Student Success and Support Program Plan Draft
Section: iv. Follow-Up for At-Risk Students
1. Describe the target student audience according to title 5 section 55525, including
an estimate of the annual number of students to be provided at-risk services, and
the college’s process to identify them.
LA Valley College student population is approximately 27,500 with approximately
60% (16,500) of them indicating undecided as their educational goal. With the recent
adaptation of SB1456, LA Valley College has made the identification of and the
reduction in the number of undecided students a priority in accordance with the goals
stated in its Educational Master Plan. This process is an institutional commitment
with both the Office of Academic Affairs and Student Services collaborating. The
Counseling Department, which is housed under the Office of Student Services, is the
lead department which engages in collaborative efforts with other areas and
committees like Basic Skills, Educational Master Plan and Student Success which are
housed under the Office of Academic Affairs.
The undecided student population at LAVC is categorized into two groups, Indecisive
and Undecided.
Indecisive Students are described as:
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Distressed, unclear about career options – excessive anxiety – may have fear of
commitment or motivated by socially prescribed perfectionism
High levels of state and trait anxiety
Lack strong motivation to become clear about their values and goals
Fear of commitment and perfectionism may be part of the indecisive personality
These students need probably long-term counseling to address personal issues
before academic/vocational issues can be addressed
Undecided Students are described as:
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Low levels of vocational identity and self-esteem
Perceive external barriers and rely on others to make decisions
Moderate levels of state and trait anxiety
Students may not be far from a decision, but something is blocking their path
(frustrated) or looking for perfect choice (perfectionist)
personal concerns must be addressed before traditional career exploration activities
can take place
Describe the strategies for addressing the needs of these students, including:
Types of services are available to these students:
a. Current and continuing Services:
1.Instruction: Personal Development 20 and 1 offered to students on
and off campus (high-school)
2.Counseling Department: individual career counseling
3.Career Transfer Center: Group workshops, individual career
counseling, on-line computerized career exploration resources
4.External Programs: EOPS, Puente, TriO, STEM all provide
individual and group career counseling
Types of services available for Follow-Up for At-Risk Students
b. 2014 – 2015 Follow-Up Undecided Student Workshops
1. Individual Career Counseling Appointments/Career Development
Services/Workshop Presentations
2. Online video and career workshops which includes career
exploration assessments, exercises, resources and exercises
3. External Programs: EOPS, Puente, TriO, STEM all provide
individual and group career counseling
4. CGCA’s will provide embedded mentoring along with creating a
cohort of at least 10 -15 students each where individual mentoring
and career guidance will be provided
5. Revive and revamp the Pd4 curriculum for greater career
counseling access
6. Faculty Mentoring Program, Academic Senate and Department
Chairs
How they are notified and when:
Students are notified of these services through a variety of different means:
a. Delivery Methods:
i. Initial student orientation (In-Person, On-line)
ii. Electronically: email, Facebook, Twitter, Counseling Department and
Career Transfer Center webpage.
iii. On campus hard copy advertising
iv. Campus activities: Welcome Day, Senior Day, campus/department
tours
2. When are these students notified:
i. New students are notified during spring, summer, fall and winter
registration application periods both in person and/or student emails.
ii. Continuing students are notified all-year-round using both in person
and student email methods.
Strategies for providing counseling, advising, or other education planning services to assist
them in selecting an education goal and course of study:
1. Intrusive and Direct Career Counseling Student Appointments. Intrusive Advising is
described as the intentional contact with students with the goal of developing a caring and
beneficial relationship that leads to increased academic motivation and persistence. Intrusive
Advising differs from the more traditional prescriptive and developmental models of advising
because advisors are not only helpful and encouraging of students, but they proactively make the
initial contact with students
A. Provide specialized individual/Intrusive career counseling for:
a) Undecided Basic Skills students (English 33, 21, 28 and Math 105,
112, 115,125)
b) Undecided ESL students
c) Undecided Continuing students
B. Targeted Specialized Career Planning Online/In-person Workshops
for undecided students:
a) Undecided Basic Skills students (English 33, 21, 28 and Math 105,
112, 115,125)
b) Undecided ESL students
c) Undecided Continuing students
C. Ensure that a system is created where students who complete a Online
and In-person career development workshop are referred to a Student
Educational Planning (SEP) workshop for the creation of their educational
plan.
D. Intrusive and Direct Career Counseling approach/training for
Counseling Department: Provide specialized career development inservice training to Counseling Department that focuses on specific
characteristics of at-risk population being targeted/served
How are the services identified in “a” and “b” above are provided (online, groups, etc…)
The services identified in “a” and “b” above are provided in various
formats. Those formats are online, groups, instruction (PD20, 4, 1) and
in-person.
