“I always liked the idea that community colleges have been open to everyone in the community. However I don’t like the idea that community colleges, funded by the tax payer, are adopting policies that will block some of those same tax payers from improving themselves (which helps them to keep paying taxes!).”
~Rich Simms, Computer Information Systems Instructor, Cabrillo College
Compiled by Maya Bendotoff
In the summer of 2012, when California Community Colleges were turning away hundreds of thousands of students due to budget shortfalls, regulations were passed that significantly limit access to community colleges.* The regulations went into effect in the fall of 2013.
Under the new regulations students can only successfully complete a class one time in most cases. This severely narrows the scope of community colleges and access for all kinds of students: students of the visual and performing arts and kinesiology/physical education (transfer students, professionals wanting to update skills and lifelong learners); adult students who may not wish to complete a degree or transfer; returning students who may have been away from school for several years; those with inadequate preparation, learning challenges, or language competency issues; lifelong learners; students that need access to skills courses with changing technology (welding, computer classes that offer upgraded versions of software, digital media, etc.); and more.
The following is a working summary of impacts of these regulations (provided by program faculty; please email ccft@ccftcabrillio.orgwith additional information.
Areas requiring repetition to build skills:
Visual and Performing Arts
All performing and visual arts students at the community college level are essentially being expected to complete their lower division work in two years, leaving students who are ill-prepared for transfer to find their own means of remediation at their own time and expense.
The vast majority of four-year colleges require placement auditions for a transfer student in the performing arts, or a portfolio review for a transfer student in the visual arts. Proficiency in the arts is achieved, at least partially, through repetition – “practice, practice, practice.” Students who enter community college at a lower proficiency level, and who are not allowed the extra repetition for building their skills, will be at a disadvantage when auditioning or presenting portfolios for transfer.
Furthermore, the equating of courses with similar educational activities into families reinforces the situation in which the minimum requirement for a lower-division student attending a four-year school becomes the maximum allowable educational experience for a community college student. These restrictions on repeatability for students of the arts are roadblocks to student success.
In addition to affecting transfer students, occupational artists seeking ongoing professional development and lifelong learners in the community will be severely limited by these regulations.
English
Creative writing is an art form. A student must write and re-write in order to master the craft of poetry, fiction, screenwriting, etc., so the new repeatability limits interfere with student success in creative writing and related areas. Also, creative writing can be an avenue for students to enter higher education. Repeatability also affects our literature offerings. Many of these classes change the reading selections every time the class is offered even though the major content follows the course outline. Why can’t students take a literature class twice and consider new literary works or contemplate works they have read before in a new light or from a different perspective?
Journalism
The course to work on the student newspaper, the Cabrillo Voice, can no longer be repeated. Students want to repeat working for the newspaper as they would for any publication. The more they do, the better they get and the more involved in the Cabrillo community. Losing its repeatability is a travesty for them. The stories that students write for the college paper are important to their ability to get a job afterwards. Some would do it for years, building their abilities and then taking them to the business world. Not being able to repeat will make it tougher for students to get jobs.
Foreign Languages
Students who have completed a language class may not retake the class unless repetition is required for transfer, a certificate, or employment. In particular, the loss of repeatability for conversation classes impacts community members and many of us at Cabrillo who enroll in these classes to improve and maintain our Spanish skills in support of students as well as to explore other languages.
Kinesiology/Physical Education
The new repeatability regulations have affected KIN in three ways. The first impact is that leveling classes has created an arbitrary means of assessing competency. Just because a student has completed a beginning class does not mean he or she has developed the skills to move on to an intermediate or advanced level. We find that in our sport classes such as golf and tennis, several semesters are required to develop basic skills necessary in a beginning class. Proficiency doesn’t happen in 16 weeks. Similar results are found in our fitness classes in that students do not develop fitness in one semester.
The second issue is that for the first time there is a prerequisite of a beginning course regardless of the student’s skill level. This process was established last semester so that the college would be able to determine whether or not a student has taken a course before. Many of our students come to Cabrillo with an existing level of skill, yet they must enroll in a beginning class. An example might be of a high school interscholastic swimmer who must enroll in a beginning section regardless of his/her experience as a competitive swimmer. As a result of this requirement, many students choose not to enroll.
Finally, our adult learners who have paid for the bond have expressed dismay in not being able to enroll when they have helped pay for many of the facility upgrades. In summary, the KIN department finds the repeatability regulations a detriment to instruction, enrollment, and public sentiment.
Areas requiring repetition to stay current:
Accounting
Because updates and revisions to accounting software happen frequently, students are unable to learn about new features available to accountants and bookkeepers unless they can repeat the course using a newer version of the software. Changes in technologies that interface with QuickBooks and other accounting software are multiplying on a daily basis.
Computer Information Systems
Technology areas such as Windows, UNIX/Linux, networking are evolving and changing quickly. Newer versions and distributions of Linux are released every year often with significant improvements and new capabilities. If you don’t stay on top of things you can get rusty very fast!
Faculty member Rich Simms uses himself as an example. He took web, Windows, Linux and networking classes back in 2005-2007. Websites are now being designed in HTML 5, so they work universally on desktops, tablets and smart phones. Linux Red Hat 9 has been replaced by entirely new distributions with significant additional functionality. Windows XP/2003 has been replaced several times with newer versions of these products from Microsoft also with significant changes. Rich has stayed current in UNIX/Linux but is now very rusty in everything else. He would like to be able to retake the digital media, Windows and networking courses periodically to stay current.
