Whereas, The Rostrum is a publication of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and features important research and articles for the faculty at member institutions of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges;
Whereas, The current budget situation has resulted in funding cuts to individual colleges as well as to the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges itself; and
Whereas, 75 California educational institutions are participating in eTranscripts, including 44 community colleges (as of October 20, 2011), 17 California State Universities, 9 University of California campuses, and 5 private colleges, but the remaining 68 community colleges are not yet signed up;
Whereas, E-instructional materials can provide useful learning tools that also monitor student progress, include instantaneous feedback to both students and faculty, and often offer comprehensive tracking and grading tools that are costly and difficult to duplicate;
Whereas, Many e-instruction materials include assessment and grading programs for evaluating student mastery of the course content and/or required skills;
Whereas, Electronic instructional materials have become increasingly common in both online and face-to-face courses in California community colleges;
Whereas, Interest in these materials is increasing, in part because they frequently cost less than traditional print materials; and
Whereas, Faculty currently using and those who are interested in using these materials may not have enough information available to them regarding effective practices for how these materials should be used;
Whereas, The California Community Colleges Task Force on Student Success (established in response to Senate Bill 1143, Liu, 2010) recommends (as of September 30, 2011) that the California Community College System collaborate with the K-12 system to align high school exit standards with community college standards of college readiness;
Whereas, Governmental agencies, including the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), and external organizations have recommended a priority registration system to provide maximum benefit to those students whose educational goals are most closely aligned with the goals of the 1960 Master Plan (basic skills, transfer, and career and technical education);
Whereas, Many students enter California community colleges with limited knowledge and preparation not only in academic areas but also in terms of time management, study skills, and other areas that impact academic performance, and these students would therefore benefit from student success courses that would help them to develop such skills;
Whereas, Innovation in basic skills instruction has become a high profile issue both state- and nation-wide, and various external and internal bodies, including the California Community Colleges Task Force on Student Success (established in response to Senate Bill 1143, Liu, 2010), have called for California community colleges to develop and implement alternatives to traditional basic skills curriculum, sometimes with the proposal of incentives or benefits to colleges that would encourage curricular revision and innovation;
Whereas, Budget cuts at the California community colleges have led to increasingly dwindling staff, including full-time faculty;
Whereas, Certain processes such as accreditation take a monumental amount of work and expertise that may lead some schools, especially the smaller ones, to hire out significant portions of areas such as the self study process;
Whereas, In addition to depending upon outsiders to gather data, many schools may also commit to using technology, including particular data bases, that requires expensive upkeep; and
Whereas, Various individuals and constituencies within the California Community College System have proposed temporary flexibility regarding compliance with requirements related to allocation of funding for categorical programs;
Whereas, Categorical programs were originally established because of a need to ensure that certain support services would be guaranteed; and
Whereas, The proposed temporary flexibility regarding expenditures for categorical programs could easily result in permanent reductions in categorical funding;