Sacramento City College
Strategic Planning System
Title:
Learning Communities Program, Planning Year 15–16
Plan Type:
Program Plan
OPR:
Associate Vice President of Instruction
Collaborative
Group(s):
Associate Vice Presidents of Instruction and Student Services, Administration, Division
Deans, Basic Skills Initiative Coordinator and Steering Committee, Counseling Department, Planning Research, and
Institutional Effectiveness, Instructional Faculty, College Store
Reference
documents:
Sacramento City College Goals, Mission and Vision Statements, and Values, 2014-15
Student Success and Support Plan, 2014-15 Student Equity Plan, 2014-15 Budget for the Basic Skills Initiative, 2013-14
Budget for the Basic Skills Initiative
Planning year: 2015 – 16
SECTION I: Overview & Strategic Information
A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION & PURPOSE
The Learning Communities Program exists to encourage, establish, maintain, and assess the effectiveness of Learning Communities (LCs)
across the campus. This program is embedded in the Student Success and Support Program (SSSP), the Student Equity Plan (SeqP), and the
Basic Skills Initiative Program Plan. Support is provided with formation of new learning communities, enrollment and recruitment, book
ordering, and data collection and analysis. These activities take place year-round, with some coordination and recruitment activities taking
place over the summer.
Sacramento City College (SCC) re-established a basic skills learning community in Spring 2011 and efforts have continued and expanded
since. Currently, LCs exist in basic skills (Pathways to Academic Learning and Success - PALS), Science and Allied Health (SAH),
1
PUENTE, Umoja-SBA, and in the EOPS program. Many of these LCs employ different models ranging from linked classes to cohort models
to case management with one focused course. Whatever the structure of the LC, each learning community has a goal(s) directly relating to a
College Goal or Value, the Basic Skills Initiative, the Student Success Act, or the Student Equity Plan. The position of Learning Community
Coordinator, currently funded by the Basic Skills Initiative, was created in Spring 2012 to assist with administrative issues, to develop
programs and training, and to assess effectiveness of the offerings.
The overall purpose of this program is to unify the current and new efforts in providing learning communities on campus.
B. ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN
The Learning Communities Program is dependent upon the focus of the institution, college systems, teaching faculty, state mandates and, to
some extent, community partnerships. Currently, our learning communities exist either within categorical programs such as PUENTE and
EOPS or from a focused effort by faculty and administrators who saw a need and created the opportunity (Umoja, PALS, SAH). Discussions
with those who have ideas for overlapping content to increase student success have been taking place as well, creating momentum for new
offerings. Community partnerships, such as the work done with our local school districts and CSU Sacramento, create opportunities for the
development of new programs as well. It is this combination of internal and external factors that have most affected the program in its initial
years and will continue to play a role in its development.
With the initiation of the Student Success Act in 2012 and the new SSSP planning process along with the guidelines from the state for Student
Equity Planning, the factors affecting the program will be changing in the coming year(s). Matriculation, now SSSP, has long been
supportive of learning community programs and has assisted with the planning and execution of such efforts. The current SSSP plan
continues to offer financial assistance, in the form of overload pay for a counselor, for Learning Communities that assist and serve first year
students. New to their plan is funding for the Learning Community Coordinator position. Additionally, the Student Equity Plan written by
SCC includes many references to learning communities, both for students and for administrators, faculty, and staff (known as communities of
practice). This plan also has budgeted for increased release time for the Learning Community Coordinator. The emphasis for LCs within
these plans will impact the program in terms of the number of LC offerings, the workload for the coordinator, and professional development
needs. The program will need to grow and expand to accommodate these new plans.
C. MULTI-YEAR DIRECTIONS OR STRATEGIES
Over the next 3-years, I see the Learning Communities Program expanding both with the formation of new LCs and with the expansion of
what we traditionally think of as learning communities and how to scale the practices within them. This expansion would require ensuring
our processes work smoothly and increasing professional development. Designing and implementing new LCs will require increased
coordination with curriculum, scheduling, enrollment services, book ordering, and recruitment efforts across campus. Communities of
Practice, as mentioned within the Student Equity Plan, consist of administrators, faculty, and staff with a common belief or purpose that they
are working towards. This community is designed to be a professional learning community whose work would overlap and affect student
learning communities. Needs of this community would likely include coordination of programs, recruitment of teaching faculty, and
professional development on successful practices within learning communities – how to best link content to obtain the highest benefit for
students. Finally, the development and success of the new Essential Support Teams in English, ESL, and Math Program (ESTEEM), which
forms support communities for students, illustrates how our thoughts of LCs are would expand and change. Linking student services and
instruction, the ESTEEM program would likely need additional professional development surrounding blending student services with
instruction and the benefits for students as well as faculty and staff.