How are teaching faculty involved or encouraged to monitor student progress and develop
or participate in early alert systems.
Faculty Mentoring Program, Academic Senate and Department Chairs
a. Provide specialized training to class-room faculty in order to provide
faculty mentoring to undecided students in their classroom
b. Work closely with Academic Senate to adopt policies that will assist
classroom instructors in assisting undecided students
c. Work closely with Department Chairs to adopt policies that will
their department in assisting undecided students
assist
2. Identify the staff providing follow-up services (including the number of positions, job
titles and a one-sentence statement of their roles).
The following positions are new positions being requested to support career counseling
for the undecided and at risk student:
3 Career/General Counselors FT Limited
Assigned 35 hours per week, of which, 28 hours per week are in direct student contact.
Annual Salary range = $58,836 - 91,609 plus benefits @ 23.88% dependent of
experience and place on contract pay scale.
Career/General Counselors are responsible for providing academic, career, personal and
follow-up counseling to the general student population. Students receive counseling
services on an individual appointment basis (60 minute); Counselor will also lead inperson and group workshops; they will also be available to answer questions through via
our online Ask a Counselor by Email service.
Student Services Assistant – 1Full-Time
Salary range = $3,659 - $4,532/month; Annual cost = $43,908 - $54,384 plus benefits @
42.872%
Responsible for organizing, planning and coordinating all Undecided Student Workshops,
appointments, reports, data and other related office duties as required.
CGCA - 5 @ 20 hours/week x $15.46/hour = $1,546 per week x 48 weeks = $74,208
Responsible for assisting the counselors with workshop presentations, marketing, organizing
and basic follow-up mentoring with students.
3. Identify any technology tools used for follow-up services. For third party tools, be
specific about the product and how it is used.
In the group career or undecided major workshops, counselors and CGCA’s will use
PowerPoint slides to guide the students with step-by-step explanation on the career
decision making and exploration process. Online, computerized and hard copy resources
are also available at the Career Center where students are able to further research their
career/educational options.
During Career appointments counselors will use Eureka, Vault, ONet, What Can I do
with this Major and other online resources to assist the undecided student as they explore
their career options. Once completed, counselors use ASSIST to research UC and CSU
institutions and their major requirements. In the near future, counselors will be using a
degree audit system to measure student progress and provide individualized planning
once PeopleSoft has delivered the product.
Personal Development/Counseling courses 20, 4 and 1 are taught by counselors who use
PowerPoint presentations and other on-line resources to assist students as they engage
students in the career planning and exploration process.
During the student’s individual and group counseling or workshop, counselors and
CGCA’s access a variety of websites as teaching tools, such as csumentor.edu, the UC
Transfer Admission Planner, and the Transfer Counselor Website. Once completed, the
counselor shows the student how to access and complete the Student Educational Plan
and Six Semester Plan forms are available to students online in Excel format.
4. Include in the Budget Plan, all staff costs (salaries and benefits) for each position and
the direct cost to purchase, develop or maintain technology tools specifically for followup services.
The following positions are new positions being requested to support career counseling
for the undecided and at risk student:
3 Career/General Counselors FT Limited
Assigned 35 hours per week, of which, 28 hours per week are in direct student contact.
Annual Salary range = $58,836 - 91,609 plus benefits @ 23.88% dependent of
experience and place on contract pay scale.
Career/General Counselors are responsible for providing academic, career, personal and
follow-up counseling to the general student population. Students receive counseling
services on an individual appointment basis (60 minute); Counselor will also lead inperson and group workshops; they will also be available to answer questions through via
our online Ask a Counselor by Email service.
Student Services Assistant - 1 FT
Salary range = $3,659 - $4,532/month; Annual cost = $43,908 - $54,384 plus benefits @
42.872%
Responsible for organizing, planning and coordinating all Undecided Student Workshops,
appointments, reports, data and other related office duties as required.
CGCA - 5 @ 20 hours/week x $15.46/hour = $1,546 per week x 48 weeks = $74,208
Responsible for assisting the counselors with workshop presentations, marketing, organizing
and basic follow-up mentoring with students
Online Career Resources:
Eureka: Career on-line assessment and exploration resource: $3,300
Vault: Career on-line assessment and exploration resource: $3,800
ONet: Career on-line career resource: $2,400
Paper Assessments:
SDS, COPS, COPES, MBTI, Strong, Skills Scan, CEI, Eureka Skills, Values Card Sort:
$15, 800
Online Video/Power Point:
Different language versions: English, Armenian, Russian, Spanish:
Laptops: 15
$23,400
Printers: 3
$6,000
Paper/Toners
$5,500
Other general office supplies:
$2,500