Board of Governors Approves "Reforms"

In this morning's Los Angeles Times:

California community college board backs sweeping reforms by Carla Rivera

The governing board of California's community colleges approved reforms intended to streamline the path to graduation and transfer for thousands of students.

The California Community Colleges Board of Governors endorsed the policies at a meeting Monday in Sacramento that featured more than three hours of public comment, including vigorous opposition from many students who argued that the plan would penalize low-income and other disadvantaged students....

...The thrust of the reforms represents a seismic shift in community colleges' traditional role as open to all comers. They would move to ration access to classes and would push students to meet their academic goals through incentives.

Among the 22 recommendations are proposals requiring all colleges to use a single assessment for English and math skills and prioritizing registration and fee waivers for students who have concrete goals, such as a degree, certificate or transfer to a four-year college.

Course offerings and schedules would be aligned with student needs, including a focus on basic skills and classes needed to transfer. Campuses would also be required to publish score cards detailing their performance in such areas as completion rates....

To read the rest, click here.

Now, the package moves to the state legislature. The article notes that in order for the many of the proposals to be enacted, amending current education codes would be required.

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from the SF Chronicle:

....The 22 recommendations approved by the college system's Board of Governors are intended to address a devilish problem: Essential classes are in critically short supply and thousands of students are turned away from classes they need because of the state's economic crisis.

Board member Peter MacDougall, chairman of the Student Success Task Force that drew up the recommendations over the last year, said colleges can no longer afford to put out the welcome mat they have offered for generations.

"As wonderful as having open admission is, if it's a false promise, it fails," he said.

Under the new plan, all students will be expected to set up an education plan to move quickly toward an associate's degree or vocational certificate. If they linger too long or take too many classes unrelated to their goal, they lose registration priority. Others poor enough to quality for a fee waiver would lose that benefit after 110 credits, well beyond the 60 credits needed to transfer....

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