While exact initiatives would be dictated by the programs implemented, general objectives would include working with scheduling and
enrollment services to ensure that an increase in INDIS offerings works smoothly within the parameters of the Peoplesoft system, ensuring
that the book ordering process we have established will continue to work smoothly with an increase in offerings, and ensuring that faculty
understand how the enrollment and book ordering processes work to mitigate confusion and ensure that information is available to students in
a timely fashion. Curriculum may be developed to support and enhance new programs. Additionally, working with recruitment and
increasing our advertising efforts ensures students are informed of the LC programs designed for student success. These objectives align with
the College Goals and Values regarding access, student success in Basic Skills, and creating student centered programs. Beyond
administrative goals, objectives would include increased professional development across the campus. Offerings would range from specifics
of working in LCs to linking student services and instruction to scaling success in LCs to non-learning community classes. Many of the
College’s Goals relate to providing student centered programs and services along with professional development surrounding student success
and these objectives directly support that.
SECTION II: Operational Review and Plan
A: REVIEW OF ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR’S WORK
Objective
Establish Regular
Meetings of those
Involved in LCs
Maintain Current
Learning Community
Offerings
Expected
Outcome
Meetings held twice a
semester
Existing LC offerings
would continue with
support being given
Results/Progress
Large group meetings were held twice in Fall
2013 and once in Spring 2014. Throughout both
semesters, individual meetings were held
between the Learning Community Coordinator
and individual LCs. This particularly took the
place of a second large meeting in the Spring
semester.
All Learning Communities from the 2013-14
academic years are being offered in the 2014-15
academic year. The schedules have been verified
to enrollment
processes and book
ordering
Expand Learning
Community Offerings to
Students
Offer more LCs to
students
Assess the effectiveness
of existing programs in
relation to student
success, retention, and
completion
Reports after each
semester
Provide information,
training, and support to
the campus regarding
teaching in learning
communities
Flex presentations
and assistance
provided throughout
each semester
Provide ways to continue
to support students who
have been enrolled in a
LC program
Clubs created or
maintained, contact
with students made,
creating other means
of support
Establish and maintain a
Learning Communities
page on the SCC website
Page on the SCC
website created
each semester for notation, courses have been
combined under INDIS as necessary with the
rosters being separated at an appropriate time
before the start of each semester, and a book
ordering process was established.
The Umoja-SBA community was new in the
2013-14 year and EOPS expanded its cohort
model in the 2013-14 year to a third math cohort
group and began a cohort model group in English
in the 2014-15 academic year.
Pass rate data has been provided by each LC
group at the end of each semester. These efforts
are ongoing and are being expanded to include
one unified report that analyzes the programs
individually and as a whole. This report is being
compiled Fall 2014 and will be provided to the
office of instruction, the deans associated with
the LCs, and those working within the LCs.
Individual assistance was provided throughout
each semester in 2013-2014. Flex training was
provided for the ESTEEM program in Fall 2014
with additional training planned for Spring 2015
in ESTEEM and LCs in general. Guidelines for
creation of LCs and teaching in LCs are still
being prepared to accommodate current planning.
The PUENTE club continues to thrive, the PALS
Club existed from Spring 2013 through Spring
2014 but has not continued in the 2014-15 year,
the PALS LC tracks its students and offers
continued support, the Umoja LC does case
management and continues to track its students,
and the SAH LC has at least one group meeting
with students each semester
This item is still in progress
B. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES/ MEASURES OF MERIT FOR THE PLANNING YEAR
Objective 1: Coordinate implementation of and support for new and existing Learning Communities, including the reporting of data
 Learning Community Offerings, New and Continued
 Data Report produced each semester
Objective 2: Expand professional development for those in LCs
 FLEX presentations given and attended
 Workshops offered
 LC team meetings
C. PROCEDURES AND RESOURCE REQUIRMENTS FOR THE PLANNING YEAR:
Learning Communities Program
Procedure
Timeline
Maintain Current Learning
Communities
(objective 1)
Ongoing
Responsible persons
Learning Community
Coordinator, Deans,
Faculty, Counselors
Resource Requirements
IT, Staff, Faculties, etc.
Show total cost for each item
Learning Community Coordinator,
currently 0.2 release time funded
by the Basic Skills Initiative, will be
increasing to 0.5 release time with
a change in funding source
$49,000
Overload for counselor(s) working
in the PALs LC
$3500
Continued release time for
counselors for PUENTE and
Funding Source(s)
The release time for the
Learning Community
Coordinator will be
shifting funding sources
to the Student Equity
Plan and SSSP
Overload for a counselor
in the PALS LC is in the
SSSP budget
The counseling
department pays for the
release time for the
Umoja
Expand Learning
Community Offerings to
Students
(objective 1)
*If programs expand significantly
release time for counselors in LCs
may need to be revisited.
