We (yes "we") are committed to expanding the Early College Program

Lillian Gish

     Relative to strategic planning, just how committed are we (in the South Orange County Community College District) to such programs as “early college”?
     Well, goal #6 of the draft of district-wide goals (part of the three-year plan to be presented to trustees on Monday—as a matter of information) is this:

But, of course, the district plan is now explicit about granting a degree of autonomy to the colleges, which have their own goals. In part, it is the job of the district to further those goals.
     So let's turn to the colleges.

     #5 of IVC’s collegewide goals is the following:

To provide programs and activities that promote economic development and partnerships with the community.

     That’s a goal, so I guess it is supposed to be vague, and it is.
     As you know, among people with degrees in Education, one's “objectives” are supposed to achieve one's "goals," and that's the thinking of IVC's planners. IVC’s 2010-11 Strategic Planning Objectives include VI and XIII:

VI. Increase enrollment in courses in Lifelong Learning, contract and workforce development courses.
VIII. Expand the Early College Program.

Not Lillian Gish

     Well, that last one—that’s pretty explicit. Judging by our stated "objectives," then, we are explicitly committed to "expanding" the EC Program.
     Here’s what else we learn about objective VIII:

(Linked to IVC Goals: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7; and District Goal 1)
Rationale: The K-12 schools in the effective service area are typically ranked in the top 10% in the state based on California’s Academic Performance Index. Students graduating from high schools in the effective service area typically have 4-year university acceptance rates that are much higher than the statewide average. This trend will continue for the foreseeable future. Partnerships among IVC, K-12, and 4-year institutions seeking to work within this service area, will be a necessity in order to increase enrollments. [My emphasis.]
Strategy A: Implement the Early College Program at another local high school. (Lead Persons: Craig Justice, Elizabeth Cipres)
Strategy B: Explore the establishment of an Early College Program in the Irvine Unified School District. (Lead Persons: Craig Justice, Elizabeth Cipres)
Outcomes: The continued expansion of the Early College Program within the Tustin Unified School District; the establishment of an Early College Program with the Irvine Unified School District and El Toro High School.

     Saddlebackians seem to do these things differently. I found a draft of Saddleback College's 2011 EDUCATION MASTER PLAN, which offers a set of reasonable-sounding “values” and several plausible-sounding “Strategic Directions,” none of which clearly demand the pursuit of something like Early College.

* * *

     On occasion, members of IVC's Academic Senate Rep Council break into discussion about strategic planning and such, and, when that happens, the atmosphere is tense and uncomfortable. Senators (and not only I) have suggested that the existing strategic planning (etc.) process is overly-complex and difficult to understand. It doesn't help that it is shot through with the odd (and largely preposterous) vocabulary of the educationists, what with their "instructional delivery," "action steps," and "goals vs. objectives." I do believe that some have suggested that, for those reasons among others, faculty find participation in the planning process, um, unattractive.
     Well, whatever the reason, the committees that have produced many of the goals and objectives in our district are dominated by administrators. And, at IVC, it works like this: administrators are given their marching orders by Craig.
     Wait. Aren't IVC administrators pretty autonomous? —Well, no. Not so much.
     Voila.

For those who missed it: Glenn drops from an airplane @ 13,000 ft.

Read: IVC President Glenn Roquemore Leaps With Army Golden Knights