Department Chairs Council – 17 February 2011
Attendance: David Wyatt, Jan Lee, Mary Turner, Michael Poindexter, Carl Sjovold,
Mauricio Gonzalez, David Fabionar, Kathleen Poe, Emily Wilson, Connie Zuercher,
Pam Flaherty, Tom Kalber, Michael Hunter, Jesus E. Martinez, Linda Nuss, Cathy
Chenu-Campbell, Mel Duvall, Troy Myers, Annie Cook, Daniel Styer.
Jan Lee – Reading Programs
Just started a Reading Lab Task Force. Annie Cook is the Reading Lab Instructional
Assistant – introduced by Jan Lee. If we have students that have difficulty
understanding our textbooks or the vocabulary used in the class – then they are
establishing drop-in help at the Reading Lab. The student needs to bring their
textbook with them to assist with the help. English 10 = those reading at the 6th
grade level. English 11 = those reading at 8-9th grade level. English 110 = those
reading at the 10-11th grade reading level. English 310 = those reading at 12+ grade
reading level. An English Reading test is given that places the students into the
various courses. Handout was given that outlines the Mastery Skills and Other
Required Skills for the above classes.
The Reading Lab Task Force has asked for an informal survey based on the handout
regarding what are some of the problem areas we are seeing with some of our
students. Several chairs stated that many students are unable to understand
individual paragraphs – in particular instructions contained in the paragraphs.
Some instructors stated that the textbooks are often not read because many of the
students simply cannot read and understand the text. One chair said that their
textbook selection process involves finding texts that use much simpler language so
that more students will understand the material.
The Reading Lab can also help with development of study skills and study strategies.
The Reading faculty are now working with the LRC and offering workshops.
In many disciplines as the student progresses in their academic program they will
need to develop greater critical thinking skills.
With many students unable to get into English courses due to the impacted level of
all of these courses, is it recommended that they take the half-unit English lab
(English Lab 55) as a stand-alone course while they wait to get into other English
classes. Jan said that they do take students into the lab on a first-come first-served
basis. Last semester they had two full class sections that were only in the lab and
not in any English course. About one-third of the students drop out before the
semester ends. Some of the students are just taking the lab to get units and have no
idea what the class is about. These students usually drop before the semester ends
so therefore have taken a spot that otherwise could have been provided to another
student more likely to succeed in the class. Thus the recommendation is for a
student to come and talk with the IA and others in the lab before signing up for the
class to ensure that the course accommodates their needs and goals.
Michael Poindexter
Any way to have pre-requisites enforced as soon as they enroll so that students not
meeting the pre-requisites are automatically dropped? Nope – need to do that
ourselves by checking the pre-requisite checker on our rosters as early as the week
before the semester starts. Some instructors said that they send an email to all of
their enrollees about pre-requisites and some students drop at that time. Also, the
checker only reflects pre-reqs taken in the Los Rios District and doesn’t include prereqs met from other colleges or universities. A problem with the need for remedial
courses and pre-reqs is that this can affect the unit cap for financial aid. So, how do
we address these needs since many of our students are unprepared for college and
have to undergo remediation to get them to a college level.
Title 4 – how do we get student success levels to increase? What are the actions that
need to be taken by the institution to address student success and not have Title 4
issues? We need to be sure (as instructors) to understand the various services for
referral that can help students increase their retention and success.
If we have students that are not attending classes, be sure to drop them. Then the
school has to reimburse the financial aid. We are not turning this student debt to
collection agencies if they are not repaying the financial aid.
Connie Zuercher and Mary Turner
Mary - Schedule Reductions – anticipated as a district to reduce our summer
schedule by 12.5%. Currently have 100 FTE for summer – roughly. Have to cut
about 12.5 of these FTEs. With the uncertainty of ballot initiatives and other state
budget uncertainties, we need to plan for various scenarios for fall. Fall schedule we
need to have a fairly long list of cuts and even of potential add-backs into our
schedules. We can go higher in the cut number if there are cuts submitted that add
up to more, those will be taken and the FTE savings applied to the future.
Connie – recommendation from faculty on the workload committee is for summer’s
12.5% cut be cut equally on the campus. The recommendation from faculty is that
the cut amount (equally presented throughout campus), then the workload
committee makes decisions on where to redistribute any extra FTEs as faculty
decide. The 12.5% cut definitely would not be entirely across the board since some
programs are unable to have any cuts through regulatory requirements (or small
departments which only have 1 full-time faculty and therefore cannot have cuts or
there is no load for the faculty) – but, for those value-based decisions on what
courses to cut or restore, that the faculty have that voice to make the decision.
Next Meeting: March 17th, 2011
Possibility of an earlier meeting in the event of any major emergencies....