Learning Community Coordinator,
and counselor overload/release
time has been documented above
Ongoing
Learning Community
Coordinator, Deans,
Faculty, Counselors
Assess the effectiveness
of existing programs in
relation to student
success, retention, and
completion
(objective 1)
Establish and Maintain
regular meetings of those
involved in Learning
Communities
(objective 1 and 2)
Reports in January
in June at the end
of each semester,
ongoing
Learning Community
Coordinator, PRIE
Throughout each
semester
Learning Community
Coordinator, Learning
Community teams
Meeting Room(s) – No additional
cost
Establish a Learning
Communities Steering
Committee
(objective 1 and 2)
Provide Information,
Training, and Support to
the campus regarding
teaching in Learning
Communities
(objective 2)
Provide ways to support
students who have been
enrolled in a LC program
(objective 1)
Establish and maintain a
Learning Communities
Page on the SCC website
Meetings twice
each semester
Learning Community
Coordinator,
administrators, faculty,
and staff
Learning Community
Coordinator
Meeting Room - No additional cost
Learning Community
Coordinator, contacts
within LCs, various club
moderators
Learning Community
Coordinator, Educational
media and design
Meeting Room(s) – No additional
cost
August and
January during
“Flex Week” and
throughout the
semester
Ongoing
Ongoing
Meeting Room(s) – No additional
cost
Possible workshop speakers
and/or supplies
*Estimate $5000
No additional costs at this time
counselors in the
PUENTE and Umoja
programs.
Student Equity Plan
(objective 1 and 2)
specialist
Provide content-based out
of the classroom activities
for LCs
(objective 1 and 2)
Fall 2015 and
Spring 2016
semesters
Learning Community
teams, students
Write the Learning
Community Program Plan
(objective 1 and 2)
November
Learning Community
Coordinator
Needs would vary depending
upon the activity but might include:
Facilities, supplies for hands-on
activities, travel expenses, or
guest speakers
*Estimate $5000
Grand Total Cost: $62,500
Student Equity Plan,
and/or SSSP
APPENDICES:
Information referenced regarding expansion of LC offerings throughout this document is based on the following very recent developments.
 Interest in re-establishing learning communities at the West Sacramento Center of SCC has been expressed by the dean of the West
Sacramento Center. While structure and course combinations are still being explored along with the feasibility of enrolling and
maintaining full sections, the current lines of thought are an ESL focused LC or one that creates pathways for students in the local
school district. (October 2014)
 Interest in forming a LC offering combining reading and writing has been expressed with a proposed plan in development. (November
2014)
 Ideas regarding creation of curriculum for a symposium course for Learning Communities are being explored. The course would be a
one unit class designed to implement the overlap of content between linked courses and emphasize the purpose of the LC. Ideally, any
faculty member could teach the course and it would supplement the Human and Career Development classes currently incorporated in
existing LCs but our current curricular process may not allow for a course to be taught by faculty in any minimum qualification area.
As a result, a course created for our campus would likely be different than what is described here.
Data from the 2013-2014 academic year is currently being compiled and expanded into report format. In some LCs, data exists before
this timeframe. The full report referenced in this document will be based upon this data collection and is being developed in the Fall 2014
semester, and will be distributed to the office of instruction, deans of existing LCs, and those working in the LCs. General pass rate data
for mathematics courses is listed below for two LCs.

Pathways to Academic Learning and Success (PALS), Math Data – all sections taught by A. Lambert
Semester and
Pass
Departmental
Course
Rate
Pass Rate
Spring 2011, Math 28
69%
59%
(West Sac)
Fall 2011, Math 34
72%
50%
(West Sac)
Fall 2011, Math 28
48%
54%
Spring 2012, Math 34
66%
50%
Spring 2012, Math 28
57%
49%
(West Sac)
Fall 2012, Math 34
78 %
55%
(West Sac)
Fall 2012, Math 28
66%
61%
Spring 2013, Math 34
30%
50%
8
Fall 2013, Math 28
Spring 2014, Math 34
58%
64%
 EOPS – Math Cohorts
Cohort
Semester and Course
Cohort 1
Fall 2013, Math 34
Cohort 1
Spring 2014, Math 100/103
Cohort 2
Fall 2013, Math 28
Cohort 2
Spring 2014, Math 34
Cohort 3
Spring 2014, Math 28
DATE:
November 2014
Original plan – November 2013
REVIEW CYCLE: Annual
58%
45%
Pass Rate
82%
57%
71%
59%
48%
Departmental Pass Rate
60%
45% / 41%
58%
45%
57%
Instructor
Port
Port
Prilopena
Rosenberger
Medina