Early Childhood Education (ECE)
The field of child growth and development is constantly evolving. The new limitations affect students who take several years to complete the program (many of whom are working and/or have families), bilingual students who may want to take the same course in two (or more) languages, and professionals in the field who seek to stay current in their field. In addition, there are courses with rotating content (such as regional conferences) that students can no longer duplicate; given this situation, some courses have been dropped completely. All ECE professionals are required to complete ongoing professional development work. The limitations make it so that such work needs to be done outside our local community colleges.
Engineering Technology and Welding
Both Welding and E-tech have a sole mission of employing students; therefore, it is absolutely crucial that we evolve our course curriculum to meet the ever-changing skill set demands of the employment marketplace. Since we’re constantly adjusting our curriculum, our students need to repeat courses often in order to stay current and marketable.
Etech enrollments have noticeably diminished due to the new rule. Below are examples of why repeatability is necessary in etech:
- Architecture is a broad and ever-changing field. As a result of this condition we are constantly readjusting the content of our classes to meet the new developments in the industry. Five years ago very few architects were practicing green design, so this topic only made up a minor portion of our curriculum. At present, we predominately teach green design.
- Engineering software is always changing, thus making it necessary for professionals to retake our courses every few years in order to stay current and marketable. In the last year the ArchiCad app began including EcoDesigner software, a utility that evaluates home energy consumption simply based on CAD (computer aided drafting) drawings of the home.
- Building Codes are ever-changing, and they govern design practices. The CA Green Code came through a few years ago, changing our entire approach to teaching architectural design.
- New software often hits the marketplace, forcing us to quickly switch out one app that we teach for another. Our Building Information Modeling course has not changed its catalog description yet currently teaches two apps that we didn’t teach in the course a year ago.
- Welding has solid enrollments now, but we foresee enrollments being impacted by repeatability in the near future. Industry demands expanding skill sets of its employees depending on what’s happening in the field. For a few years there were power plants being built (this requires a certain welding skill), bridges were being built the following year (this requires a different welding skill), PG&E pipelines the next year, etc. Like industry, our curriculum is fluid and changes in emphasis semester to semester so that we remain a viable training venue for industry professionals.
Clearly, students need to be able to retake courses in order to remain current in their field and employable. Moving forward, repeatability is possible in Etech if a form is filled out and accompanied by a note from an employer. Issues with this option: 1) how do we get the word out to our former students about this loophole in the repeatability rule? 2) many students are between jobs and have no employer to get a note from. 3) many students are discretely looking to switch jobs or promote into another dept. How do they get a note?
Additional areas impacted for similar reasons include: Music Technology/Digital Recording, and Digital Media.
Other Areas
International Students
International students are severely limited in what kind of employment they can pursue while in the US. One of the only options for them to work off campus is to enroll in a course that gives them academic credit for their work. At Cabrillo, their option to do this has been to enroll in CWEE 99G or 199G. The new regulations have resulted in CWEE only being available in the 99G format, and students are only able to take that course once, effectively limiting these students to one semester of off-campus work—something that they may desperately need to pay their expenses while in this country. Federal regulations give students permission to work in this format for far longer, so this is impacting their programs quite a bit.
Human Services
This semester we have 62 students in CWEE/Service Learning placements in the community. Of this group 20 students required petitions to complete a second internship as required by the degree and the certifications. This means that next semester, over 42 students will be affected by the repeatability issue when taking their second unit of Service Learning.
Various Subjects (Repeat Needed for True Success)
Students with the fewest academic skills and background and students for whom English is a second language may be able to meet the SLO at a C level but still have a limited degree of sophistication, analysis, depth of understanding, etc. When this happens, students who continue on in a subject enter the next level of the class at a disadvantage to those students who have mastered A or B level understandings. Repeating a course under these circumstances permits students to solidify and deepen their knowledge sufficiently to move on successfully within a field. This is of major concern where courses are layered, such as in many CTE programs or in transfer courses that have pre-requisite course knowledge required.
Additional Issues/Obstacles
Petition: Students may petition to repeat a course under some circumstances. The petition process varies from college to college. Many students and faculty members agree that the petition is cumbersome and laborious. In addition, the petition is very limited. (For instance, at Cabrillo students can petition on the basis of employment if they have current employment that requires a repeat or if they have a job announcement indicating as much. Students who want to update skills for future employment opportunities are not given the opportunity to petition.)
Grand-parenting provision: Given the new regulations, some courses have been leveled (into beginning, intermediate and advanced levels). Students that previously took a class once are not allowed to take any courses at the new levels. (This aspect of the new regulations was delineated at the Academic Senate Curriculum Institute).
Current release valve for students in urban areas: Students living in areas where there are multiple community colleges in close proximity may currently repeat the same course at another college. The community college system is planning on giving students statewide an ID number. Once this takes place those students will not be able to repeat the course at any community college. Under the current situation, many students are driven out of their communities if they need to repeat courses.
| “I do understand that funds are always limited and that priority decisions need to be made to best achieve an organization’s mission. My own gut feeling though is that the decision to invest the time/energy to improve one’s skills is better left to the individual rather than have a small group in Sacramento making the decision for everyone. I also think the economy benefits from a well-trained work force.Lifelong learners tend to be older. I value having them in a class as they often are excellent role models for the “just out of high school” students. They ask lots of questions, know how to problem solve, help others, and might even sit in the front rows! Given their work/industry experience, they know how important it is to have a solid understanding of the subject being taught, so they can apply it afterwards.”~Rich Simms, Computer Information Systems Instructor, Cabrillo College |
Cabrillo College Faculty Senate Resolution for the ASCCC Region B Meeting as of March 18 (intended for the Spring Plenary Session): “Advocate for changes to recent community college repeatability regulations that limit student success and access.”
*These regulations were passed by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges in the summer of 2012 (in the wake of the Student Success Act). The intended goal was to prioritize basic skills, transfer, and certificate programs.