San Diego Community College District

Special meeting of the San Diego Community College District and San Diego Unified School District Boards

On Tuesday, March 16, 2021, the governing boards of the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) and the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) held their ninth annual joint meeting virtually due to the COVID-19 crisis. In compliance with the Governor’s Executive Orders N-29-20 and N-33-20, the Boards have temporarily suspended physical meetings. Following the Call to Order at 5 p.m., SDCCD Trustees Dr. Maria Nieto Senour (president), Geysil Arroyo, Mary Graham, Craig Milgrim, Bernie Rhinerson, Destiny Gallegos-Muñoz (Student Trustee), and Chancellor Dr. Constance M. Carroll, and SDUSD Board of Education Members Richard Barrera (president), Sabrina Bazzo, Kevin Beiser, Dr. Michael McQuary, Dr. Sharon Whitehurst-Payne, Zachary Patterson (Student Trustee), and Superintendent Cindy Marten began the public meeting. The meeting was conducted in the form of a workshop facilitated by Dr. Carl Luna, Political Science Professor, San Diego Mesa College, and Director for the Institute for Civil Civic Engagement.

Below are some of the highlights:

Racial Justice and Equity

- Since the two Boards last met on March 19, 2019, both boards have actively sought ways to explicitly integrate the pursuit of racial justice and equity throughout their individual and joint goals. This has extended to the Joint Board Goals, including new committees and community discussions, increased data assessment, and critical inquiry.  

Impact of COVID 19

- The SDCCD and SDUSD remained committed to students and maintained current levels of dual enrollment courses amidst budget cuts. Immediately after the closure announcements, the teams activated to provide hot spots and laptops, prioritizing College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) students as the first to receive district devices to ensure there were no gaps in instruction and students could maintain their attendance online.

- Due to the online environment, the partnership was expanded. Students were provided with increased access by entering into multi-campus agreements with students from different feeder sites enrolled in the same online course.

- Faculty and staff ensured that continuous communication was occurring at all levels, which led to tailored intervention and outreach. This approach allowed students’ needs to be addressed from academic, social, and mental health perspectives.

- Expanded Early Outreach Initiative — Early Commitment to College Program: Since the last Joint Board Meeting in 2019-20, there has been an increase in activities to provide students with information on college and career early on in their academic journey. Given the increased need for early college and career awareness, the two districts have collaborated to develop the Early Commitment to College Program (ECCP) to promote early college awareness and to increase the percentage of students who participant in early college credit pathways and who enroll in college immediately after high school. Core activities of the ECCP program include college and career exploration through presentations and lunch activities at elementary schools, parent information nights, and providing students in 9th grade the opportunity to visit a college and sign a Save Me a Spot in College pledge. High school students that successfully complete CCAP courses will seamlessly transition to the San Diego Promise program. In addition to the expanded high school and middle school outreach activities, the colleges continue to support the success of Black and Brown students through high impact programming such as the African American Student Success Summit, City College’s Hermanos Unidos Brother United (HUBU), and the colleges’ Dreamer Support Programs.

- College and Career Access Pathways Act (CCAP) Partnership Agreements (Concurrent/Dual Enrollment): The CCAP program continues to grow since the start of the program; from 2016-17 to 2019-20 CCAP headcount grew 98%. Last year, 4,444 students were served through CCAP — 672 more students than the previous year. In addition to growth in headcount, the program has expanded to include more variety in the subject areas offered.

- Career Technical Education (CTE): An update was provided on improvements to the Computer Science Pathway. This work supports the Joint Board goal of ensuring that every student in SDUSD completes a year of computer science courses. There are several initiatives supporting this goal, including several grants supporting the work districtwide, K-12 grants, and transition into certificate completion. Data and program updates regarding Early College Credit and College & Career Readiness were discussed. The SDCCD/SDUSD partnership supports early college credit through CCAP and partnership with CTE Transitions Credit by Examination for articulated credit.

- CTE Transitions Credit by Examination: The College, Career & Technical Education (CCTE) Course Articulation Student Outcomes Report and its findings were presented. This report is a data improvement initiative focused on better understanding student outcomes tied to active course-to-course articulation agreement including transitions to college. Based on the partnership review of the findings, administrative processes were updated to remove barriers for students. Strategic interventions based on the findings are being implemented and include a focus on strategic new agreement development and closing equity gaps in student outcomes.

- Teacher Educators Pipeline: An update was provided on the efforts to recruit and retain high-quality and effective teachers by producing a pipeline for SDUSD graduates to become debt-free, credentialed teachers via paid apprenticeships, reduced tuition, and admissions agreements with four-year institutions such as National University, San Diego State University (SDSU), California State University San Marcos (CSUSM), and UC San Diego. Additional partnerships that will benefit students are the Teacher Pathway Inclusion Program/San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) and After School Unlimited.

- Preparing Accomplished Transfers to the Humanities (PATH): This is a new partnership opportunity. Funded through the Melon Foundation, PATH guides students from City, Mesa, and Miramar colleges into arts and humanities majors at UC San Diego. Across the five cohorts, 46 of the 151 PATH students were former SDUSD students — 30% of all participants.

