Essential Skills Committee Minutes
April 10, 2013
Members Present: Diana Bonilla, Cindy Luis, Michong Park, Riye Park, Curt Riesberg, Debby
Wong, Susan Polk
Guest Present: Tere English
Cindy called the meeting to order at 2:15 p.m. The minutes from the March 13, 2013, meeting
were unanimously approved.
The committee discussed the third revision of the BSI Funding Request form. Committee
members discussed adding a deadline for providing outcome data; it was agreed to add the
following statement to the fifth question: “Outcome data must be reported to the ESC chairs by
the end of the fiscal year (June 30).” The committee unanimously voted to approve the form
with the single amendment.
Members reiterated their concern that information about the availability of BSI funds for next
year and information about how to submit proposals be disseminated campus-wide. Cindy said
that she would speak to Marie about updating the relevant links (matrices, Educational Master
Plan, Strategic Plan) on the ESC website.
Members also expressed concern that proposals for summer classes have not as yet been
submitted, reviewed, or approved even though summer classes have already been scheduled and
opened for enrollment. There was some discussion of the mechanics behind the decision to offer
the classes with BSI funding, i.e. a precedent had been set in 2011 when BSI money was used to
fund summer classes. Tere pointed out some significant differences; for example, in 2011the
BSI coordinator recruited a cohort of students who were enrolled in PD 40 and who also received
other support services. Cindy said that she will send emails to appropriate department chairs
requesting a BSI proposal for their summer class(es). Those departments offering classes with
BSI funding will need to follow the proposal guidelines and also provide outcome data as stated
in the proposal.
Diana reported on Achieving the Dream. The AtD Retreat was held at Mission on March 22.
There was some discussion of the presentations at the retreat. Diana stated that the AtD coaches
will be on campus on April 22 and 23. She said that the next step will be a discussion with
stakeholders on evaluation components.
Diana said that she didn’t have anything to report on the Persistence Inquiry Project. She will be
posting and emailing articles so that PIP members can begin discussions and work on focus
groups with students. These need to be completed by April 26. There was some discussion on
training for faculty to do focus groups. Some training was done last year through Achieving the
Dream. Susan pointed out that ESL and Dev. Com. faculty had never received training. Cindy
said she would find out from Joe Ramirez who had been trained and would speak to Mike about
setting something up through professional development. Diana said that a report was due to the
Board of Trustees in May. There was a general discussion of strategies for focus groups.
Michong suggested targeting other groups on campus such as EOPS and other content areas.
The committee reviewed a BSI Funding Proposal from Riye Park. She is proposing a handbook
for ESL/immigrant/international students which will help them to “acculturate successfully into
the college setting for both social and academic adjustment.” Committee members made
suggestions about revising the proposal.
The ESC membership and charter were reviewed. Cindy will invite representatives from
stakeholder groups and will look into sending a representative from the ESC to the Educational
Planning Committee.
Cindy discussed a few upcoming conferences: Links VII at ELAC on May 17, Strengthening
Student Success in October in San Francisco, and the Basic Skills Initiative Leadership Institute
(BSILI) at Lake Arrowhead Conference Center on June 2-7, 2013.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:35 p.m.