monitor progress in courses and at
times work with adjunct instructors to bolster standards and
instruction to ensure that the proper rigor is present to prepare
students to be successful. As we develop our assessment of
student learning outcomes, we will begin to be able to evaluate
how students are meeting those outcomes and make
adjustments to improve our teaching methodology and student
success.
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VI. Strategic Planning Goals
Check all that apply.
Describe how goal applies to your program.
Advance Student Access, Success & Equity
Engage our Communities & Partners
Build Programs of Distinction
Create a Culture of Innovation & Collaboration
Develop Resources to Advance & Sustain Mission
We are extremely concerned that in F08
contract faculty were only 37% of total faculty,
and in F09 we have lost one additional full-time
faculty member with the retirement of Edie
Kriesler. This means that contract faculty are
an even smaller percentage of total faculty.
Relying on adjunct faculty for a program as
complex and important as English undermines
the strength and effectiveness of the program
and limits our ability to support and develop the
program. Moreover, an additional faculty
member with basic skills expertise is needed.
Almost 75% of students assess below the
college—level in reading and writing. Basic
Skills will continue to be a priority of the English
department and the college. Too often basic
skills classes are taught by adjunct faculty who
don‘t have the time to engage in program coordination and development.
VII. College Strategic Plan Relevance
Check all that apply
New program under development
Program that is integral to your college’s overall strategy
Program that is essential for transfer
Program that serves a community niche
Programs where student enrollment or success has been demonstrably affected by extraordinary
external factors, such as barriers due to housing, employment, childcare etc.
Other
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VIII. Action Plan

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
Please describe your plan for responding to the above data. Consider curriculum,
pedagogy/instructional, scheduling, and marketing strategies. Also, please reference any cross district
collaboration with the same discipline at other Peralta colleges.
Include overall plans/goals and specific action steps.
We are planning to take the following actions:
Starting in Fall 2008 we began an ongoing process of reducing total sections in unproductive areas and
began closely monitoring class size.
Improve placement at all levels by advocating for a writing sample placement
Make connections with local high schools to prepare more students to study English and Humanities at
Merritt. (Personnel time needed for this. )
Develop modules for Learning Center English classes in vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and
reading/writing. (Stipends for development needed especially for adjuncts.)
Hold English/Humanities sponsored events to build department reputation
Write grant applications to develop and improve our basic skills program
Work towards more consistency in offerings and work towards program level consistency through the
possible implementation of writing exit exams at certain levels and department faculty work on student
learning outcomes and assessment.
IX. Needs
Please describe and prioritize any faculty, classified, and student assistant needs.
We continue to need reading and writing across the curriculum (WRAC) tutors to support students in
English and other courses. Ideally there would be a .5 instructional assistant to coordinate the WRAC
program.
Please describe and prioritize any equipment, material, and supply needs.
The English/Humanities Department has an ongoing need for video playback, computer, computer
projection and overhead projection equipment. We are continually asking for this equipment and because
the department has no office in any of the buildings in which classes are offered, there is no place to store
and secure this equipment. Access is very limited and faculty often has to relocate classes to show DVD’s
or have computer projection capability.
Please describe and prioritize any facilities needs.
 In addition, English/humanities Department needs a home. We are the only department in the college
that does not have offices in the buildings where we teach. English and humanities classes are offered
in three different buildings—A,D, and P. Faculty offices are in four different buildings--A, D, F, and P.
This situation makes it extremely difficult for the department to provide AV and computer equipment to
the classrooms. We can’t rely on the AV department and unlike most other departments we have no
place to store and secure equipment for classroom use. This also negatively impacts opportunities for
formal and informal collaboration amongst faculty. We need a centralized location for our classes and
offices.
 During the remodeling of buildings, the needs of the English/Humanities department for office space and
storage rooms must be addressed.
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X.
Course SLOs and Assessment
Fall 2010
Number of active courses in your discipline
42
Number with SLOs
33
% SLOs/Active Courses
78
Number of courses with SLOs that have been assessed
0
% Assessed/SLOs
0
Describe types of assessment methods you are using
Course embedded assessment
Describe results of your SLO assessment progress
This is the first semester we are assessing our courses.
XI. Program Learning Outcomes and Assessment
Fall 2010
Number of degrees and certificates in your discipline
0
Number with Program Learning Outcomes
0
Number assessed
0
% Assessed
0
Describe assessment methods you are using
N/A
Describe results of assessment
N/A
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