- San Diego Promise Update: SDCCD serves 100% of students who meet eligibility and seek support. In 2019-20, the Promise Program expanded to support a limited number of part-time students and non-traditional students who do not meet the requirements set by AB 19. Priority was given to former Foster Youth, veterans, formerly incarcerated, undocumented students, and former Continuing Education (CE) students who are not first-time college students. Data for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 cohorts were discussed, including a breakdown of the participants’ demographic profiles and high schools of origin. Student outcomes were shared, showing higher outcomes for San Diego Promise participants than all other first-time, full-time students.

Update on Legislation

- Assembly Bill (AB) 927 (Medina): Statewide Community College Baccalaureate Program: This legislation will make the existing pilot programs, including the Mesa College Health Information Management degree, permanent. Further, AB 927 expands the opportunity of offering baccalaureate programs to all community colleges through an approval process under the authority of the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

- AB 421 (Ward): Career Development and College Preparation Courses: Currently, Career Development and College Preparation (CDCP) courses receive state apportionment support based on positive attendance, wherein instructors are required to record the actual hours each student attends the class. However, college courses are apportioned based on census date attendance, wherein instructors must record weekly or daily student attendance through census date, and submit reports at that time. This is a much less time-consuming process, and provides more consistent and reliable funding.

- AB 576 (Maienschein): Apportionments for Courses Offered on Military Bases: This legislation would waive the open course provisions in statute or regulations of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and local governing boards of a community college district for classes the district provides on military bases and allows the districts to collect state apportionment.

- AB 22 (McCarty): Universal Transitional Kindergarten: This legislation will extend universal access to full-day transitional kindergarten (TK) programs to all four-year-olds statewide, at no cost to families, while also implementing TK quality improvements to address the social-emotional and early academic development of California’s youngest learners.

The Boards expressed appreciation to the presenters: SDCCD Vice Chancellor Dr. Susan Topham, Mesa College Outreach Coordinator Genevieve Esguerra, City College Outreach Coordinator Andrew Menchaca, SDCCD Deans Dr. Andrew MacNeill, Dr. Nesha Savage, Dr. Shakerra Carter, and Amertah Perman, SDCCD PATH Program Activity Manager Dr. Krystal Henderson, SDUSD Director Career and Technical Education Sarah Vielma, SDUSD Instructional Support Officer Nicole DeWitt, Lincoln High School Principal Stephanie Brown, and Morse High School Principal Dr. Cynthia Larkin.

GOALS FOR THE FUTURE

Looking to the future, the two boards reviewed their 5-Year Strategic Goals, and established the following updated goals and areas of emphases for 2021-22. It was agreed that the pursuit of Racial Justice and Equity would be applied across all goals, and particularly the annual areas of emphasis.    

1.  Create an accountability strategy that includes:

- A clear message to students, parents, and the community that college and career readiness is the measure of accountability for SDUSD.
- Professional development for K-12 teachers to focus on college and career preparedness.

2.  Continue to track student outcomes data, including longitudinal data to track improvement over time, ensure a strong focus on Career Technical Program outcomes.

2021-22 Area of Emphasis
-Disaggregate data further to include demographic and outcomes of LGBTQ & DSPS data.

3.  The Chancellor and Superintendent will collaborate on expanding opportunities for students in schools south of Interstate 8, including identifying and eliminating barriers to opportunities.

2021-22 Area of Emphasis
- Explore building on the City College Outreach model to fourth/fifth-grade students and on the Morse High School Dedicated College Counselor Model to increase outreach to fourth through twelfth-grade SDUSD students access and enrollment.

4.  Continue expansion of CCAP programs, with special emphasis on programs at Crawford High School, Hoover High School, Lincoln High School, and Morse High School. Create clear career pathways for students that align with industry standards; and partner with employers that will support students through internships and mentoring programs.

2021-22 Area of Emphasis
- Expand outreach programs and services equitably across SDUSD high schools to support universal senior enrollment in SDCCD.
- Expand ACP/CCAP offerings to include more specialized courses such as Black History, Chicano/a Studies, and Culinary Arts.
- Improve communication and outreach between SDCCD and SDUSD counselors to high school freshmen to facilitate enrollment in ACP/CCAP.  

5.  Make it possible for every eligible first time, full-time SDUSD graduate (who wants to) to enroll in the San Diego Promise program.

2021-22 Area of Emphasis
- Expand the Early Commitment to College programs to serve all middle schools within SDUSD.  
- Strengthen community college brand-building with K-12 counselors, parents, and students.
- Explore the creation of a joint working group for the development of Middle School and High School Summer and Afternoon, and Tutoring College programs to increase readiness and enrollment.  

6.  Collaborate to support undocumented students and/or parents to navigate the complexities of services and programs at both districts (“One-stop shop for Dreamers”).

2021-22 Area of Emphasis
- Expand support services, outreach activities, and transition services for undocumented students.

7.  Continue to collaborate on legislation that impacts both K-12 and the community colleges individually, and collectively.