Basic Skills Advisory Group (BSAG) Meeting
Tuesday, May 7, 2013, 1:00-2:00 p.m., H314
Minutes
Those in attendance: Mary Beth Barrios, Lisa George, Sheryl Kunisaki, Julie Land, Art Martinez.
Facilitator: Sara Blake, Humanities Basic Skills Coordinator.
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Upcoming Conferences/Workshops
o LINKS VII- A look at successful Completion Agenda programs
 Completion by Design: A five-year Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiative in
which community colleges are developing coherent pathways of study and
redesigning the student experience to increase the ability of students to earn
certificates and degrees as well as raise their labor market value. The aim of the
initiative is to raise community college completion rates for large numbers of
students while containing college costs, maintaining open access, and ensuring the
quality of college programs and credentials
 Student Support (Re)defined: A three-year study conducted by the RP Group
articulating how student support, both inside and outside the classroom, can be
delivered in a cost-effective manner so that community colleges can narrow the
achievement gap for Latino and African-American students and enable more
students to achieve transfer, a degree and/or certificate.
 May 17, 2013
East Los Angeles College
Register at http://links7elac.eventbrite.com/#

BSI Coordinator Meeting May 3, 2013 – Art and Sara shared information from the BSI
Coordinator Meeting about the Basic Skills EOY Report and Action Plan, future funding, and the
Student Success Task Force.
o Barbara Illowsky of the Chancellor’s Office said to expect that funding will continue at
the same level as last year.
o Illowsky identified the top two most successful BSI funded programs to be Integrated
SI/Tutoring and Integrated Counseling; mini-grants for projects that cannot be scaled up
or institutionalized were the least successful and should be avoided.
 Art shared what math is doing in the areas of SI and integrated counseling.
 Sara and Mary shared the plan for instituting integrated counseling in basic writing
classes in Fall 2013.

2012-13 BSI End of Year Report: The committee reviewed the forms for filing the report.
o Expenditures – Art and Sara will complete the forms after the end of the fiscal year when
final accounting figures are available.
 Remaining funds from 2010-11 must be spent by June 2013 or be returned to the
state.
 The emphasis now is on spending allotted funds within two years.
o Narrative Response – This year the questions in the narrative section deal with
assessment issues, tie in with the college master plan, problems and obstacles, and
research.
 Sheryl volunteered to search through the ECC Master Plan over the summer to
find information related to Basic Skills spending.
o Data Analysis – Compare 2008-10 cohorts with 2010-12 cohorts to determine if the basic
skills program was more successful in 2010-12 than in 2008-10.
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All members will work with the Chancellor’s Cohort Tracking Tool to explore the
data and identify concerns and questions.
Julie will specifically look at the special needs student cohort.
Sara will find out from IR if coding issues have been resolved so that the
information in this tool is correct.

2013-14 Action Plan
o Long Term Goals
 All action items must now be tied to a specific long-term goal with a measurable
outcome.
 Sheryl volunteered to look into ESL concerns to see if we need to add an ESL goal
or if ESL classes at ECC fall under the basic reading and writing goal.
o Activities
 Activities from the last action plan related to SI, tutoring, and integrated
counseling will continue.
 Program redesign in basic reading/writing will be added.
 After reviewing the data and expenditures from the previous year, the committee
will meet in the fall to revise the action plan before it’s submitted in October.
o Expenditures
 Proposed expenditures for 2013-14 must account for 100% of the BSI allotment
for that year.
 Remaining funds from 2011-12 must be spent by June 2014 or be returned to the
state.

Student Success Task Force Recommendations and BSI
o Sara explained that 3CSN is stressing the need to coordinate BSI and SSTF efforts.
o The committee discussed the ongoing need at ECC to coordinate success centers and other
student support services and to make sure students get the information they need.
o Art noted that program completion is a major component of the SSTF recommendations
and that the Math Department’s alternative pathways are an important step in aiding
student success in this area. Sara mentioned that the English Department will be piloting
an integrated pre-collegiate reading/writing course as an alternative to the current two
course requirement.
o Lisa and Sheryl reported that usage of the LRC’s computerized assistive learning
programs had increased as a result of the math course lab being held in the LRC.
o Mary explained that the Counseling Department has been dealing with changes to the law
in the sections dealing with Student Services. She noted that incoming students will need
an educational plan and a declared major to get priority registration. For continuing
students, registration dates will be based on success, and financial aid will be tied to
student progress. All of these mandates will put increasing emphasis on counseling.
o Sara described Steps to Success, an online adaptive tool highlighted at the BSI
Coordinator Meeting. The program emphasizes orientation before assessment and follows
upon completion of CCC Apply. One of the components of this program is an online
orientation that requires student mastery of the material before students can register for
classes. Chaffey College is piloting this program and is looking for schools interested in
participating in the pilot group. (Contact person: robert_rundquist@chaffey.edu .)
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Other
o
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Julie announced that Read and Write Gold will be available on computers across campus
by Fall 2013.
Next Meeting: TBA September 2013